When did you start working for ERICH JAEGER and why? 

I've been here at the company since 1997, and I decided to join at that time because the advertised position as a developer was something completely new and exciting.

What did you do before working at ERICH JAEGER?

I am a trained automotive electrician and I repaired cars in a garage at a car dealership. And then I saw the job advertised in the newspaper that exactly matched my profile as an automotive electrician for development and technical documentation.

In which department did you start and what were your activities?

At that time, I developed electric harnesses for the trailer towing device. If you retrofit a coupling device to your car, you need a socket for the trailer. And that's what we did. Just like taking the vehicle, designing a rough sketch and a more detailed drawing for production, and writing installation instructions for the customers so that they can install the electric harness afterwards.

You decided to write your thesis at the company. How did that come about?

The control unit development continued to work more closely with the electric harness development and I found that very exciting. However, I didn't have an engineering degree to be able to help develop control units. So in 2006, I decided to study engineering.

What was the topic of your thesis and to what extent were you able to advance and optimize internal processes as a result?

The topic was the implementation and analysis of a CAN bootloader for process optimization in series production. Control units need software because the microcontroller needs its intelligence to know what to do. This software was initially stored on a proprietary test system. Over time, however, this became slower and slower, and the development of the CAN bootloader accelerated this process. It has made it possible to store software on several control units at the same time.

How exactly were you supported by ERICH JAEGER during this phase?

I was able to switch to the control unit development right from the beginning of my diploma semester so that I could concentrate 100% on this work. Meanwhile, I interrupted my work in harness development. Bastian Heid supported me as my thesis supervisor and when things got tricky or very specific questions had to be clarified, we were able to solve the problems together.

You didn't always stay in the same department during your career at ERICH JAEGER...

This is due to the fact that I was also involved in the development of the ISOBUS socket [1]  in the electronics department. This product was and still is somewhat complicated in terms of technical requirements. It was important that the box be explained in more detail to the customer. And so the idea came up to offer me a position in sales with a focus on this ISOBUS topic among other sales topics. I ended up working in sales for seven years until I switched back to the development department.

How were you supported by ERICH JEAGER during these department changes?

Settling in was difficult, but doable. I took part in many training sessions that sharpened my understanding of sales activities. Training sessions were chosen on a selective basis that were tailored exactly to my requirements and problems.

Did you benefit from the opportunity to move to other departments?

Definitely. Now that I'm back to working as an engineer, I understand that the customer doesn't want the perfectly developed product, but the product according to their requirements. It's often an "engineer thing" to want to develop the best product. As sales representative I've learned that it's about solving a specific problem for the customer, not 30 others. That makes the development more focused and customer-oriented in the end.

Do you have advice for young professionals who want to start a career at ERICH JAEGER?

Stay curious about what your colleagues next to you are doing.

 

[1] The ISOBUS standard (defined in the ISO 11783 standard series) has ensured manufacturer-independent compatibility between tractors, accessory equipment, and agricultural software on office PCs since 1991.