I was a project engineer for ten years, but I wanted to change my career path and focus on R&D. My wishes came true when I joined Vanderlande in 2019.
My role is varied and exciting, requiring both technical and people-management skills. I lead a team of passionate colleagues on a project called the “Next Level of Automation” (NLA).
This aims to help customers across the world use and access our software solutions simply and effectively. Vanderlande’s innovative approach allows me and my colleagues to work across multiple cutting-edge technologies and stay abreast of the latest trends and innovations.
I’m also a part-time “scrum master”, supporting the company’s move to what is known as agile methodology. My job is to make sure the team follows all the right steps and resolve any technical or non-technical issues.
Working at Vanderlande, I enjoy a new challenge almost every day. For instance, my team has worked with three software languages in three years, and now we have to learn yet another one – but I love learning new things, so it’s not a problem at all!
Vanderlande follows a strong people philosophy: “In a world of technology, a belief in people.” When you work here, you realise that this is an honest statement. This is a trust-based organisation in which employees’ start and finish times are not monitored. That says so much about the working culture and gives me a real sense of personal responsibility.
There is excellent support here for career development. My goal is to make my team as strong as possible in technical areas, and I want to keep improving my management skills. Human resources (HR) is helping us to achieve our targets by organising training sessions and workshops – there are also amazing e-learning programmes available within Vanderlande.
In addition, I like the fact that managers really listen to what you have to say and act upon ideas. For example, last year I proposed a new initiative for team members to give bi-monthly presentations about technical topics. These “TechTalk sessions”, as I call them, are a good way to keep up with new technologies. They reflect what’s best about the company: teamwork, openness to feedback and a desire to embrace knowledge.
In my role, I have three major responsibilities: firstly, to collaborate with the engineering disciplines – like electrical and mechanical engineering, integration and IT – to come to a functional solution that fulfils the customer’s requirements.
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