SIEMENS

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“I feel really free when I’m up there,” says Anne Schannong Vinther, 28, who leaves her office for about a third of every year in order to go 70 meters up into the air in a climbing harness. Vinther is an engineer who works at Siemens Wind Power in Aalborg, Denmark, where she helps to ensure the quality of rotor blades for large wind energy facilities. This requires her to rappel herself down from the nacelle so that she can closely inspect the rotor blades. “Although it looks very spectacular, we plan every mission in such detail that things can’t get very scary. Safety always has top priority,” says Vinther, who forwards the results of her inspections to her colleagues at the development department. The rotor blades of wind turbines have to last for a long time, despite the fact that the wind puts them under a lot of strain. In fact, air masses often subject the blades to pressures of up to 100 metric tons. Vinther began working for Siemens in Aalborg while she was still writing her master’s thesis. By now she has become an expert in her area of specialization. “I’ve always liked math and physics. I liked it when I could achieve palpable results,” she says about her schooldays. Although studying industrial management systems in Aalborg was challenging, it was also interesting, Vinther says. “You don’t just learn a lot about a specific field — you also find out how to access new areas of knowledge. That helps me in my job, because I always have to keep abreast of the latest developments,” she explains. Another aspect Vinther likes about her work is the fact that the three men and three women in her team ideally complement one another. “It’s very important to know that we can rely on each other one hundred percent, especially when we’re conducting inspections out in the field,” she says. Vinther’s office is located right next to the plant in which the huge rotor blades are made in one piece. This helps her communication with other departments. Even though the production process is being increasingly automated in order to further reduce the cost of wind power, considerable manual skill is still required to make the rotor blades. Employees are proud of their product, and the task of making the blades is regarded as much more than a job by many of the workers. “I like working for a company that’s involved in creating sustainable forms of energy,” says Vinther. “The future belongs to natural resources like wind power. Once you’ve worked for a green company, you don’t want to go anywhere else!”

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Gerlinde Djumlija has long since accepted that she’s both respected and feared for her persistent nature. She has achieved recognition in the field of steel manufacturing, where she is responsible for developing global business strategies. In the 1980s Djumlija was one of the few women studying at the technology-oriented University of Leoben in the Steiermark region of Austria. She was an exotic figure among the dozens of tech-savvy males in a field of study that was reputed to require nerves of steel. “I immediately fell in love with the metallurgy curriculum because it included so many natural science subjects,” Djumlija recalls. She received her master’s degree after six years — and by the time she was done, she already had a job offer. “Right after my last exam, someone from an engineering firm called me and asked me if I wanted to work there,” says Djumlija. From then on, she immersed herself in technology, conducted research, calculated designs for industrial facilities, and carried out metallurgical analyses. “A rolling mill consists of hundreds of tons of steel, thousands of technical interfaces, and countless individuals who operate and support it,” she says. “I still think it’s a technological marvel that we can make all of these elements function together perfectly.” The experience Djumlija was gaining led not only to more complex tasks but also to more responsibility. “I regarded every new task as an opportunity to develop personally and professionally,” she says. Her persistence paid off. For the past three years she has served as the Head of the Business Excellence department in a Business Segment at Siemens Metals Technologies. In this capacity, her work has shifted toward areas such as strategy, product management, and marketing. About two months ago Djumlija assumed responsibility for Siemens’ global business activities with hot and cold rolling mills, for which she now manages all aspects of sales and projects, among other things. Her advice for combining a career and family is simple: “You have to be self-confident and clear about what you want. My bosses let me set my own hours. I stay in the office until the early afternoon and then spend time with my two children. In the evenings I do teleworking, answer e-mails, and prepare for presentations and business appointments. If I have to be away in the afternoon, my husband or my mother watches the kids.” For longer business trips, she plans everything in advance — for each day she’ll be away and for each child. “Organization is crucial,” she says. “But all of this would be impossible if it weren’t for Grandma.”

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Anitha PC spent five years teaching the fundamentals of computer technology at the Technical University of Visvevaraya in India. In 2004, when Siemens first opened its Bangalore Research Center, she applied immediately. “I was in the first group of people who were hired by CT in Bangalore,” says Anitha, whose unusual last name, PC, is an abbreviation of a very long surname consisting of the name of her place of birth and her father’s name. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Kuvempu University in 1998, she went on to obtain a master’s degree in computer science at Manipal University. Both of these universities are located in the Indian state of Karnataka, which is also home to Bangalore — better known as India’s Silicon Valley. “While I was studying, I began to realize how important software was becoming in all areas of life,” Anitha says. “Embedded software especially became more and more crucial, and today it can be found in everything from electrical engineering equipment to cars and communication systems. That’s why Siemens is the ideal employer for me.” Anitha still enjoys the fact that she is in charge of developing software for a broad range of products and equipment from all Siemens sectors. She is currently responsible for a research group studying user requirements and design. Anitha invented a method for automatically translating domain-specific modeling languages (DSM) into a unified modeling language (UML). She eventually obtained a patent for this new technique. In 2009 she took on a management position in a newly formed team for requirements engineering. Its job is to develop precise knowledge of customer requirements at a very early stage in the planning process. This is becoming increasingly important as Siemens places more and more emphasis on developing “smart” products tailored to the Indian market. Anitha coordinates cooperation between her team and the respective product development engineers at Siemens’ sectors. “We have to closely examine new products very quickly and be able to recognize potential development problems before they occur,” she explains. Anitha immensely enjoys this software development challenge, which she needs to address every day in her work. “Anything else would be too boring for me,” she says. She also likes to do different things in her free time. But although she enjoys variation in her routines, she can also appreciate the importance of permanence in life. That’s particularly the case when it comes to her husband and young daughter.

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Dr. Anja Stieglitz has always wanted to know how things work. Even as a small child, technology interested her, and she preferred to play with cars instead of dolls. As a young woman, she pursued her goal with great determination. After she received her high school diploma, Siemens gave her a scholarship so that she could earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Niederrhein College in Krefeld. In addition to attending several Siemens design seminars, Stieglitz also took training courses in communication-related topics. During semester breaks she worked in a train assembly department, where she learned more about the company and engineering tasks. She subsequently earned a master’s degree and at the same time took part in a work-study program devoted to manufacturing technology. She was promised a permanent position even before she officially obtained her doctorate. Today Stieglitz, 28, works at Siemens’ development department for rail vehicles in Krefeld. One of the topics the department addresses is the joining of materials. “The different parts of trains are welded together or joined with screws or adhesives,” she explains. Although Stieglitz was pretty much the only woman among a crowd of men when she attended college, the situation is different at Siemens. “Twenty percent of the people who got Siemens scholarships were women, although only 15 people obtained scholarships altogether. Women even accounted for half of the scholarship recipients in the graduate program, although that’s not too surprising since there were only four students in total,” she says jokingly. Although women are a minority in her department, some of them occupy leadership positions. What Stieglitz particularly likes about her job is its diversity. She makes plans, conducts research, discusses the work, and documents the results. She also has to travel throughout Germany to evaluate products in manufacturing facilities. What’s more, she also has a say in deciding which materials are ultimately used and how they should be correctly designed. In a sense, it’s “high-tech handicrafts for grown-ups,” she says. According to Stieglitz, it’s not hard to get girls interested in technology; all you have to do is to teach them at an early age that there’s more to life than playing with doll houses and braiding hair. “Girls can stay girls, but parents should let their daughters play with cars, trains, and building blocks too,” Stieglitz says. Her advice for women interested in engineering is: “Don’t become discouraged just because you’re in the minority! Women are just as good as men at earning engineering degrees.” Anja Stieglitz is living proof of that.