From Cleansing Places of work to Designing EV Charging Stations

Greta Bekerytė began out cleansing places of work and ended up designing electronics for EV charging stations. It’s wonderful what you possibly can accomplish in your profession whenever you observe your goals.

It wasn’t straightforward. Bekerytė moved from her native Lithuania to Norway in 2010 to reap the benefits of the nation’s free college tuition, however first she needed to discover a technique to assist herself. She took the cleansing job, and scrimped and saved to pay for Norwegian studying and writing lessons, a requirement to attend a college. It took her 4 years, however she was lastly in a position to afford the tutoring for the language programs, which price 1000’s of U.S. {dollars}.

She went on to earn a bachelor’s diploma in industrial automation and circuit design, adopted by a grasp’s in robotics and sign processing, each from Norway’s College of Stavanger.

Right now she works as a {hardware} engineer at Zaptec, which makes electric-vehicle charging stations and can also be based mostly in Stavanger. For her contributions to the sphere, in 2022 she was chosen as one of many Prime Ladies in EV by the organizers of the EV Summit, a number one international e-mobility occasion.

Bekerytė credit her success to following her coronary heart. “Do what you’re keen on,” she says. “Then it is possible for you to to undergo all of the challenges that come up, and you should have the dedication and drive to really change into what you need to change into.”

A specialist at coronary heart

Rising up in Šiauliai, Lithuania, Bekerytė appeared destined to change into an engineer. She remembers that when she was about 5 years outdated, a buddy of her mom’s, who labored as {an electrical} engineer at an organization that constructed energy transformers, handed her some outdated schematics from her job to make use of as drawing paper.

Bekerytė remembers being impressed that somebody may perceive these unusual symbols. As an alternative of drawing, she pretended she was working at an workplace as an engineer who understood the schematics.

“I keep in mind considering, ‘Wow, are there actually individuals who perceive what that is?’” she says. “So I used to be fascinated with that form of factor fairly early.”

Bekerytė’s father, who labored in building and likewise fastened vehicles, was one other main affect. He was a DIY fanatic prepared to strive his hand at absolutely anything, from electronics to plumbing. She was at all times interested in his tasks and remembers him instructing her to solder on the tender age of seven.

Whereas Bekerytė excelled in math and science, she additionally was fascinated with music and artwork. By the point she graduated highschool, she had mapped out three potential profession paths: an orchestra conductor, an architect, or an engineer. All she knew for sure was that she needed to excel in no matter she pursued.

“I at all times knew I needed to be a specialist: an individual that others would go to as a result of they knew one thing rather well,” she says.

That might change into tougher than anticipated.

A courageous transfer

Bekerytė graduated from highschool in 2010, the identical yr Lithuania drastically elevated its tuition for state universities. Not desirous to financially burden her dad and mom, Bekerytė determined to relocate together with her boyfriend to Norway, the place they’d pursue levels and discover work. That path, nonetheless, was harder than they anticipated.

Larger training is free in Norway, however the international job market in 2010 was nonetheless within the doldrums following the 2008 monetary disaster. Regardless of diligently in search of jobs for six months, that they had no success and determined to maneuver again to Lithuania.

“Don’t take heed to others, simply take heed to your self. Discover that factor that you’re actually fascinated with and go for it.”

“We didn’t have any cash for hire or meals,” Bekerytė remembers. “We determined that on Saturday we might purchase ferry tickets, however on Friday I acquired referred to as for a job interview.”

She was employed to scrub places of work, and her boyfriend discovered a job washing the within of oil tankers. Since each jobs have been sporadic, it took 4 years to avoid wasting sufficient cash to pay for the language lessons.

Making an impression at an engineering contest

After finishing the one-year language course on the College of Stavanger in 2016, Bekerytė enrolled within the college’s bachelor’s diploma program in industrial automation and circuit design.

The course was demanding, significantly since she was nonetheless working half time. Out of 48 college students who started this system, solely 10 accomplished it. She determined to proceed on on the college and pursue a grasp’s diploma in robotics and sign processing.

Towards the tip of her research in 2019, she acquired her massive break. She utilized for an engineering competitors run by the Norwegian international energy engineering agency Aker Options, additionally in Stavanger. Bekerytė’s staff was tasked with bettering the operations at an oil-rig building plant utilizing Web of Issues units. Her staff didn’t win, however the firm was so impressed together with her that it provided her a job as a security automation programs engineer. The job concerned designing signaling programs on subsea oil wells. She began two weeks after graduating.

Greta Bekerytė works on the Zaptec Go electric-vehicle charging station. It weighs 1.3 kilograms and expenses as much as 22 kilowatts. Zaptec

The abilities {hardware} engineers want

In 2021 she was contacted by Zaptec for the place of a {hardware} engineer who would assist design its electric-vehicle charging stations. She accepted the supply.

Few corporations have roles involving hands-on {hardware} improvement, she says, one thing she beloved doing at school. The job entails constructing units within the lab and operating testing and verification applications.

“It’s my dream job,” she says.

A {hardware} engineer requires a deep understanding of electronics and powerful mathematical expertise, plus information of pc structure and low-level programming, she says.

One other, typically underappreciated side of the job, is having good communication expertise, Bekerytė says. “You steadily must interface with nontechnical groups like advertising,” she explains. “Which means you want to have the ability to clarify technical particulars in ways in which nonexperts can perceive.”

Breaking by the EV glass ceiling

Though she’s nonetheless studying, being named one of many prime ladies in EV has given Bekerytė industry-wide recognition for her work.

The award got here as a shock, Bekerytė says, as a result of she was nominated by a colleague with out her information. However she was flattered and glad to seek out that there was an award recognizing ladies in a male-dominated area.

She says her colleagues jokingly name her a unicorn as a result of ladies working within the EV {industry} are so uncommon. She thinks offering visibility to ladies is vital to beat stereotypes about who can and may work within the area.

For probably the most half, she says she’s confronted few obstacles due to her gender. However there have been instances when she has felt she needed to battle to realize the respect of others.

“Generally I’ve felt that I have to show myself slightly bit greater than others do,” she says.

However in case you do what you’re keen on, Bekerytė says, all obstacles are surmountable. She admits her journey to changing into an engineer was powerful, and the one factor that acquired her by was her deep curiosity for the topic.

“Don’t take heed to others, simply take heed to your self,” she says. “Discover that factor that you’re actually fascinated with and go for it.”