I first joined TÜV SÜD in the summer of 2010 as an industrial placement student whilst studying BEng Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Portsmouth. In September 2011, I returned to complete my final year of university and achieved a first-class honours degree.
TÜV SÜD sponsored me for this year and also supported me with my final project. I'm proud to say that what I produced is still used today, albeit with some enhancements. After finishing my degree, I returned to TÜV SÜD as a graduate engineer and have progressed to a Senior Engineer (Technical Support) in the RF department.
I was excited at the prospect in working in a technical field that is forever developing. Since joining I have seen the deployment of 4G and 5G as well as many enhancements in WiFi and Bluetooth technologies.
I work at the Product Service division headquarters at Octagon House, Fareham, Hampshire.
Testing of wireless devices, using test equipment such as spectrum analysers, network analysers and signal generators. In-depth knowledge of radio technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth and LTE.
As the main technical engineer for the RF team, I provide technical support to engineers performing RF testing and train new engineers when they join TÜV SÜD. Part of my role is to provide technical support to the projects and sales team as well as advising customers on how to prepare for testing or providing details of issues as they arise during testing.
Working for a test lab means that you get to work with a wide variety of different products and technologies. These are often at the forefront of advanced technologies. I really enjoy helping people and in this role I get to support lots of different people from all over the business.
Recently, I have been involved in a project to launch a new £1.65million EMC test facility near our Fareham site. I was responsible for the procurement of new test equipment and very much enjoyed the challenge of evaluating new test equipment to ensure that we have the best resources available. This facility is due to expand in the next few years, so I very much look forward to continuing to work on this.
The growth within the RF team has been immense since joining. It has grown from a team of around 10 to over 30 people. There have been many innovations in test automation in this time, meaning not only have we added new faces to the team, but we are working more efficiently that we did when I joined.
The deployment of automation enables us to improve our test lead times and help manufacturers to bring their products to market in lesser time scales. Engineers are having a greater involvement in supporting the introduction of automation – such as performing validation and repeatability studies.
More and more products contain wireless technologies and sometimes the manufacturers of these products don’t have this specialist wireless knowledge. Whilst they are experts of the main function of the products, we work with them by reviewing datasheets and working with module manufacturers to ensure products are exercised correctly for testing.
It is a very interesting and technologically advanced field and I genuinely enjoy coming to work. There are many friendly faces, and everyone is always willing to help each other by working together.
From sponsorship of my final year at university, TÜV SÜD have always supported my career progression. I have developed from a graduate engineer to being the main technical engineer for RF as well as having team lead roles and gaining project management experience in the process.
Friendly, intelligent, hard-working, quirky & fun.
Having been involved in the recruitment of new members to the team, I would say that TÜV SÜD offers you the exciting opportunity to develop a career in the test and measurement industry. Attitude and aptitude are critical to success and TÜV SÜD have some great individuals who are happy to coach and develop outstanding individuals who could go on to become experts in the industry.
