Today, 23.06 is an international awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering and highlight the amazing career opportunities available to women in this exciting industry. We can celebrate the positions and involvement of women from around the world in engineering topics.
At Dellner, we strive for a world free of stereotypes and discrimination. We want to empower our employees to make diversity, equality and inclusion a part of our daily lives.
We are proud to announce that women at Dellner make up 27% of all white-collar workers and 11% of blue-collar workers. What’s more, we have 24% of women in management positions at all plants worldwide. We strive to foster a corporate culture that creates equal opportunities for all employees.
In an effort to honor this day and encourage other women to join the industry, we bring you the stories of 5 women, who work at Dellner in various positions related to and broadly defined by engineering.
We asked them few questions:
1.When did you start working at Dellner and what is the field of your work?
2. How did it all start – that is, why did you choose this particular direction of education and career?
3. What was this path like?
4. What skills are useful in this industry?
5. How do you feel about being in such a “Man’s Industry”?
6. What advice would you give to women who are just beginning their education or work in engineering?
Learn about the stories of our heroines:
Anna Enochsson
Development Manager / Dellner Sweden
I started in 2007 while I was still at university and doing a work placement at Dellner. After that I was hired as a mechanical engineer. In 2009 I switched to Sales Engineering. Working closer to the customers and with the complete coupler system was something I enjoyed a lot and learned from them. It was also in Sales Engineering that I got the opportunity to become a manager. What I like most about being a manager is the possibility to improve our way of working and ensure we have efficient processes to deliver high quality results. In 2018 we started a new R&D department and I was asked to manage it. With a new team we started building up processes from scratch, ways of working and delivering new sub-systems to the modular product portfolio.
- Mechanical Engineer 2007-2009
- Sales Engineer 2009-2012
- Left Dellner and became a consultant 2012-2014, (this was also where I had my first manager role, filling in for someone on maternity leave)
- Re-joined Dellner 2015 as Sales Engineer but became Sales Engineer Manager after only a few weeks.
- Today I am R&D Manager in BU Couplers, started in late 2017 – still in that role.
I choose a technical path since I always liked maths more than other topics in school. Then when choosing what type of engineer to become I found mechanical engineering to be the most interesting, so I thought I’d give it a try. In a structured way, I’m dedicated to solving problems and making improvements for a better result. And as an engineer I get to work with this on a daily business.
After 4 years of technical college (Swedish senior high school) I worked for 9 years in a company building Hydraulic Cylinders. During that time I had 2 kids and started my family. When the kids got older, I felt I had more to give in my professional life, so I started university when I was 30 years old. For me that was really good, I had a lot of work experience before studying and I could relate a lot to that experience while I was at university.
For me it is a lot about the team. Working together using everyone’s knowledge and experience is how you achieve the best results.
I always liked working with engineers. I feel the atmosphere and communication is straight forward and direct, which I like (this goes for both men and women). I don’t feel any major differences but the best teams I have worked in have a mix of both men and women.
My advice: Just do it if you want varied and fun work. Also remember, it is never too late to learn new things. Be open minded and curious and it will take you as far as you want.
Krystyna Ostrowicka
Design Engineer / Dellner Poland
I have been working at Dellner for 17 years. I work in the Engineering Department as a Design Engineer. I’ve worked on new projects and service projects, and currently I’m part of a team responsible for deciding on and implementing revisions to existing documentations.
My work has always been satisfying because of the interesting technical issues of the top-shelf software and the team of people I work with. Because I work in an international team, I feel that the world is open to me.
I have always been good at mathematics and physics, so the decision to study at the Technical University came in high school.
As a result, classical music and guitar playing, which were my second interests and another potential profession, were pushed aside. Now I think it was a good choice.
At the beginning, when I started working after graduation, it wasn’t easy. However, as time went on, thanks to the help and explanations of my colleagues from production, engineering, and my own work, my professional experience got better and better.
I think that the most essential skills needed for this industry are precision, good spatial imagination, development orientation, and the inquisitiveness to keep looking for new solutions. Although more men work in my industry, it has never been an issue for me. I have always respected my colleagues from the Design Department and production, and the respect has been reciprocated. It’s always been that way.
My advice for women who are just beginning their education or work in engineering, would be to do what they like and what truly interests them. Working on technical topics is governed by clear rules and knowledge. The first step to being a good engineer is to get to know these rules and follow them. Moreover, teamwork is crucial for reaching goals. In order to maximise your potential as a team member, you’ll need to help your coworkers, and accept help from them.
Hanna Garbergs
Environmental and Eco Product Specialist / Global Quality & ESH / Dellner Sweden
I have worked at Dellner as an Environmental & Eco Design Specialist since 2019.
