SIPBB has provided three years in a row exchange work training for OUAS, mechanical engineering students.

What do I do at SIPBB? I work in SAMC team (Swiss Advanced Manufacturing Center) and my normal work week includes tasks from part designing and using of metal and polymer printing equipment to analysing samples and working on client projects.

Before I started working at SIP, I was in Germany on an exchange programme at the Ulm University of Applied Sciences, studying Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering program.

During my exchange, all services were closed and businesses in uncertainty due to Covid but nevertheless I had some luck: One November evening I did receive email from Switzerland Innovation Park, that I got a job!

I signed a contract to SIPBB, because I felt this was once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work abroad and in an innovative workplace, with new challenges with additive manufacturing.

Switzerland was really a wonderful surprise with its high Alps and kind people who makes the moving and living here easier. Also, in Biel there is lot of nice hiking routes, fun festivals and events and also own Ice hockey team EHC Biel.

Moving here was easy because most of the challenges have already been faced. And if challenges arise, you can get support from the international coordinator Urs Schild at HFTM, as well as from SIPBB colleagues. They will be happy to help you with things to do in order to experience Switzerland.

Important notes for exchanges:

That Switzerland is four national languages; German, French, Italian and Romansh. And Biel/Bienne is bilingual German and French, it is good know the basics of either language.

The sooner you get yourself enrolled in the city and open a bank account, you can have a nice exchange period and get to know the country.

You can follow the careers of my predecessors on LinkedIn:
@Aleksi Isoherranen
@Juuso Takkinen

Thank you, Andreas Burn and collegues at Switzerland Innovation Park for providing possibility to be an exchange training in an educational environment and making it great.

And also thank you for HFTM and OUAS, that this exchange is possible. They have Student and Teacher exchange agreement which allows exchanges in both directions.