Raimonds Ošiņš chose to stay in Denmark for his internship and spent 3 months at Ballard Power Systems Europe, a leading global provider of innovative clean energy and fuel cell solutions. The 22-year-old student works as a full time technician for fuel cell electric buses.
‘’It is very exciting. I work for a company that wants to make a difference and to innovate the industry. At Ballard, I am responsible with troubleshooting and repairing broken or faulty Hydrogen modules for transit buses’’, explains Raimonds.
Although most of the diagnostics is done in Denmark, Raimonds’ job sometimes requires him to travel.
‘’The customers are the most important and my team makes all efforts to cater to their needs. For example, after finishing an 87-hour long repair project, we ended up travelling to Aberdeen in Scotland to perform the repair on the spot’’, he says.
Something new every day
A job as a technician can be very complex and requires continuous training. Raimonds had to learn about the industry, the technology and the clients in a short amount of time in order to fulfil his duties.
‘’My colleagues are very open and willing to help and explain things all the time. Luckily I am allowed to also spend time in the testing labs and engineering facilities to see how engineers are developing new generation systems and improving existing ones’’, he says.
In addition, the company sent the 22-year old Automotive Management student to Vancouver for a specialized workshop. The experience contributed to Raimonds’ professional development. The aim of the trip was for the student to get familiar with the newest technological development in the industry.
Raimonds also speaks about personal development.
‘’I think I got the best possible learning outcome from my internship. Not only because I got a full time job here, but because I feel I have improved as a person. I have more self-confidence and I am not afraid of complicated tasks, even if I have not done them before’’, he concludes.