LEADING: 'If you're a mechanical engineer, you also have to be very good in software'

International assignments offer excellent career opportunities for young engineers, and they should not be afraid of the twists in their careers, says Alexander Pavlov, UK general manager at Atlas Copco

I was born in St Petersburg and studied at the Marine Technical University as a software engineer, but I left Russia almost 20 years ago.

I started working with Alcatel, the telecoms company, for a year in Russia and then I was sent to Belgium, originally for a project. But then I was offered a contract, and my wife and I decided to settle there. 

In 2003, I joined Atlas Copco as a software project manager in Belgium, at the head office of the compressed-air group. We were pioneering a lot of connectivity over the internet for our compressors – what we’d call the Internet of Things today. 

At that time, it wasn’t a cloud – we hosted all the back end and databases ourselves. Technologically it was a very big challenge, but for me it was a fantastic twist in my career. Then I moved to a marketing role within Atlas Copco as a product manager for control systems and monitoring. 

It was all about connecting compressors and related equipment, and controlling the load and optimisation of the machine. If you have multiple compressors in a room, it’s very important to optimise the load. 

Then I decided to try my skills on the front line, in the sales operation. I moved to Greece from Belgium in 2011 to manage the sales and marketing of compressors in the Balkans region. 

After four years there I took a job in Dublin as a country manager, and then in April last year I was appointed as general manager for the UK customer centre. 

Most managers at Atlas Copco have a mechanical engineering background, and our factory in Belgium is one of the biggest destinations for mechanical engineering graduates. But things have really changed over the past couple of decades. 

Take the role of a service engineer – in the past it was all about mechanics and electrics, but today it’s so much more about software and about connectivity. All the engineers need to be able to reprogramme the controllers to adjust and optimise the settings and enable better energy-efficiency operations. 

You can’t survive with just the mechanical background. I had to add to my software background all the mechanical knowledge about compressors and compressed-air applications, but guys with mechanical backgrounds have to add a lot on the IT side. 

Today if you’re a mechanical engineer you also have to be very good in software, in connectivity and in industrial interfaces.

There’s some uncertainty in our industry as much less business is coming from the oil and gas sector. But the good thing about compressors is that they’re everywhere – it’s just about focusing and investing more in covering the market because the opportunities are really good. 

Then there’s Brexit. Today we don’t really see any problems, but it’s hard to predict the future – it all depends on what kind of agreements will be in place. Skills are a concern, but I strongly believe that companies will still be able to attract specialists – there will be some extra paperwork, but I don’t think it will be much more difficult than today. I have a Belgian passport, and I’ve worked in Greece, Ireland and the UK, and you can just come to those countries and start working. It’s brilliant.

If I had to give advice to younger engineers, I would say never be afraid of the twists in your career. I experienced several and they turned into very nice opportunities. Personally I would certainly recommend international assignments, and if you work in a big international group there are so many opportunities.