Stories of Women in Engineering – Julia Guerra

What attracted you to ALTEN?

I’ve always liked challenges and I like I don’t like saying no. So I thought, why not? I’ll take this job. It was a new country, a new language, new responsibilities, new everything. To me personally, that was a challenge. As a professional, I had to learn new things, a lot of things. I knew this would make me grow, personally and professionally – that it would make me a better engineer.

What do you enjoy most about your day-to-day?

As an engineer, I come up with new ideas, new concepts. To see these applied in real life gives me a lot of satisfaction.

What inspires you to become a better person and professional each day?

One of my biggest inspirations in life is to live with purpose, to do something that can help someone, contribute to a cause, or solve a problem. As an engineer, to say that I have designed something – that motivates me.

What values do you share with your colleagues and with the company?

There are two very important values I share with both the company and my colleagues. One is teamwork and the other is active learning. As an engineer, I feel you need to work as a team to find a new solution to a problem. We each have our responsibilities, but we share tasks. So the better we work as a team, the better the outcome. On the other hand, as acompany that offers solutions we need to keep up with new developments, new concepts, and new ideas. This is what I mean by active learning.

What gets you out of bed to come to work for ALTEN every morning?

I feel that the key is to like where you work, what you do. I feel happy with what I do. I get to work with a team to come up with new solutions and that doesn’t only make me a better engineer, but also a better person.

What challenges you the most in your work? Do you feel empowered to make decisions?

Most of the challenges I have are related to engineering design. Being an engineer can be very challenging because you need to make decisions about very complex projects. But when you find a solution, that empowers you for next time. The more often you make those hard decisions and the more times you meet the challenge, the stronger you feel.

What does Building Tomorrow’s World Today mean to you?

To me, Creating Tomorrow’s World Today means working for a better tomorrow. As an engineer, I work on new designs, new ideas. Because of this, I feel that I get to be part of that future, of that better tomorrow.

How do you think our clients view us?

I think our client views us as the ideal engineering service company, which can offer solutions to many problems. ALTEN works for so many industries – automotive, medical, robotics, rail and so many more.

What, in your opinion, sets ALTEN, apart from its competitors?

ALTEN offers a wide range of services to a wide range of industries. Also, it’s a worldwide consulting company. They can pull resources from all over the world to provide solutions.

How would you define the role that you play for your clients?

My client is Volvo trucks. I’m mechanical design engineer leading a group of engineers on complex projects to come up with new solutions where Volvo needs them.

What would you say to someone who is thinking of coming to work at ALTEN?

I would say that if you’re a person looking for challenges, looking for growth, looking for opportunities; if you’re a person who is passionate about working on solutions for the future, ALTEN is the place to work.