I’ve always liked solving problems and I enjoyed physics, mathematics, biology and chemistry during high school. Therefore I chose to study biotechnology engineering. During my studies I discussed environmental protections issues with friends and found it both interesting and important for our future. To learn more, I took courses in both environmental law and environmental management. My first job after graduating was in quality management. During that time I got a chance to work on environmental issues, which was so much fun. When I was asked to join Dellner as an Environmental & Eco Design Specialist, it was a no-brainer. Working with environmental issues at a company where technology plays a major role is really fun and I’ve enjoyed working at Dellner ever since I started.
For me leaving the biotech industry was difficult, as I’d always thought that I would work in biotech companies throughout my whole career. But I must say that working in different kinds of industries is developmental as well as fun; it has given me some useful experience.
It is important to be able to cooperate with different kinds of people, cultures and skills. Therefore I think it is important to be flexible and also to remember to keep people in the loop at all times.
I haven’t noticed any differences, though they probably do exist. I think that since people working at Dellner are willing to help and respond positively when I ask questions, makes it is easy to collaborate, no matter if I’m working with men or women.
My advice: I think working on something that you are committed to, regardless of whether you’re working in a male-dominated industry or not, is important. When you are committed, you’ll be able to work harder, learn faster and most important – the work will be more fun!
Kristina Ullbros
Team Manager Manuals / Dellner Sweden
I started working as a consultant at Dellner in 2015 as a technical writer at the manuals department. It was one year after my maternity leave and I had previously been working as a consultant at Bombardier. After one year as a consultant at Dellner I got employed and at that time there were more women than men in the department. After a few years I was asked to be team leader. After another year I was asked to be the manager. Now I am the only woman in the manuals department. Currently I have also been working for a shorter period as acting manager for the Design Engineering team.
It wasn’t obvious to me that this would be my occupation. It was never my dream job and it was a long way to get here. After trying out several occupations and educations that did not suit me, like cleaning hotel rooms, taking care of the disabled, working in a tourist information centre and a cafe, studying to become a high school teacher, studying languages at university, I stopped and started thinking that what I actually like is writing. So what could I do in that area? I started studying Information Design at university. During that time I noticed that I am definitely no poet, since my teacher was disappointed with my rather plain texts. That made me realise that I should focus on texts with facts and information. Which is why I ended up in technical writing, which suited me really well after growing up in a family where cars, motorsports and possible engineering solutions was the regular topics around the dinner table.
I think it is important to be open minded, curious, inventive but not least to have a sense of humour and some playfulness. Not only when it comes to the product but also the way of working. If we get stuck in negative thinking it will affect us and we won’t see the possible solutions.
I love working at Dellner, and mostly the men are fantastic co-workers. Some of them really support me and want me to develop and some tell me almost every day that I am doing a fantastic job, but also give me some constructive feedback. These men make me really happy to work at Dellner and it’s nice to have their support and respect. Of course there can be some individuals that are less supportive but that is mostly due to some misunderstanding or miscommunication, and I know that most of them are at least trying so I don’t waste too much energy on those situations.
My advice to other women is to be yourself. You are just as good as anyone else. Take yourself seriously. Have confidence that you will succeed and don’t be afraid to fail or make mistakes. If and when that happens, don’t give up. Instead trust that you will find another way and you will succeed.
Justyna Brzozowska – Leśko
Paint/ Corrosion Subject Matter Expert/ Subject Matter Expert / Dellner Poland
I started working at Dellner in 2019 as a SME Painting and Corrosion.
I’m not sure if anyone anywhere have ever said, “What I’d like to do in my life is to be a corrosion engineer!”. I have a BA in biotechnology and when the date of my thesis defence was coming closer, I found out about an MA in corrosion. So I applied.
Biotechnology had great PR, but the reality was really different. Sometimes it involved observing fascinating biotechnological processes, and sometimes it involved performing completely mundane and tedious experiments.
The beginning of my career path wasn’t very easy, due to the direction I chose. Corrosion-related work is not very popular, especially in Poland. If there were any vacancies, they were aimed at experienced people. But once I’d stared working, it got easier because of the experience I’d gained.
I wouldn’t say that any amazing skills are needed in this industry. It seems to me that the basic thing is to simply like chemistry, as well as to speculate, discuss and listen. For me, corrosion was a natural choice.
It seems to me that gender doesn’t matter too much in working in this industry. I can say from experience that I have worked very well with both women and men. If you work together on an issue you like, it builds a good relationship.
My advice for women at the beginning of their education is not to focus on stereotypes regarding areas that may be suitable for men or women. Instead, find a topic you’re really passionate about and just start exploring that. Your job takes up a lot of your life, so spend it doing something that gives you joy and satisfaction.
Thank you to all the women working at Dellner who shared their stories with us.
