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InnoBlog: Landing my first job in Europe developing the world’s greenest battery cells.
My introduction to Northvolt came in September last year. I attended one of the many events organised by the CommUnity where EIT InnoEnergy Thematic Leader in Smart Grids & Energy Storage, Bo Normark, delivered a presentation. He discussed the new European industrial revolution, the European Battery Alliance and EIT InnoEnergy’s role on it.
For me, it was obvious to me what an important role us students can play in this movement. As part of the presentation, Bo also introduced a Swedish company that aims to develop the world’s greenest battery cell, Northvolt. This was beginning of my journey into the world of batteries and energy storage systems!
High quality green batteries are the future and I am moving to its capital!
Northvolt’s Giga factory for lithium-ion battery cells is located in Skellefteå, a small town north of Stockholm. You can probably imagine how excited I was for the bright summer nights and the wild nature of the region. The opportunity to join Northvolt came at a moment when I had to juggle with multiple tasks at the same time: exams, an outstanding university project and a new internship. However, using some knowledge that I already gained during my coaching sessions offered by EIT InnoEnergy’s Career Centre, the big move went extremely smooth!
As an intern I was provided with thorough training to understand what my role would entail, so I never felt stressed or overwhelmed. I was also lucky to have another classmate of mine interning at the same time. Of course, along the way I met plenty of fascinating and inspiring people at the company as well as made many new friends!
My first internship in Europe
This was my first experience of working in Europe. Among many valuable lessons that I have learnt, I am now familiar with EU employment rights, professional etiquette and communication process. As an intern you are continuously learning from some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry. However, you do not yet have the same pressures of full-time employment so to me it is almost like a honeymoon of your professional career!
Of course, this does not mean that you should be slacking as there is so much to learn about the company and the industry! I had evaluation sessions of my performance where I had a chance to reflect on my tasks, work environment, the team as well as introduce new ideas. If you are driven and work hard, your employer will always recognise this. In my case, I was fortunate enough to be offered a full-time position!
How to benefit the most from your internship?
Everything depends on how you decide to use this opportunity and enjoy the advantages of being an intern. For me it was extremely clear that the more you are proactive and get involved with the new tasks and challenges, the more experience you will gain throughout the process. To work at the industry leading company like Northvolt, you need to possess a comprehensive knowledge about the entire battery technology and manufacturing process. For this reason you are also offered special learning sessions where you get to interact with relevant experts.
So far this work experience has been above all of my expectations. Being completely immersed in so much new information and knowledge I was able to find some great ideas for my Master’s thesis.
I don’t think I can sum up in one blog everything that I have learnt so far but I will share this – just before being accepted for the internship, I passed the “Batteries for Energy Storage in Electrical Systems” course to which was offered to all EIT InnoEnergy students. Without me knowing at the time, the course provided great theoretical knowledge that I could then study in practice during my internship.
I hope my experience would be helpful for those who doubt challenging themselves outside their comfort zone as well as share with like-minded individuals the amazing future of energy storage!
by Hoda Ataee, EIT InnoEnergy Master School student
