Having been here for three years now, I know this from my own experience. After studying Electrical Engineering, my first job was working for the Dortmund utilities company, which has one of Germany’s biggest and most innovative public lighting contracts with SPIE. In the long run, though, I wanted to be working on more than just one contract. With its size and breadth, SPIE offers lots of opportunities within one company, and straight away, I started on a new municipal lighting contract, going through every stage from tendering to operations.
That was a really satisfying feeling – and it put me in a position to start handling negotiations on my own, which I’m very proud of. Today, I’m proud of my additional role in the Group committee City Networks, where I have been leading the Urban Safety and Security taskforce since October 2021. When I was asked to take it on, my first thought was: “Everyone else is way more senior…” But I decided to do it and haven’t looked back: we are now making a lot of progress in harnessing our Europe-wide scope, exchanging references and methodologies as part of One SPIE. Thus far, my boss has placed a lot of trust in me and helped me to develop. What is more, I’ve now been given a mentor to look at career progression.
"I don’t quite know what my future looks like just yet, but I suspect SPIE will keep offering me exciting opportunities."
