My journey with ABB started as somewhat of a surprise, as working in process controls had not been on my radar. I was hired to be a field service engineer, meaning I would travel to industrial sites all over the country to work on operating software and computer cards that I’d never even heard of before. Fortunately for me, as well as my training groupmates, the company’s culture is more focused on developing skills in people who have the right attitude and ability to learn, rather than demanding we join as experts already. This became clear to me from day one, when we were told, “this is your steppingstone to almost any type of position in our division.” While my love of computer problem solving has kept me growing into new, hands-on technical roles, I’ve seen other field service engineers move into sales, project management - you name it.
After a few years of traveling the country, fixing bugs and training customers as fast as I could, I found myself seeking out assignments that would be interesting challenges. When one plant needed a server upgrade during the night shift, I dove in headfirst; I’d soon learn that nothing forces you to focus quite like finding brand new error messages at an hour of the night when no sane person will answer their phone to help. (I learned to drink my coffee black that night, too. Anything caffeinated will do at 2am).
I’ve been at ABB around nine years now, and it’s thrilling to see continued growth opportunities. When the position opened, I became a technical advisor, helping to mentor newer engineers and taking on more difficult software problems. My current role in the Advanced Services Group requires me to stay on the cutting edge of cybersecurity knowledge to protect our customer’s valuable systems.
In 2020, ABB launched our Diversity & Inclusion program to help foster the personal growth of all our employees. As part of this, I was able to develop one of our Employee Resource Groups, Encompass Pride, as a co-president of the US chapter. None of these opportunities were in my plans, I found them on my career journey.
If this were an organization that encouraged employees to “stay in their lane,” I’d be looking to switch companies to improve myself as an engineer. Here at ABB, as I see my decade anniversary on the horizon, I have no doubt I’ll continue to find opportunities to grow. I hope some of them are fun surprises, too.
