From Cleaning Offices 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 may accomplish in your profession whenever you comply with your desires.

It wasn’t simple. 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 help herself. She took the cleansing job, and scrimped and saved to pay for Norwegian studying and writing courses, a requirement to attend a college. It took her 4 years, however she was lastly capable of afford the tutoring for the language programs, which value 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 University of Stavanger.

At this time 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 sector, in 2022 she was chosen as one of many Top Women 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 truly turn out to be what you need to turn out to be.”

A specialist at coronary heart

Rising up in Šiauliai, Lithuania, Bekerytė appeared destined to turn out to be an engineer. She recollects that when she was about 5 years outdated, a buddy of her mom’s, who labored as {an electrical} engineer at an organization that constructed energy transformers, handed her some outdated schematics from her job to make use of as drawing paper.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 recollects being impressed that somebody might perceive these unusual symbols. As a substitute 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 keen to strive his hand at absolutely anything, from electronics to plumbing. She was all the time interested in his initiatives and remembers him educating 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 all the time knew I needed to be a specialist: an individual that others would go to as a result of they knew one thing very well,” she says.

That might grow to be tougher than anticipated.

A courageous transfer

Bekerytė graduated from highschool in 2010, the identical 12 months 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, nevertheless, was harder than they anticipated.

Greater 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 searching for jobs for six months, they’d no success and determined to maneuver again to Lithuania.

“Don’t hearken to others, simply hearken 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 recollects. “We determined that on Saturday we’d purchase ferry tickets, however on Friday I acquired referred to as for a job interview.”

She was employed to wash 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 save lots of sufficient cash to pay for the language courses.

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 faculty’s bachelor’s diploma program in industrial automation and circuit design.

The course was demanding, notably 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 Solutions, additionally in Stavanger. Bekerytė’s workforce was tasked with enhancing the operations at an oil-rig building plant utilizing Web of Issues gadgets. Her workforce didn’t win, however the firm was so impressed together with her that it provided her a job as a security automation techniques engineer. The job concerned designing signaling techniques 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 fees as much as 22 kilowatts. Zaptec

The talents {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 provide.

Few corporations have roles involving hands-on {hardware} growth, she says, one thing she beloved doing at school. The job entails constructing gadgets 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 robust mathematical expertise, plus information of laptop structure and low-level programming, she says.

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

Breaking via the EV glass ceiling

Though she’s nonetheless studying, being named one of many prime girls 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 girls in a male-dominated area.

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

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

“Generally I’ve felt that I must show myself just a little bit greater than others do,” she says.

However when you do what you’re keen on, Bekerytė says, all limitations are surmountable. She admits her journey to turning into an engineer was robust, and the one factor that acquired her via was her deep curiosity for the topic.

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