The Field Engineer

The Field Engineer
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Careers

The Field Engineer podcast is for all engineers who work in field based engineering and customer service and support. Our mission is to provide a home and community for everyone in field-based engineering, wherever you are, and whatever industry or sector you work in. We welcome Field Service Engineers, Field Process Engineers, Field Applications Engineers, Field Sales Engineers, Field technicians, Biomedical and Medical field service, and anyone who has an interest in supporting the Field Engineering community. A community where you can find support and solutions to your urgent questions.

  1. 4d ago

    The FSE Who Travels the World & Refuses to Get Bored (ft. Tamsin Jordan)

    Tamsin Jordan a Bioscience Field Service Engineer discusses her life, thoughts and career with Caroline Gregory of The Field Engineer. Tamsin is also a salsa dancer and teacher.Why would you recommend field engineering to others? People who are wondering what to do with their life and so on. And with that, who is it ideal for, which may be a lot of people, I don't know. And who may it not be a fit for? Again, your opinion.Yeah. In my opinion. So, I would start definitely with the travel since that is an overarching theme of the job. So if I would recommend it to people who love their daily work life to be different every day. Someone who's very flexible is excited with change because it's quite dynamic, right? Maybe you have, you know, your week already kind of planned, but then there's like a breakdown. So you have to change everything about. So people who like thrive off that dynamic way of life, which is me. I hate monotony. I can't stand it. And people who obviously some FSE jobs they'll have office time but the ones that I really enjoyed were completely field based. So if you're comfortable enough to be by yourself to be directing your workload to take responsibility yeah if you thrive off that and you like to see new places all the time and also that you like to work with your hands that you love like the technical aspect of the work and you're okay to work by yourself for hours on end then yeah. So yeah people who that would match their personality absolutely and but in saying that as well like it's not like it wouldn't be for someone who maybe likes routine habits and who enjoys daily going to see like the same people like their colleagues.Different culturesYou have travelled a lot and you seem to really enjoy not just the travel aspect, but the learning about the other cultures that you meet and work with or socialize with. Why is this so important to you and how does it make you a better field service engineer? So it's important to me like diversity for me is the spice of life and from all my like well my curiosity and my traveling like you see many ways to be and many like different ways of life and of ways of approaching things which enriches me instead of you know just coming from like oh this is how we do it blah blah blah blah. So I always find it quite like liberating when you see loads of different like people and different cultures generally like doing things different ways and you're like okay like maybe I can take from that.Loneliness in the fieldI am a person who really enjoys their alone time. I feel good by myself and I use it to like regenerate and kind of like half hermit. And then when I want to be social, when I want that social interaction, you know, I'll like maybe be talk like not usually, but a lot of the times there's like maybe the user of the system if you're doing like a repair or anything will be there. They'll be curious. They'll be wanting to see like what's under the hood, how it works. So, you know, if you're like that's a perfect opportunity to like engage with someone. SalsaWhy would you recommend salsa to others? Because that seems to be the your favourite part of dancing and with that, how does teaching dance and explaining subjects as a field service engineer overlap because they're very different things.Yeah. Some similarities, but so dancing like salsa was I guess my first love and it brought me so much joy. It's obviously it's very embodied, very very grounding. But many other activities are as well. If you love the music for salsa, go for it. But dance in general, like whatever music you like to whatever way you like to dance like 100% it's there's so many studies that of how supportive and healing it is for the nervous system and just for your whole physiology and mentally, emotionally, just everything. So dance is one of those activities that really gets me into a joy state very quickly which is amazing.

