Resource Center

Episode 1: Working for a start-up (with Okapi Orbits; German language)

Be the master of your own fate...! Students are increasingly being invited to think about founding a company or at least working temporarily in a start-up as an alternative to being employed by an established large company. Our alumna Kristina Nikolaus has founded such a start-up (together with others). And our alumnus Esfandiar Faravashi found the business idea - IT solutions to prevent collisions between satellites and space debris - so exciting that he turned his back on his previous employer and job and joined the spin-off from TU Braunschweig. In this episode, the two of them talk about the founding process, well-known business partners and "happy work factors". On top of that, there are application tips for start-ups.

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Episode 2: Working in the Food Industry (with Nordzucker; German language)

The job market in the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel region is very much dominated by the Automotive industry. However, there are also many other areas of work in which you can make a difference. Alumnus Malte Fiedler, for example, works as an Industrial Engineering graduate at a Food industry company with 13 plants and 4,000 employees, which has its headquarters in Braunschweig. Malte's job allows him to work very directly on exciting strategic topics, and he talks almost exclusively about the company's surprising expansion of its business. He also describes farmer co-determination, the international working atmosphere and flat hierarchies. Malte also reveals how many kilograms of sugar each German citizen consumes each year!

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Episode 3: Work differently/New Work (with Bredex; German language)

Brave new world of work? In times of digital transformation, dynamic changes in the world of work and a shortage of skilled workers, new forms of work organization are constantly being sought to maximize productivity. In this context, alumna Pia Krone already dealt with "Mobile work as a challenge for leadership" during her studies. She now works as a personnel developer for a Braunschweig-based software and digitalization service provider that is committed to good service and efficiency as well as "people-centric work". It ensures a high level of job satisfaction among its employees through flexible work hours/environments and other benefits, as well as continuous "re- and up-skilling" tailored to individual needs. However, Pia also talks about the limits and challenges of "new work": not every manager is able to lead employees with confidence, and not every employee has enough self-management and time management skills to deal responsibly with the new freedoms they have gained...

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Episode 4: Working on E-Mobility (with Phoenix Contact E-Mobility and Bertrandt; German language)

(Internal combustion) cars and road traffic have shaped the Braunschweig region and our idea of mobility for many decades. However, climate change, supply bottlenecks resulting from crises and wars and the growing scarcity of resources have motivated political leaders in Europe and Germany to demand a turnaround in transportation.  The targets and expectations placed on the Automotive industry are enormous. The German government wants to develop Germany into the "lead market for electromobility". There should be at least 15 million electric cars on German roads by 2030. At the same time, the network of charging stations is to be massively expanded nationwide - the goal: one million publicly accessible charging points by 2030. This is precisely the context in which alumni Jonas Ost and Christian Thienemann work. They talk about the challenges that their employers and they personally are facing, but also reveal where and how progress is being made with electromobility.

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Episode 5: Working as an International Graduate in Germany (with BGE TECHNOLOGY, English language)

We urgently need skilled labour for the German economy! Who hasn't heard this lament from employers and politicians? The German population continues to age and around two million jobs are currently unfilled. According to the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), almost 100 billion euros in added value is being lost. On the other hand, the proportion of international students in the overall number of students is steadily rising and more and more international graduates are trying to gain a foothold in the German labour market. Time to have a chat with two from the target group: our international alumni Meghal Shah and Eric Simo! They talk about their experiences with the job search (also beyond well-known job boards) and smart networking, German application processes, and visa issues. They both strongly recommend mastering the German language and tolerance of frustration. But they are also encouraging role models: starting a career in Germany is absolutely feasible!

