"We spend most of our time dealing with guidelines, rules and regulations, because we have to be up-to-date all the time," is how Cristiane sums up her job as a development engineer at EDAG's Homologation department. Homologation means checking the conformity of a vehicle – from its design to the certification process. A responsible task: it is, after all, a question of the safety and environmental compatibility of vehicles.
The legal requirements can vary from country to country – and, in view of the increasing use of driver assistance systems and automated driving functions, are changing rapidly. Cristiane and her colleagues must keep an eye on these requirements. To do this, they research official legislative sources or databases on a daily basis. It is not unusual for Cristiane to be better informed in this area than her customers.
Cristiane has been an EDAG Group employee for 13 years. After studying aeronautical engineering, a lateral career move took her to the automotive industry. To begin with, she designed chassis and powertrains with CAD software at EDAG's São Bernardo site close to the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo. As colleagues from her team occasionally traveled to Germany, she also asked her manager about the possibility. And so the year in Germany originally planned first became two years, and then came the certainty that she wanted to spend her life here. Her husband, one of her colleagues in São Bernardo, also found a job with the EDAG Group in Germany. First they were employed in Osnabrück and Wolfsburg, before Fulda became their new home. This is where they married and their two sons were born. "Fulda has become our home from home," says Cristiane.
From a metropolis with a population of 12 million to a quiet little town in Hesse? For Cristiane, it was the right step. "São Paulo is a beautiful city, but crazy. I wouldn't have wanted to live there with children," she says. So Fulda was a better choice. More safety and better schools. Only, of course, she often misses the rest of her family – her parents and siblings who still live in São Paulo. Normally, Cristiane visits them once a year, though the pandemic has made this difficult. Her mother also used to be a regular visitor to Germany.
At the moment, Cristiane works five hours a day. And as long as her sons are small, this is how she wants it to stay. "EDAG enables me to find a good balance between work and family. If one of the children is ill or needs to be collected earlier, it is never a problem," says Cristiane. And knowing that she can return to a full-time position at any time also gives her a sense of security, she says.
In her spare time, Cristiane lifts weights. For her weight training, she visits the gym almost every day in the summer, and up to three times a week in the winter. "This sport is very important to me, because it gives me strength," says Cristiane - also figuratively speaking, i.e. strength for for her daily routine. If you want to make progress in weightlifting, you have to train constantly and carry out the individual movements correctly. "Weight training is not just a hobby for me. Weight training has taught me to have patience." Discipline and consistency are qualities she also needs for her work with the EDAG Group.
Cristiane is not afraid to show her ambition. "I want to be the best. That's how I've always been." Maybe also because she has to hold her own in a sector that is otherwise dominated by men. Both when she was studying aeronautical engineering and when she started work in the automotive industry – time and again, she found herself subjected to comments. Today, things have changed. "Today, nobody underestimates me any more. But my urge to be perfect in all I do is still there." She doesn't know why so few women have sought a career in the industry. At any rate, Cristiane would be pleased to have more female colleagues.
And what will the future bring? "I'm happy where I am," she says. Also, she knows that she will never grow bored in Fulda. First she was a designer, now a development engineer in the Homologation department. "We have so many different departments, anything is possible."
