Image: Center Langen, DFS German Air Traffic Control
One is studying aviation technology and meteorology for more safety in the air, the other is calculating profit margins from new energy technologies for a clean environment: two young women are demonstrating that a career in technical professions is absolutely not a question of gender.
Narmina Huseynova practices guiding pilots safely from A to B with their jets. The 22-year-old, who was born in Baku in Azerbaijan and grew up in Bonn, is an aspiring air traffic controller. She sits with her coach in the German Air Traffic Control (DFS) simulator in Langen near Frankfurt in a room without a window in front of a large screen. “Lufthansa 732 Tango, proceed direct Mambu,” she says loud and clear into the microphone. She pronounces the three like “tree”. There is no “th” in radio communication between pilots and air traffic controllers like in school. It could cause distortion in radio communications. The Rhinelander knows that there is often no time for questions, which is why the air traffic controller's English is a little different than what she learned at school in Bonn.
Jumbo saved
On your screen, the small shining dot, the plane DLH732T, is now turning towards Würzburg. There somewhere high up in the air lies Mambu. This is one of many points in the sky above Germany that have been given five letters for orientation. The jumbo is out of the danger zone and won't get in the way of any other planes. Narmina Huseynova passed the exercise. Her trainer is satisfied with her work.
“Air traffic controllers have to think spatially and be able to do several things at the same time. Above all, they have to concentrate at all times of the day and night,” is how the future pilot summarizes the requirements. “Every working day is different, every situation in heaven can be solved in many different ways.” She describes her job as very “logically regulated” and “creative”.
Tower or control center
After graduating from high school with advanced courses in math and physics, Huseynova successfully completed a multi-stage selection process at the DFS and was one of the three people in a group of 40 applicants who were admitted to training. She can choose between two workstations: tower or control center.
Tower Bremen, © DFS German air traffic control
One is surrounded by large panoramic windows near a tarmac at a German airport, the other is in one of the four headquarters in Bremen, Langen, Karlsruhe or Munich. After completing her training at the air traffic control academy, she will be deployed to the control center in Langen. That's where the greatest need is right now. The lower airspace above the megacity of Cologne will become its “sector”. After passing theory, practice on the simulator and real operations in the control center with her coach, she will work independently as a controller after three years of intensive training.
Flexibility is expected
Good working conditions, lots of breaks, vacation days to regenerate and attractive pay - air traffic controllers earn up to 100,000 euros a year depending on the area of work and location - make this job attractive despite a lot of responsibility. To achieve this, the controllers have to be flexible. We work in shifts, day and night. The employer determines how and where they are used – depending on their needs. Every year 3,000 young people apply to get one of the 50 training places. The biggest hurdle is the aptitude test: Applicants are put through their paces for a week, including psychology and physical health.
Huseynova remembers that the concentration test in the second selection stage was tough. “Some of them simply fell asleep.” In a year, she and a colleague will be leading flights over Cologne at the center in Langen. After a few years, she can continue her education. She can “learn” other sectors, i.e. other airspaces, and work in different areas, take care of the working conditions or work as a teacher with the next generation of pilots. The end for active pilots is at the age of 55; many leave the profession at the age of 52.
Power woman for clean energies
The 26-year-old industrial engineer Catherine Rickmann from Saarbrücken sees herself as a bridge builder between technology and business. She works as a project manager at the cleantech company Orcan Energy in Obersendling near Munich.
© Orcan Energy
She supports the board by presenting new ideas to customers, presenting facts at supervisory board meetings and preparing decision templates for her superiors. She always has the technologies relevant to her company related to energy, waste heat and efficiency at her fingertips.
Much variety
“Every working day is different, that’s what I like best about my job,” summarizes the sporty Munich resident. Your employer has found a way to “capture” waste heat that escapes during the operation of an engine or an industrial process and convert it into electricity. This micropower plant is called “ePack”. Rickmann: “We have further developed the technology so that generating waste heat into electricity is worthwhile even at low temperatures. Our ePacks can be used in data centers, on compressed air equipment, on a ship engine, a biogas plant and in trucks.”
Customers include medium-sized businesses as well as large industrial companies that want to use their waste heat. Catherine Rickmann works closely with the developers of this technology: “I have to completely understand the background and the products and be able to explain them to our customers.”
dual study
To achieve this, Rickmann completed a three-year dual course of study at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Karlsruhe in cooperation with the Energie Baden-Württemberg Group (EnBW). Here the mix of theory and practice was crucial for her. She didn't just study physics, math and statistics. “We also learned a lot about entering new markets,” she remembers. She got a feeling for what technical solutions have to be like in order to be profitable under certain market conditions.
After passing the exam, she started working in the offshore wind power department at EnBW. “The work was exciting and very professional,” sums up Rickmann. After three years of studying and a year at EnBW, it was time for something new and the Saarland native joined Orcan Energy. “It’s really kind of a dream job,” she says.
The career paths of Catherine Rickmann and the aspiring air traffic controller Narmina Huseynova show: Best opportunities for advancement, interesting tasks and high salaries are standard in many technical professions. There are good reasons for young women not to ignore math, computer science, natural sciences and technology.
Two female career starters demonstrate that a career in technical professions is absolutely not a question of gender.