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Episode 6: Working on the City of the Future (with Stadt Braunschweig and Quartier:PLUS; German language)

More and more people around the world are living in cities, making them the most important living spaces of the future. This creates both exciting and complex challenges, as the cities of the future not only need to be climate-neutral, energy-efficient and connected and accessible for as many people as possible, but above all they need to be vibrant and liveable! In this episode, our alumni Ayat Tarik and Bernd Schmidbauer talk about where and how they dedicate their professional activities to this goal. For Tarik with her preference for "real-life laboratories", for example, her Master's thesis became a third-party funded project aiming at revitalizing a city district. Bernd, on the other hand, provides insights into larger urban planning processes balancing citizen participation and political guidelines, talks about the "sponge city" and the foreseeable development away from the monofunctional shopping city. And both alumni have a sympathetic vision of cities as places with affordable living space, a high quality of life, many opportunities to meet and a diversified mobility concept. Research projects such as the "CO_LIVING CAMPUS" at TU Braunschweig will provide exciting insights here...

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Episode 7: Working on Modern Leadership (with Akkodis and VDM Metals; German language)

"Shut up and keep toiling!" For far too long, employees and teams were managed according to this principle. TU Braunschweig alumnae Larissa Graumann and Tatiana Hentrich - both of whom have considerable management responsibility at their employers Akkodis and VDM Metals - are doing things differently out of conviction and leading in a modern way. Among other things, they believe in greater approachability, fault tolerance and the power of motivation. Tatiana also talks about the special value of mentoring experiences, and Larissa demonstrates general knowledge and associative skills right at the beginning and reveals how to literally "sweeten" working life.

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Episode 8: Working as a Social Scientist (with Gemeinde Uetze and Sparkasse Celle-Gifhorn-Wolfsburg; German language)

Social Science students all wear Che Guevara T-shirts, have a desk full of thick books, cereal bars and extra-large coffee cups and take at least 30 semesters to graduate - because the end is inevitable: a job as a cab driver and contemptuous, pitiful looks from other people for the rest of their lives. So much for the clichés...

Alums Luisa Woellenstein and Eike Fromhage were also confronted with this back in their student days, as they explain in our podcast. But how did things actually turn out for them? Quite more favorably: Luisa was helped into a job by chance during the corona pandemic, which she didn't even have in mind but learned to love before she started working in HR for the same employer. Eike chose the opposite path, so to speak: he began his professional life in various HR functions at an engineering service provider before switching to the communications department at a bank. In this episode, they reveal how choosing and changing job roles works and what advantage social scientists may even have in today's world of work, which is characterized by change and uncertainty.

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Episode 9: Working with effective learning techniques (with Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik, TU Braunschweig; German language)

Professor Jasmin Weiß from TH Nürnberg, a much-cited expert in the field of “future skills”, describes learning as “the super skill of the 21st century”. This makes sense in a working world characterized by disruption and multiple changes. TU Braunschweig alumnus Bijan Khosrawi-Rad is even tackling this topic in his doctorate - and researching “effective learning techniques”. In this episode, he talks about his “Study Buddy”, a healthy and above all positive attitude towards (lifelong) learning, and examples of playful, IT- and AI-supported learning. Incidentally, he also likes to do this on his YouTube channel LearnHack. And our host has (hopefully effectively) learned how to avoid a man cold in the future...

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Episode 10: Working with Hydrogen (with Salzgitter AG and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt; German language)

Was author Jules Verne a visionary when he had the protagonist in his 1874 novel say: “Water is the coal of the future”? The fact that students at TU Braunschweig can study the topic “hydrogen” in at least four degree programmes, and that intensive research is also being carried out on the topic beyond the university with the Wasserstoff Campus Salzgitter, among other things, leaves little doubt.

In this episode, our alums Helga Hansen and AlexanderLeiden don't just do a bit of color theory with “grey, blue, white and green”. The two discuss whether the still cautious investor view of hydrogen as a “high-risk technology” can be turned around by a coherent, reliable hydrogen strategy from political decision-makers. After all, the goal is climate neutrality by 2045. Helga explains why hydrogen could be the “Swiss army knife” of the energy transition, and Alexander proudly reports on his employer's attempts to become a global pioneer in the conversion of a key industry.

