Jan, Application Engineer, VTI Germany

Jan graduated from the semiconductor technology laboratory of the Helsinki University of Technology as an engineering M.Sc. in 2001. After graduation, he worked as an applications engineer in a Finnish electronics company. Some fellow alumni and other people he knew roused Jan's interest in VTI. MEMS sensor business is a younger industry than printed circuits, so the career and development possibilities looked promising.

an joined VTI in September 2003, and his work as a sensor designer involved the design and development of three-axis accelerometer elements."I enjoyed the position, especially the good working atmosphere and colleagues who were about my age and had similar views. Towards the end of 2004, an application engineer's job at VTI's German office was put up for application. I had been thinking about working abroad since graduation, so this was an opportunity I simply had to take," Jan remembers.

Jan's present job is technical customer support. It is done with close cooperation with the product managers and application support people at the Vantaa, Finland head office. Jan describes his day-to-day work in the five-employee office:"My work comprises answering the questions of customers and component distributors in Germany and Austria by e-mail or the telephone. I often also do preliminary work on product application materials. In addition, I meet customers personally when the meetings are about technical issues."

The good about the job, according to Jan, is that no two working days are alike. Direct interaction with customers adds to his interest in the job, because it gives a more concrete angle to the practical application of VTI sensors. Working in three languages -German, English and Finnish- gives a welcome spice to the job."I was raised in a bilingual family -my mother is Polish- and I have always considered it important to learn languages. In addition to the languages we spoke at home I speak German and three other languages. Besides the German language, I was familiar with the culture and it has been easy for me to assimilate into it, because my parents used to live in Germany."

Jan's present stint in Germany will go on till the summer of 2008 when it is time to start planning the future in more detail. Jan believes that an international, dynamic and developing company like VTI can certainly offer interesting challenges and tasks in the future, too.