Author: Schneider Electric
Fresh Grad in Singapore
Like many fresh graduates, I was unsure about my career journey after graduation. I had an interest in sustainability, smart cities, and energy management, so I applied to Schneider Electric while I was in my final year of university studies and was thrilled to be accepted into its graduate program! In this program, you are trained locally for 6 months and then sent abroad on a 12-month assignment in a country where you will deepen your knowledge of your role.
Winning my first SE Football Tournament!
I started off as a Product Application Engineer, where I learnt how hospitals and data centers manage their temperature and humidity, and how our systems helped them to achieve their energy goals. This allowed me to contribute to their sustainability targets in my own small and meaningful way. I also volunteered for the Welfare and Recreation Committee (WRC). We organized the companywide Dinner & Dance and did monthly sports, social and wellbeing activities. It was a wonderful experience to meet people other departments who I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to interact with.
Soon it was time for my overseas adventure, finding out my career journey would be taking me to England! I was excited at the opportunity to work for a year in Europe, a continent I’d never been to before.
A year in England
Attending a Leicester City Football Club pre-season game
My new Schneider colleagues in England were very warm and welcoming, and I learnt a lot of technical skills. Everyone preferred tea over coffee, and during lunch we could even spend some time in the break room playing FIFA! The weekly tradition of buying ‘breakfast cob’ from a nearby food van every Friday is something I definitely miss.
I have a keen interest in learning languages and luckily the city I lived in, Leicester, is very diverse. I met multiple different speakers living there, and I was able to learn more about their cultures. My German friend even invited me to spend Christmas at his hometown with his family, which was a wonderful experience. I’m grateful that I was able to form these bonds throughout my career journey, many of whom I’m still in touch with today.
The outbreak of Covid-19 was a difficult period for me as I was alone in a foreign country. But my Schneider colleagues made it easier with regular online meetings and mental health & well-being check ins. I was able to use the time to try out new recipes and learn new skills through online courses.
Exploring Yorkshire with some friends
Return to Singapore Jul 2020 – Nov 2022
Soon, my year-long assignment came to an end, and I returned to Singapore in my new role as tendering engineer. I was excited to go into the commercial side of the business as the next step in my career journey and apply my technical knowledge of energy management systems to prepare proposals for our systems for some of the most well-known tech companies. Regular interactions with colleagues from Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia, made the work quite interesting and fed my appetite of learning and interacting with different cultures.
With the recent launch of the Open Talent Market at Schneider Electric, I had the opportunity to explore projects outside of my daily job scope to further develop my career. I took on a couple of projects and had the privilege to work with diverse individuals from various business units in the company. One of these projects involved finding meaningful patterns in a large amount of data and sparked my interest in data analytics.
I was keen to explore a new challenge and extend my career journey in this field and saw the opening in the Open Talent Market for a Smart Factory Leader in our Pisek, Czechia, plant.
It had the right mix of implementing data analytics and smart technology, and I applied for it. Fortunately, after some rounds of interviews I was offered the position and I gladly accepted it.
Even though it was difficult for my manager to let me go, he was supportive and understood that it was important for me to grow and learn. After waiting for my visa, I finally arrived in Czechia in December 2022.
Cesky Krumlov in Czechia
Czechia Dec 2022 – Present
It has been a month and a half since I have arrived and I’m learning new things every day. I am astounded by how fast and efficient our factory processes are but am keen to contribute towards improvement.
I’m grateful for the community here who’ve helped me to settle down and invite me to play sports and travel.
Are you interested in an international career at Schneider Electric? Check out our website for more information and for available positions to take your career journey to the next level. www.se.com/careers
About the Author
Mohsin Ahamed is a Smart Factory Leader under the Power Products Division in Global Supply Chain. He implements smart solutions and data analytics for the Pisek plant, with the aim of achieving Smart Advanced factory certification.