Susanna Bjunö

Consultant, Susanna Bjunö, Centre for Wood and Textiles, textile engineer

When I took my exam at Borås High School in 2006, I found out that the Centre for Wood and Textiles at the Danish Technological Institute were looking for a textile engineer. The company was new to me, but the job seemed to be perfect and, in spite of some apprehension about working in a Danish language environment, I applied.

 I have worked as a consultant at the Danish Technological Institute for a year now and it’s been very eventful, interesting, educational and fun. My tasks are very varied and I get to carry out physical, chemical and mechanical tests on textiles, at well as consultancy, development and training work related to the textile sector. As a textile engineer at the Danish Technological Institute, I have developed enormously within my own field and have even got involved in new areas, which I found extremely valuable. 

New employees are very well-supported via a thorough induction process with introduction activities and courses. Being newly qualified it feels very safe and comfortable and it’s extremely educational to get a job at a workplace with such extensive scientific knowledge and experience. I have among other things got the chance to develop and learn through courses, seminars and customer visits in Denmark and even around in Europe. The job has also given me the opportunity to travel abroad sometimes and with some guidance I have started to build up my own textile network with contacts in other European countries.

There are a couple of us newly employed Swedes at the Institute and therefore they offered an introductory course in Danish run by the Institute if we wanted it. I haven’t actually experienced any problems being Swedish at my workplace, but of course difficulties in communication can arise now and then. In my experience, customers and colleagues have been very understanding and mostly curious about the Swedish language and culture.

The different departments work together very well, which provides a lot of development opportunities both for me as a person, but also from a product and project point of view. And I’ve had the opportunity of having a say in determining which direction I want to go in my work and in this way have had the chance to try out new tasks and face new challenges.

In short, I’m having a great time!