Monika Clara Bak, Women in Service

Hey, I am Monika. Currently, I am working for High Voltage Service as a Field Service Engineer. In this job, I directly handle the gas insulated switchgears (GIS) we produce and make sure they are carefully handed over to our customers. Most of what I do is about installation and commissioning, which also includes customer communication. As a Field Service Engineer, it is a top priority that the customer can put their GIS in operation without any problems and that this status remains constant for the next years and decades.

It is always an incredible feeling if you can handover after weeks of hard work a fully operational GIS to the customer. And knowing that this machine will be part of the grid for the next years.

Being on-site means much too often being the only female person there. I strongly believe in the benefits of a diverse team. Especially in jobs like mine, where you must solve problems with creativity and have a hands-on mentality. Our diverse minds bring in many ideas and at the very end, the fitting solution.

I see myself as a kind of on-site ambassadress. As a female engineer out there, I can show my colleagues, that I am a valuable team member – exactly as everybody else and regardless my age, my sex, my size, my background. Another really important point to me is, that I can share my experiences and hopefully be able to inspire other female employees to go out and to take on the fear and the concerns.

What I really like about this job is the high level of responsibility which I have for our work, our products and the progress we make. We do this along with prioritizing the safety of our colleagues and customers on-site. The direct interactions with our customers and the relationship we build up is also important to me.

An experienced colleague told me after a successful High Voltage Test, witnessed by our customer: The customer was smiling all the time. Great job.

The point is not the last sentence. A bit later we talked about it again and he mentioned, the customer was not only happy about the results, but also about having me on-site as a kind of proof that Hitachi Energy is a modern, open and future oriented company. That was a huge compliment for me and our company

I am proud to be Hitachi Energy because it allows me to contribute to a reliable and sustainable grid and thus contribute to the future of all of us. Especially, I am proud to be Hitachi Energy Service, since there we build long lasting partnerships and for me, collaboration is the key.