Interview Aldo Figerella, EEE student from Venezuela,
Graduate Electrical / Electronic Engineering July 2005

Working at: AEM Import & Export C.A.

What is your specific task within the company?
Development of testprograms(Software) and hardware which are suitable for testing new technology chips in the semiconductors field.
Those are mainly used for MP3 players,CD,Radio,DVD,Video .

What is the relation with your study, can you apply the theory and practicals?
There's a relation because part of the software development is related to the subject i took at fontys with Yilmaz . Programming languages and enviroment used at work:
UNIX,C++, reading block diagrams for the hardware.Those were already given at Fontys. At least the basis.

How is you relation with Dutch colleagues?
Quite nice people to work with. Very creative, concrete, spontaneous, and helpful people which is good for having a better performance inside the company.
They also plan camping or social activities inside the company which is  useful in order to getting and knowing better your colleagues your are working with.

Do you have any promotion possibilities?
Yes , i do. These are:
*-Possibility to work for unlimited time(onbepaalde tijd).This point is quite good because for foreigners who would like to stay longer after graduation.
*-Depending on your experience and capability they could assign you different projects inside the company.
*-Learning the dutch language makes things easier not only at work but also in other activities you interact everyday.

Do you experience many problems as foreigner?
You have plenty of opportunities here. The only problem which i encounter difficult is to extend the Resident permit after you graduate. It's not easy.
But that's in the IND hands. Verdonk might get better solutions for students who graduates. A good idea would be to look at the possibility to stay couple of years here. So that you could use all that knowldege back to your country.
In the other hand you have options like Kennismigranten, But that's not an easy one. Because for unexperience people a company will not take a risk to take you in.Besides the company must offer a salary just like for a two years experience person,which is impossible for a just graduating person. Although ,I've got that one for 5 years. But i've got lucky i guess. http://www.ind.nl/nl/inbedrijf/wonenenwerken/kennismigranten.asp

Can you tell any anecdotes?
I've got my current job 3 months before graduating. In my final traineeship i finished my task in three weeks. I've got my own Import & Export Company Venezuela-Nederland and EU.
Even though i did all that and i still have it. Some teachers at Fontys made it difficult for me until my last ending day in Fontys. Even giving me graduation traineeship grades of 6. Hehe. When i was the one getting my own traineeship in Utrecht without the school's support and finishing my project in only few weeks. With possibility of working there. Which i did not take that offer..Funny ehh.