On the 30th of November it was our honor to receive two former High-Tech students, now working for VDL ETG. Niek van Hoek and Maurits van den Hurk, occupying completely different functions, which gave us a diverse overview of the possibilities of working at VDL, the company that does a lot more than making buses.

Niek told us about the project management traineeship he has been doing and the places it has taken him to. It was interesting to hear that he was given plenty of responsibility from the start as he was sent to Asia.

Maurits gave a pleasingly relatable presentation about the project he has worked on for two years; a vibration isolator, which VDL makes for a customer in the chip manufacturing industry. Concepts familiar to us students, mostly from the course mechatronic system design. Passive damping, active damping, stiffnesses, nicely placed outside of the exam question format.

– Emile Heezen