Former working student at Ilmsens
Anna Behr recently completed her master's degree at the Technical University of Ilmenau and worked part-time at Ilmsens. She tells us in an interview how she felt about her time here at Ilmsens in the student laboratory.
What was your job here at Ilmsens?
My job at Ilmsens was to conceptualize a demonstrator for trade fair appearances. I was supposed to look at Ilmsens from an external perspective and make the technology understandable and appealing to people like me who come from a different field. Therefore, I had to look at what Ilmsens has already done to derive a concept for a demonstrator. I also made a few measurements to check the feasibility of my ideas.
What did you study and what did your studies have in common with your task here?
I studied industrial engineering with a major in mechanical engineering. Apart from the modules in measurement technology, there were actually no overlaps. So it was more of a learning by doing thing. I also got a lot of input and feedback from my environment and my colleagues to find out what makes this special technology special and what application possibilities exist.
How did you find Ilmsens?
My old working student position expired due to a contract. Mainly for financial reasons, I wanted to look for another job during the last few months of my studies. I came to Ilmsens online through some job portals. I had originally applied for another position which was designed for a long-term occupation. That's why Ilmsens thought about another task for me.
How did you like the job?
It was nice to get a taste of another area of measurement technology. The field of electrical metrology was not covered in the metrology modules of my studies. That's why it was really interesting to deal with it so intensively.
What was your dream job as a kid?
I was very fond of animals and that's why I always wanted to be a veterinarian until I was told that veterinarians also have to put animals to sleep. Then I didn't want that anymore and didn't know what I wanted to become for a long time.
But you also liked it here, even though there were no animals?
But there was always fresh fruit (without animals in it). And good coffee. That's why it was very pleasant here even without animals.
What did you like best here?
The colleagues. Everybody was very open and the togetherness was very friendly. I really enjoyed coming to work. Everyone was nice and you could talk to the people. I always got help and professional input. I was also well received, supported and promoted as a person from outside the field. But I have to say that until the end I did not always understand what my colleagues were talking about. I think you need a little more time than 5 months part-time. What I also liked was that I was allowed to use the student laboratory or my workplace here to work on my master's thesis.
Was there anything in your time here at Ilmsens that bothered you?
Oh, not really. The loud fire alarm that sounds regularly in the building may be (laughs).
Most likely that I haven't progressed so well with my task in between. It's not always so easy to be
creative right away. Through conversations with my colleagues, however, I always got new input or feedback with which I could then continue working.
Finally, a short summary of your time here?
Before I started here, I was a bit sceptical because the company is still so young. But I was very
positively surprised. Even if the processes are not yet as structured as in large companies, I noticed
that everything is well thought out and on the right track.
Before I came here I worked in a larger company, so it was exciting to see the differences. It was also
very interesting to deal with a completely different topic. It was nice that I got this chance and this job was created for me. I really had a great time here.
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