  2. Aug 27

    Supply chain & inventory specialist Matthew Guy Gallardo

    Matthew Guy Gallardo, Global Spare Parts Planner at CooperSurgical discusses his career, importance of field service and his music with Caroline Gregory of The Field Engineer.How do you overlap with field service?So at the core you could say my job is to make sure that when a field engineer anywhere in the world needs a component to service a medical device that part has to be available and for it to be available it has to be correctly forecasted and hopefully sitting in the right regional warehouse.Concretely, I would say that leads into inventory, you know, optimization, you know, safety stock modelling, all of these specific supply chain aspects. And then hopefully with that, you're able to reduce stockouts and all of this work involves connecting different data systems, right, that we have in the company, CRM, ERP, Power BI, you know, this ecosystem which can actually tell us the sort of consumption we have.Data and AIBut data accuracy is something which is constantly we're constantly working on it especially now moving into the whole how can we you know integrate AI into anything or everything. I think it's so important that we first of all see what we can use beforehand in terms of tools or whether we can use just the most basic mathematical formulas to you know make decisions before going into AI. I think AI requires some clear cut data. Data which has no garbage or no rubbish on it, right?The customer and satisfactionI think the most satisfying part of the role and I think this is across the board from you know the planning side the operational the schedulers the field service engineers is seeing that we've been able to deliver for the customer and I know that sounds very corporate but that's the reality especially in our industry and in many industries right. Being able to see that a shortage we thought we were going to have on site all of a sudden we were able to meet. Seeing that a customer still trusts us from one year to the end to carry out a service on an equipment which is very valuable for them. I think it's worth it. I think it sort of pushes you to not stick to your scope of work but actually look into external factors and making sure that we can really meet everybody's expectations even though that's very difficult at times.Lack of the right spare partsAnd then seeing the impact that has on the field service engineer because that could potentially delay their visit or create a revisit. Value of an MBAThe MBA allows if it's like a good program which I was fortunate enough to go on, it allows you to actually sharpen up on how you think and possibly how leadership might be thinking in your company especially if you're working in a big company because that sometimes is very difficult to translate down and how you can then you know build with vendor relationships globally.MusicObviously languages come into communication and so on which also moves us I think onto music because that's another way of communicating.Overlap between managing global supply chain and being a drop in musicianI'm a drop in musician, so I tend to go to jam sessions a lot and open mics. I'm classically trained, but you know, to get away from work, I tend to go to a lot of local pubs and you know, local stages to just drop in and play. So, you'll have various musicians playing and then when someone drops out, you drop in, right? And then you start improvising on the go. And it's when I'm on stage, I tend to always listen in to all the parties what they're doing because harmonically you need to listen in. You can't just start playing because it won't sound very nice and then you'll know if it sounds nice or not because you'll see the more people come in or more people go. But and that's quite similar to my role because in my role you need to take into account so many different factors. So I think those two are like in a certain way in parallel.

  3. Aug 21

    Achi Kushnir and his Global career in Field Service

    Achi Kushnir is a biomedical engineer with over 20 years of experience spanning healthcare technology, medical devices and global health. He has worked internationally training healthcare professionals and implementing innovative medical technologies before dedicating much of his career to humanitarian initiatives across Africa and aboard the global Mercy hospital ship. Today as a keynote speaker, social entrepreneur and co-founder of a digital mental health start up, his work brings together engineering, healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship and humanitarian impact.Achi’s focus“I've always been drawn into the medical field. So being able to understand behind the scenes you know apart from the doctor that is holding the device or he is actually making the operation there are a lot of people behind the scene that is making sure that this is going to be safe that they have designed and implemented a technology that can help help him. And to be on the clinical side was very fascinating for me and later on I've realized that you know to be able to leave an impact and change lives you not necessarily need to be the actual doctor that is doing the operation. You can actually contribute a lot by also being the engineer behind the scenes that the person that can connect between the dots the needs and the solutions.”

  4. Aug 13

    Skills for field service team communication + serving clients when mistakes happen, do AI bots help?

    Thanks to Guy Eid, Jerome Varvaro, and Paul Camidge for a great discussion around some interesting topics, 'Skills for field service team communication + serving clients when mistakes happen, do AI bots help?' Here are a few quotes from the Podcast roundtable published today. ''The field engineer is often the only person the customerever sees one to one, face to face as it were. And so, I think we really as an industry need to be pushing companies to say, 'Hey, you need to develop our teams to be able to do this better.' "   "You know, if somebody makes a mistake, you have toacknowledge that we all make them, right? And coach the person through it... Knowledgeis power, right, to teach the employee. If I have one of my managers that's made a mistake with one of his employees and I have to speak with him, it's to make them understand what it was they did and what the impact was so they canlearn from it, right? You know, so but simply just chastising somebody or levelling a threat it does nothing."   "I think we've all agreed that replace people at yourperil whether it's a field service engineer, a customer support engineer, a customer services agent, whatever you are looking at the people are theorganization. And without them you will have a challenge." We hope you enjoy the full discussion. If you enjoy our content please subscribe to our Podcast.

