This story is taken from our newsletter The Volt. To read a magazine version of this and other stories, click here.
Serkan Öztürk, a Power Electronics Engineer from Turkey with 10 years’ experience, moved to the UK in January to work for RootWave. Nearly a year on he says he couldn’t be happier with the decision he made to join a growing and exciting company.
I chose RootWave because the role was very attractive – it offered me a fantastic opportunity to use my experience. I had been contacted by a specialist power electronics recruitment consultant, and I was lucky to have the choice of three or four roles.
RootWave provided me with an opportunity to apply my experience to an exciting new technology in a growing company. This was more attractive to me than working on one very small part of a much larger process – at RootWave I was given the opportunity to make a positive difference to the products I would be working on.
The idea of working on technology that could improve agriculture, which is a huge industry, was exciting. My role is 100% power electronics, but the concept at RootWave was very attractive.
I felt at ease from my first conversation with RootWave. The existing team is multicultural, I found that very reassuring – a sign that the company were going to be welcoming and supportive and that has proved to be true.
The interview process was good, both the technical and managerial interviews, which were conducted over Teams. The company was very responsive to questions – that was not the case with the other companies I spoke to.
Moving to a new country was a big thing for me and my family, but the support we received was fantastic. After I accepted the role, the company made the whole process very easy. I moved with my wife and daughter who was four at the time. We were fully supported with the Visa process and looking for accommodation. Due to travel restrictions I had to isolate for the first ten days and on day one a package arrived with a phone, laptop and everything I needed – it felt great to be supported in that way.
Then in the early weeks my manager was very flexible with my working hours, allowing me to make appointments I needed to set up our new home. The fact that I was respected and trusted form the start was important to me. I have that same respect and trust for the company and my colleagues now – I want to give back what was given to me in those early days.
What I love about working at RootWave is that I have an influence over the whole product design process. In other industries you might have a very specific role on a single part of the process. You go through the same routine time and time again. Here it is exciting, these are new products, new technology. We will have a challenge or a problem to solve, and I can bring my experience in to solve it – take that straight to the lab and put it into the design. I will then be involved in testing, I can see my idea in practice get the feedback and take it back to the lab to make tweaks.
“I love the multicultural team here… the culture is that we talk things through, we listen to each other. It makes for a good working day, for good design and good products.”
To me, a good engineer is a good problem solver – at RootWave, because we’re working on ground-breaking technology there are new problems to solve each day. I feel like a good engineer at work every day.
I love the multicultural team here, there is a fantastic collaborative atmosphere and I think it we bring out the best in each other. We’re creating something new, so you need lots of ideas – we have people from all over the world, they each have their own experience and can bring their own ideas to the table. The culture is that we talk things through, we listen to each other. It makes for a good working day, for good design and good products.
I am looking forward to my first project turning into a commercial product. We’re getting close to finalising a brand new design that will be used in city centres. I have been designing the power electronics – it will be the heart of the finished product. I can’t wait for it to be on the market. That will be a huge moment for me, it is very exciting.
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