Interview new mechatronica engineers
Please guys, introduce yourself first:
Daan (left):
I’m 23 years old and was born and raised in America. No, not the USA but a small village close to Venlo haha. I’m an active member of the youth community in America and studied Mechatronic engineering at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Venlo.
Ivo (right):
Hi, I’m Ivo Martens, currently 24 years old and also born and raised in a small village close to Venlo. Hobbies are playing soccer as well as being a coach for youth soccer.
I as well studied Mechatronic engineering at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Venlo. Better said, Daan and I were classmates for four years and graduated together!
What did you do before you joined Marcelissen?
Daan:
I started working in a food truck selling French fries when I was very young, just helping out on weekends. Also, I’ve worked for 10 years at a butcher close to home. I started out washing dishes and materials and ended up as Production manager. After this, I’ve worked, during my education, as service engineer at Westburg, a company that grows, sorts and packs tomatoes. Here I was maintaining their machines but also installing new equipment. This gave me some valuable experience in machine design and user-friendliness which I will never forget.
Ivo:
I started out as a mail boy, delivering newspapers on my bike when I was 13. In addition, I worked at a farmer for a couple of years. First working on the fields myself, afterwards as supervisor of the people working on the fields. My first internship during my education was at Geelen Counterflow. After I successfully completed my internship they offered me a job and I started working at the company’s warehouse. Later on I was promoted to assembling machines and eventually ended up as Lead engineer/R&D engineer. Here I worked until I made the transition to Marcelissen.
What were your first impressions?
Daan:
I had never heard of the company to be honest. However, I directly felt right. The company has a real family-like atmosphere which makes you feel welcome from the start. Another thing I noticed, and eventually triggered me to apply for the job, was the fact that there are a lot of opportunities to expand my knowledge and develop myself within the field of mechatronics.
Ivo:
Haha, I never heard of Marcelissen as well before last summer. My brother was hired to fulfil a project at Marcelissen during the summer period and he informed me about the company and that there was an open position for a mechatronics engineer.
Right away I saw opportunities and interesting projects that I wanted to be part of when I heard which innovations and current developments Marcelissen was undertaking. Not only to improve their current machine portfolio but also to innovate the way machines interact with each other and the way maintenance is carried out now and in the future.
Why did you decide to work in technology?
Daan:
I have always been interested in technology. It all started with Lego Technics, building ingenious designs yourself as a child. When I got older, I bought my first scooter which I worked on and maintained myself. To be honest I have never even considered another career than working in technology.
Ivo:
I was always curious as to how stuff was made. Even as a child, I would take apart broken pieces of technology or equipment to discover how they worked and to see if I could fix it and put it back together in the right way. This interest led me to choose a career in technology and engineering. And even though I think that children have to choose what they want to do for the rest of their lives too early in age but so far, I did not regret my choice!
What do you like most about your job?
Daan:
The variety of jobs/projects on a day-to-day basis.
Ivo:
Improving technical designs and finding new solutions for existing problems or innovative challenges. Since Marcelissen is a small company with an engineering department consisting of 5 engineers, you can really make a difference and contribute to new innovations.
What does a standard day at Marcelissen look like?
Daan:
there isn’t one. I can be working on a project when a customer calls who has a problem with one of their machines and I’ll be providing digital support until the issue is resolved. This makes it interesting since I don’t know what a day is going to bring. In addition, I’m currently working on different projects concerning machine software and electronics in order to further optimise our machine range. This is quite the challenge but that’s what I signed up for!
Ivo:
Like the other engineers, I work on processing orders. Moreover, finalizing layouts or technical drawings for customers and our production staff. Besides that, I’m currently working on three different projects, each in the field of Mechatronics/software engineering. These projects are a welcome addition to my day-to-day work, they bring new challenges and force to delve into new theories and specific areas within the broader mechatronics, making me learn new things every day.