Vincent (29 years)

loves the fact that Berlin is very spaced.

Where do you work?

I'm working at Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH as a Mechatronics Engineer in the assembly and integration testing department.

Our company is mainly focusing on attitude and control systems. This is allowing satellite to orient itself in space. And we are managing the entire chain from manufacturing to building and then to testing and up until the delivery to the customers.

My department is responsible for the assembly of the different mechanical pieces together, and the electronics.This is also part of the integration and then we have to do some verification tests for all of our products, making sure that they all comply to requirements from our customers and for the space requirement.

As a Mechatronics Engineer, at the beginning, I was mainly focusing on helping the team with the testing of our products and now that I have a better understanding of what we do, I have been asked to help develop the production line and the testing line. So, I am mainly working on software development to improve our production capacity.

Why did you choose Berlin?

Actually, I didn't really choose Berlin, I chose the job. I came here some years ago for an internship and I thought of staying only for the time of the internship and then I stayed longer.

What do you love about Berlin?

I love the fact that it is very spaced. The city is not dense at all, and I like having my own space and living in such a big city for me was a challenge at first, but when I discovered all of the green areas and all of the parks and all, that was for me a very good point.

Who or what made it easy to start out in Berlin?

So when I arrived in Berlin, I started in the start-up scene and that allowed me to meet a lot of new people that were very international and around my age. That was extremely interesting and I have made a lot of new friends very quickly. And also, thanks to this first experience, I started to work here at AstroFein.

If you could give a tip to someone who is new in Berlin, what would it be?

When I arrived in Berlin, I didn’t speak any German at all, but I have learned German a bit on the way, and I could recommend you learn it because it's always great to learn a bit of the language of the country you live in.

And there is a place I discovered which is very nice for someone like me who is French is the Arminius Markthalle. In there, there's a bar called Tastavin and they have a very good selection of French wines and they serve also some cheese plates and meat and it's very, very good, so I would really recommend to you to go check it out.