  5. Aug 8

    Daniel Galiant and his great passion for medical imaging equipment field service

    The Field Engineer⁠ Podcast just published a discussion between a young Biomed from Seattle ⁠Daniel Galiant⁠ who has 5 years' experience, and 40-year veteran ⁠Guy Eid⁠. Guy - 'You see, when I started my career, instruments or medical devices were not connected as they are today. And we used to repair circuit boards at the component level, replacing capacitors and ICs and all that good stuff. Now it's two, three layers on the same board. You cannot possibly contemplate replacing a component, replace the whole board. The instruments are connected. Most if not all medical devices are now intelligent and they have a CPU, they have a computer, you can do remote diagnostics into them and this is where it can be very helpful, right?' Communication is key, right? Whether it is between the user and the Biomed or between the Biomed and the Field Service Technician that communication is key that the details in the communication, the tone of the communication, how you build trust, how you really learn about what's going on and the trust that you have with the Biomed. If you are a Field Service Technician this is where it makes the Biomed more at ease to speak with you in a friendly way, give you the details that you might be looking for to help the Biomed and get the instrument going again and the patient on the instrument'. Daniel has serviced and maintained a range of equipment from infusion pumps to imaging equipment. Daniel explains how he started as a Biomed. " I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do until I had a buddy that recommended me the biomedical clinical engineering program at ⁠Bates Technical College⁠ and I didn't know what it was. This is going back, you know, going back to 2020. It was a small field. It was niche. (Bates Technical College is in Tacoma WA). Daniel discusses one of his early jobs, how he and a colleague serviced 600 syringe pumps in a few months. "We just systematically broke down our day-to-day into goals, how much numbers we need to hit. Then we would always rotate. One of us was running around the different floors. Critical care, ICU, emergency, hospice, you're going down while the other one is PMing. And as he PMs, once he hits 10 or no, 20, goal was around 20, but once he hits 10, then we'd switch. So, give you a break to let your mind refresh. But the big thing was seeing how friendly you are, that customer satisfaction skills, those communication skills of, you know, the nurses are having a rough day. They got patients coming in and out. It's a very fast-moving environment and you are as much of in a sense a customer to them as they are to you or a client to them as they are to you as you both need each other. And that definitely became a big lesson of ask kindly, ask permission. Even when you're rushed, you don't change your approach, right? You put on a calm demeanour. You're still - 'How's it going? Good. Good. How are we looking today?' Got the smile".

  6. Jul 31

    Role of the Field Service Manager how much hands-on?

    What is the role of a Field Service Manager? Should they still be hands on performing service calls? Bruce Breeden, Guy Eid, and Paul Camidge discuss this thorny topic. (Thanks to Jerome Varvaro who was set to take part, until a last moment schedule change). 'Companies are looking to reduce their costs and if they can get a supervisor to do the job of a manager, then that looks like a brilliant way of reducing your overhead costs. It's very short-sighted. I think it's typically done by managers who have limited or no experience of field-based management and the challenges that that creates. Managing 10 people in an office is far more straightforward than managing five people in the field'. Paul Camidge 'Another thing we haven't touched on is smaller companies. Obviously, you know, people do multiple jobs and it's the biggest segment of the service market really. And so you see it that way. And again, I keep touching on remote areas. You know, so I think there's a necessary reality that would support doing that. And I know in one organization I was with recently, you know, again, our remote territories, we had the technicians and engineers doing a lot of sales responsibilities. I know we're going to touch on that a little later. But you know, from a quoting standpoint, from a project management standpoint, again, I think from a hybrid stretch, as long as it's designed and the company supports it, I think there's a role for it. Or it’s even a different title, right? Bruce Breeden 'Most of us if not all of us come from the background of field engineering and it's easy for us to roll up our sleeves and work with our teams and help when necessary. And somehow it can be expected but it doesn't mean that we are doing that daily. And if we look at it from the customer's perspective also, customers are expecting a manager who is able to make decisions and support his team for a better outcome for the customer and not on the equipment level only on the whole solution that the company brings to the customer'. Guy Eid 'It's all about the right person in the right place. And when you pick the right talent and you put that person in the right place, this is where magic happens. Communication is key. We keep repeating that and saying it. It's key upwards, downwards, across the board. It's important. And if I want to go back to another topic that was discussed at another round table, keeping the field engineers informed, gauging their opinion because they are the ones living the reality every minute of every day is important. And that gives them visibility. It gives them the importance. And that dynamic if it exists through the whole company that will be an unstoppable company for sure'. Guy Eid Thanks to our panel for this great discussion. Do you think Field Service Managers should still be hands-on? If yes, how much hands-on? Let us know in the comments.