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Episode 11: Working with "Generation Future" (with IGS Querum and Grundschule Bültenweg; German language)

Only bad grades for the German school system? The media coverage is full of reports on teachers at the limit of their stress levels, catastrophic technical and financial equipment, high drop-out rates in teacher training courses and a falling level of education among students. You could sink into despondency.

Are German politicians setting the wrong priorities? Are students too often not being trained in line with reality? Or is the "Referendiariat", i.e. the preparatory service, simply too hard? We invited alums Wiebke Hoff-Kopetz and Svante Evenburg with their wealth of experience gained at different schools to hear where we actually stand with our work with “Generation Future”. And surprise, surprise: Wiebke and Svante are nothing like Wilhelm Busch's “Lehrer Lämpel” and seem highly motivated and confident! Yes, they both say, teachers shoulder a lot of responsibility. But in in the state of Lower Saxony, in particular, there are opportunities to provide modern, skills-oriented education. Wiebke also dreams of saying goodbye to classically timed lessons and wants to keep children's curiosity alive! And Svante raves about explorative practical projects that pupils come up with themselves...

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Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn, once said “AI is going to reshape every industry and every job.” And artificial intelligence (AI) is inconceivable without the large amounts of data it is being fed – billions of data produced by us using computing systems and digital technology day in, day out. In this episode with TU Alumni Tatiana Pier and Henning Feiertag, we explore this mega trend of systematically extracting information and knowledge from data for making smart business predictions and decisions – particularly, since TU Braunschweig offers a range of degree programs teaching Data Science and AI related knowledge. Tatiana and Henning both work for an employer whose products predominantly consist of data and they shed some light on the different job roles that deal with big - and sometimes small - data. Tatiana, for instance, works as a Data Scientist whereas Henning has the complimentary role as Cloud Data Engineer. Tatiana creates AI models for helping her business colleagues with improving products and generating greater value. Henning, on the other hand, concerns himself less with data analysis and more with software engineering and infrastructure management, for example detecting security vulnerabilities - all the while dreaming of AI ridding him and his colleagues of as many “not so pleasant tasks” as possible. Tatiana has some good news, too: Mankind will not be sudued by a fully autonomous AI system like “Skynet”, the fictional artificial neural network-based general superintelligence from the movie “Terminator” any time soon! Curiously, she even expects “people using AI being replaced by people not using AI” in the future job market. So: still some time to get your head around the topic! And both alums have some practical tips such as micro learning opportunities and a book tip to share.

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That much is clear: we humans want to enjoy our lives not only today, but also in the future. We need clean water, clean air, and green, healthy landscapes. But for all the comforts that make life pleasant, we consume (too) many resources every day. The world and the climate are groaning under the strain.
So politicians decided to adopt certain strategic goals and guidelines to preserve a livable world for everyone in the future. Greenhouse gas reduction, fairness along entire value chains, and economical use of limited resources sounded good. A majority of people could agree on this – until a complex web of wars, changes of government, and economic crises in many parts of the world, including Germany, raised doubts: do sustainability goals hinder economic growth and social prosperity?
Where do we stand now, what role do employers play, and how do we move forward, not least with the help of young professionals?
In this episode, I talk about this with TU Braunschweig alumni Ralf Utermöhlen and Sabine Falk. Both have made sustainability in the broadest sense (i.e., taking into account environmental, corporate governance, and social issues) their profession. They are passionate about the topic—and in conversation, they resolve the apparent contradiction between economics and ecology! 

But Ralf also points out that so far, it has been the “low-hanging fruits” that have been harvested, and that there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us. First and foremost, this requires skills and knowledge such as those acquired by STEM students. Environmental engineer Sabine, who enjoyed mingling with people during her studies in Braunschweig, agrees. At the same time, however, she also talks about the important “future skills” needed to get as many people as possible excited about the topic of sustainability without overwhelming them or coming across as patronizing. According to Ralf and Sabine, there are more than enough opportunities for students and young professionals to get involved and help shape the future...

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