First ECP2 Silver certificate lays foundation for system engineer position
Recently, the first ECP2 Silver certificate was awarded. ECP2 is the European certified precision engineering course programme that emerged from a collaboration between euspen and DSPE.
The Silver milestone (35 points, with one point being roughly equivalent to one course day) was achieved by Buket Şahin. She has worked at ASML for ten years and recently switched position from senior researcher to system engineer. Following a wide range of ECP2-certified courses qualified her for working at ASML in mechatronics and system engineering.
Euspen’s ECP2 programme grew out of DSPE’s Certified Precision Engineer programme, which was developed in the Netherlands in 2008 as a commercially available series of training courses. In 2015, euspen, DSPE’s European counterpart, decided to take certification to the European level. The resulting ECP2 programme reflects industry demand for multidisciplinary system thinking and in-depth knowledge of the relevant disciplines. A certificate scheme was instigated to promote participation. The Bronze certificate requires 25 points (one point equals roughly one course day), Silver requires 35 points and Gold 45 points, which qualifies a participant for the title ‘Certified Precision Engineer’.
Buket Şahin studied Mechanical Engineering (B.Sc.) and Mechatronics (M.Sc.) in Istanbul, where she also obtained an MBA. After working as a system engineer in the defence industry for three years she was headhunted by ASML. “I knew the company from my Mechatronics study through my professors, who were involved in the semiconductor business. In 2012, I left for the Netherlands to work at ASML in Development & Engineering on the NXT and NXE platforms. I held positions as a design engineer, a competence lead and an architect. Recently, after two years elsewhere and two years in ASML Research Mechatronics & Control, I switched to System Engineering, to work as a product safety system engineer for the EUV machines.”
Right away after starting at ASML, Şahin took up postgraduate education. “My education in Turkey was mostly theoretical as there was no mechatronics industry to apply my mechatronics knowledge in practice. Here in the Netherlands, theory and practice are really entangled with each other and feed each other. The knowledge of the industry is shaping the university, while university is shaping the industry. That’s what I really like here.”
At her own initiative and encouraged by her managers, Şahin took a variety of courses to enlarge her knowledge. Among them were ECP2-certified courses from High-Tech Institute and other institutions (see the box). Last year, this earned her the Bronze certificate and now, just one year later, she has obtained the Silver certificate, as the first engineer in ECP2 history. “When I was really close to 35 points, I took another course to reach that target. I just like learning and wanted to close the knowledge gap as fast as possible, allowing me to fulfil my new role as a system engineer.”
Buket Şahin: “I just like learning and wanted to close the knowledge gap as fast as possible, allowing me to fulfil my new role as a system engineer.”
Silver curriculum
These ECP2-certified courses earned Buket Şahin the Silver ECP2 certificate:
- Mechatronics system design – part 1
- Mechatronics system design – part 2
- Electronics for non-electronic engineers – basics electricity and analog electronics
- Electronics for non-electronic engineers – basics digital electronics
- Advanced optics
- Design principles for precision engineering
- Dynamics and modelling
- Thermal effects in mechatronic systems
Next year, Şahin wants to start a post-master programme in safety engineering at KU Leuven in Belgium to further enlarge her knowledge in system engineering. That is a very intensive two-year part-time programme, so there will be no time for ECP2-certified courses the coming years. The Gold certificate will have to wait, but Silver is more than enough reason to celebrate.
Looking back on 12 years in the Netherlands, Şahin is delighted (‘verguld’ in Dutch) with the work and training climate. “In the Netherlands and Europe, ASML is the best place to work. I like to take up challenges in my work and I also value the collaboration and care that are required. Here, I can find the combination between them.”
She is equally positive about postgraduate education in the Netherlands. “It has evolved over the years. When I started here in 2012, it was sometimes hard to find a training course in English. I immediately started to learn Dutch, in part because most of my colleagues were speaking Dutch and the first course I took was in Dutch. Nowadays, all courses are in English and they are also attended by people from Belgium, Germany, Turkey and so on. The audience has become very international; I observe that people really want to gain that Dutch mechatronics knowledge.”
www.ecp2.eu | www.asml.com