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Hello Bloggers, today in the blog, we have Amaia Angulo's collaboration who tell us her experience from the academic world and in the working level.
" Hello Amaia. What led you to choose studying an engineering?"
" I was recommended to choose an engineering path because in high school the subjects I got best grades on were physics and mathematics. At that time Telecommunications was the best named degree in the university, but I did not get the grade to enter and I took industrial engineering, my second option.
Even if it was hard not to get my first option at the moment, now I think it is the best thing it could happen. When taking industrial engineering you don’t have to choose specialty until last year so I had time to discover what I really want to focus on. Actually when I had to take the decision of what degree to choose, I didn’t have any idea of what I would like be working on."
"Did you continue your studies after completing your degree? Where?"
" While I was in Norway a friend of mine was applying for Repsol In-house University. It was an scholarship to study one year in Repsol formation center, to focus on general energy technologies and business administration and then you may be hired by the company or other in the energy sector.
I did the application and got a place. And then after studding in Madrid for a year I was offered a job in exploration and production consulting in Repsol where was working for four years until I got expat to Algeria.
When coming back from Algeria I also took a master in renewable energies while working. I think it is really important to be continuously renewing your professional knowledge. In this tight crisis environment, you have to be updated on what the market is expecting from professionals."
" What do you do nowadays?"
" I currently work in Repsol strategy direction. We design the strategic plan for Repsol business (Exploration, Oil production, Refining, Marketing and New Energies) and also evaluate new projects from an economic and technical point of view. I have been in this position for two years now, and it gives you an overview of the company and the energy sector."
" Is it really useful that you learned in university in your daily work?"
" This is a good question. The best lesson I learned in the university is how to make your way to solve a certain problem with no clear information.
My home university was very traditional and theoretic, few industry applied subjects were available. I make used to learn about a certain topic, with no class material available in a short period of time. We spent most of the time doing hand-based calculations that computers do in real like. That gives you a solid knowledge base, but not a real advance for job market.
During the year I spent in Norway, I saw there much more applied subjects, but on the other hand, students were too used to get everything ready-to-study. When working abroad I notice that our engineers have much more problem-solving skills, and I think it can be a consequence of that."
" What do you think is relevant to the career of an engineer to get a job?"
"The most relevant feature of an engineer is experience. Even if you have study about a certain topic, if you have experience in other thing, you will probably end up working on that.
Given that, while you are studying you have to try to get as much experience as possible in the topic you like. Further that pass the exams, try to understand applications and get real experience if possible. Go ask teachers if further information is available and try to make contacts in the industry.
There is always a question you will be asked when starting to work," What do you know doing?", If you are able to answer and prove something different than "studying" that will help you get the job you like."
" What advice would you give to students of engineering in an area of work for the future?"
" My advice would by that taking the decision of focusing in one topic, driven only by the belief that is going to be plenty of work on that, is not a good decision. In an uncertain moment like this you never know how the market is going to be by the time you are done with your degree.
For example, I explained before that I wanted to study Telecommunications for that reason. Then, after the Ericson factory in Bilbao closed, Telecommunication engineers had a really hard time to find a job, and started to work programing as computer engineers.
For this reason I would advise to focus in what you enjoy the most, where you think you can be the best on. Then complete that with languages or other skills to maximize the places you can work in, and differentiate yourself from the others."
" Thanks you very much Amaia for giving me your time and your help."
" And Bloggers, I would like that the experience of Amaia be an example to your working lives. Thank you very much to all."
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