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Prelude - 2 Days in Spain
Lei • 1.Oktober, 2007 @ 08:30 • Abgelegt unter: Forschung und Entwicklung
“Si, si…”, I nervously pointed to the Tapas in the glass case, “no, no…no…” It seems, without speaking Spanish, one really had to starve a little in Spain. I should have taken a colleague with me from the plant when I go out for dinner.
In contrast, within the Bosch plant, everyone is multi-lingual - the Spanish speak fluent German at Bosch, which I found rather amazing. This, I heard, is a prerequisite for all engineers applying for jobs at Bosch in Spain. Luckily, that is not a prerequisite for the trainee program in Germany.
My name is Lei and I was recruited into the Bosch trainee program for Research and Development in the USA, when I was finishing my Ph.D. there in mathematics. This is a little bit unusual for the technical trainee program. I was born and raised in China, in one of the biggest cities, Guangzhou (used to be Canton), on the Pearl River Delta in southern China. It is a city with a population of 6-10 million people (depending on how one counts:)) and is the heart of one of mainland China’s leading commercial, trading and manufacturing centers. Therefore, most mathematics students in my hometown find jobs in one of these manufacturing or commercial businesses after gaining the Bachelor’s degree. Contrarily, I headed to California to pursue mathematics further. The technique of acquiring and processing information, the communication skills, as well as the problem-solving skills I gained during my Ph.D. program prove very beneficial for my daily work at Bosch.
With that said, I should explain what I am doing in Spain. I am here in our lead plant to be trained about the manufacturing processes of the product I am dealing with in the hardware development department in Germany. The training helps me with my current task, which is to develop a key manufacturing process of this product for our new low-cost production line in China. In December, I will then start my next trainee station in China, working with other engineers to start up this new line. Therefore, in Spain, I also get to be trained on other functions related to the manufacturing of this product, such as quality management and logistics.
During the two-day training, there are also some surprises of a quality that I had not expected. “The problem is, they lied to us,” said the quality manager. Shocked, I sat in his office, looking for the right thing to say. We are talking about a supplier here, which we badly need. But without the quality manager’s approval, we cannot get this supplier on boat. This would be a tough one. I will have to look into that when I get back to Germany.
This is one of the challenges we face every day. In a multi-cultural environment, communication is one of the most important factors in success. That is also why I decide to write this blog in English, because I understand how difficult it was as a foreigner living or working in Germany without understanding the language. And I know how important it is to keep up with my English, because in an international company like Bosch, once you have anything to do with other people outside of Europe, being able to speak and write good English is a must. (I will give you enough examples that you can be convinced by this, if you are not right now.) Therefore, I assume everybody could understand what I write. If I write this in German, there is a small chance that some people won’t get it. (I could also write in Chinese, if you want, but then the chance of understanding it is still a little lower.) If you feel like writing me back in German, however, don’t let me stop you. And I will respond in German, if requested.
From now on I will write about my experiences in my Trainee Program in Research and Development regularly. Your Remarks, comments and questions are highly appreciated.
4.Oktober, 2007 @ 19:27
Ni hao Lei,
very nice text. I myself am from Valencia, Spain.
So I’m always excited when I hear about others’ experiences in my country.
And in about three months I will travel to your country to see how life is there. I’ll be staying in Hangzhou for six months, while working as an intern for Bosch Powertools.
Zai jian!
Elena
4.Oktober, 2007 @ 20:39
i am glad to read your blog.
24.Oktober, 2007 @ 10:30
Hello Elena,
Sorry for the belated response.
I will be going to China in a month as well. Perhaps we will see each other there, who knows.;) Hangzhou is beautiful, and it must be really exciting to work with Powertools there.
If you need any information about working or traveling in China, or about working at Bosch, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Lei
4.Juni, 2008 @ 19:41
It is supporting to hear all of the positive comments about the BOSCH training programs. I am currently in the interviewing process for a management training role in the finance department, and so glad there is a blog where I am able to read others comments. I wanted to ask you, waht you thought the company’s most rewarding quality is, in your training program, and at the end of the spectrum, if you have any complaints. Thank you.
9.Juni, 2008 @ 18:37
Hi Allegra,
First of all, congratulations that you made it through the first (few) rounds of interviews. I don´t know whether you have by now successfully completed the interviews or not, but if you are still in the process and have any questions in general, please don`t hesitate to email me.
About the questions you mentioned: I personally think that the company´s most rewarding quality is its values. E.g. it commits itself to the social wellness and focuses on long-term investments that aims to improve the life of general public (as the motto goes: Technik fürs Leben(Invented for Life)). This is reflected in its products, as well as its internal personnel strategies. Opposite to our major competitors, Bosch´s 90%+ profit goes to the Robert Bosch Foundation instead of the investors (stock holders), which in turn supports all aspects of improvements of the society, from education, medicine, to public policies. On a more personal level, I feel lucky to be at Bosch, as I find many opportunities that I would not have had at other companies, because of the support Bosch provides to women and family.
Honestly I don´t have any complaints so far. Bosch is a very big company (with 270,000 employees worldwide), and has therefore some of the unavoidable drawbacks that other big companies also has, e.g. complicated organisational structures and sometimes slower decision-process (being non-public is also a factor). Eventually it is a personal thing, whether you like to work for small or big company. It might take you a bit longer to orient yourself within the company from the beginning, but the trainees network is very effective and intimate, which helps with the orientation a lot.
Hope this answers your questions, and much success with the interviews or where else future may lead you,
Lei
6.August, 2008 @ 19:40
Hi,
I have been reading this blog for some time now but never bothered to comment until today. Wanted to let you know that I am a fan and enjoy your work.
Thanks,
_________________
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