Jens - Electronics Engineer
Name:
Jens
Education:
Bsc
Job title:
Electronics Engineer
Department:
Electronics
“If I’m able to come up with a smart design in a device, one that gives real benefits to the user, then I feel I can help make a difference. When the company gets positive feedback, you feel proud if you’ve been part of the developmental phase of that product, extra proud if it’s one of your projects. It’s quite nice to hear that people appreciate what you’re doing.”
We are in the forefront of the technical development
The first challenge is to be able to define the requirements for a product, then my personal challenge is to figure out how to make the design. The first step is to sit down with your colleagues to discuss the possibilities.
Often the requirements are fairly premature, so you have to start up on a very rough set of requirement specifications when things aren’t really defined yet. You begin with the basic concepts and make some early prototypes that demonstrate some of the ideas.
People normally want to have something in their hands at an early phase to give them a feeling of what it’s all about. Therefore a looks and works-like printed circuit board assembly must be realized in the early phase of the project.
Designing electronic circuits, it’s always exciting to learn that the design works after it has been put together by the printed-circuit designers.
Today it’s harder to build prototypes than it was in the old days. Components are shrinking in size and often you don’t have components you can handle on a breadboard, so you must wait for the printed circuit boards before you can do the final tests. That’s why it’s so exciting when it comes back and hopefully works.
We are still in many ways newcomers when you talk about electronics and software development. There’s expansion, but the medical business is a slow business. It doesn’t develop as fast as the mobile phone or consumer products.
Our emphasis on social responsibility makes us different
My job is to develop hardware. I make the design, draw schematics, build up and test prototypes of electronic-based products.
I started 22 years ago in Nordisk Gentofte, before the merger with Novo. A former colleague at the company I was working at asked if I would like to join the company.
It’s somewhat difficult to say what it’s like in other companies. But I’d say Novo Nordisk puts an emphasis on ethics, the environment, and other issues. This means we probably are different in many ways compared with other companies.
We fund a lot of social and education programs not made for financial gain. The programs are all health related and help make a difference in people’s lives.
Throughout my career I’ve been working with hardware and software, but now I’m focusing on hardware. I don’t think it’s possible to cover both disciplines at the same time in larger projects.
Novo Nordisk is a large company, but I feel there’s a good spirit in the company and you can read that in all the awards we win from different parts of the world.