MY PATH TO THALES
Since my childhood I have had a certain urge to tinker and to experiment. In my education, however, this only became apparent after graduating from high school, when I began my studies in technical computer science at the Vienna University of Technology. There, on my way to becoming a graduate engineer, I was able to take advantage of the unique opportunity to work at one of the most renowned universities in America, Carnegie Mellon University, for half a year. This had quite an impact on my further career. After that, I was able to fill a very exciting PhD position in the field of fault-tolerant systems in the automotive sector at the Vienna University of Technology, which of course was a perfect launching pad for the safety-critical systems at Thales.
Finally, I joined Thales in 2009 through a former fellow student.
MY WORK AT THALES
I started as a developer for the TAS Platform, a technology platform for safety-critical applications. I still maintain a good friendship with my colleagues in this team. In the beginning, I was mainly concerned with automatic code generation and model based engineering. Since the work was funded through an EU project, I got closer to the research funding landscape this way and was able to quickly take on coordinating activities in this area as well.
In spring 2017, I took on the role of research coordinator. In this role, I act as an interface to internal and external funding bodies and take care of project applications, their processing and accounting. In addition, I coordinate Austrian innovation topics within the Group.
MY DAYS IN THE HOME OFFICE
I see the home office concept as an important milestone in improving the work-life balance. Fortunately, Thales jumped on this bandwagon before the pandemic, which certainly saved time and money.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19-induced home office is not ideal for me. I'm usually more productive, but I'm less informed about company procedures because this would have normally been discussed with other colleagues over lunch. So I'm already looking forward to having coffee together in the office again.
WHY I ENJOY WORKING AT THALES
For me, Thales offers a fantastic mix of interesting technology and a relevant field of application. In my role, I'm lucky enough to be involved in most innovation topics, as well as being well-connected to university facilities and research institutes through the innovation and funding projects. This combination of project management, networking and technology offers the perfect balance of business relevance and research and thus responsibility and job satisfaction.