  7. Jul 28

    Championing and recognising field service engineers

    In our latest Podcast release The Field Engineer'sCommunity Manager CarolineGregory meets Sarah Nicastro,Founder & Editor in Chief of Future of FieldService, host of The UNSCRIPTED Podcastby Future of Field Service, Managing Director of Future of Assets,and principal Evangelist for IFS. Sarah is a member of The Field Engineer community,   Some of you will also know Sarah from the annual Stand Out50 people in Field Service awards.   Sarah is based in the USA in Erie, on Lake EriePennsylvania. Sarah has a degree in psychology, an MBA, and a rich careerin publishing, editing, and field service. Sarah lives with her husband, Eric,and their two sons, Evan, who is newly 11, and Ellis, who is 9 soon to be 10.   Sarah discusses the balancing act between career andmotherhood, and much more in this fascinating interview.

  8. Jul 17

    Gordon Foot Offshore Maritime Operations Professional, Humble Leader, Maritime Charities volunteer

    The Field Engineer Podcast Podcast meets Gordon Foot,Offshore Maritime Operations Professional, Humble Leader, and MaritimeCharities volunteer who has four decades of experience in the Maritime world. Gordon joined the Royal Navyat the age of 17, pursuing his career in submarines.   Gordon is driven by living life with purpose, knowing whoyou are, and being part of a team. Thanks to Charlie Appsfor interviewing Gordon.   Some quotes from the interview,   “And I think what drives me as a person, which wouldobviously drive a lot of other people, is living life with purpose.”   “But I always come round to a special way of thinking it andit is by knowing who you are yourself to start with, looking in the mirror inthe morning, understanding who you are and saying - I'm going to be a betterversion of myself by the end of the day or I'm going to achieve this.”   “I think one of the great things is you know when you are inthe engineering field or the tech field like that is you only really knowyou're a professional when you can actually relay that technical information ina simpler form for everyone in the room to understand.”   “If you don't know, say so. If you're not sure, ask aquestion. And of course, the younger generation are used to just googlinganything. So there also comes with that now critical thinking. So what poursout of your phone is not necessarily true. Don't absorb it all. So being humbleto ask that question but then having the intelligence to use criticalthinking.”   Since leaving the Royal Navy Gordon has experience in Offshore Client Representative Renewables-Cables-O&G-Environmental Chartered Marine Technologist - Chartered Manager Construction/ Geoscience/ ROV-Dive/ Pipe/ Cable/ UXOSTCW-O&G-GWO certs   Able to communicate, lead, influence and advise teams todeliver client objectives within a safe, team orientated, inclusive atmosphere.An innovative professional who has consistently managed critical infrastructureprojects to a very high standard by maximising efficiency and profitabilityfrom effective project tender oversight through to project close out.Supervising this activity by applying decades of risk/ health and safetyknowledge within the maritime space.   Key Competencies: -Ship borne Operational Leadership and Management -Marine Critical Infrastructure Engineering/ Construction -Programme Management -Strategic Operations -HSSEQ Practitioner -Communication and Negotiation -Solutions Provider -Managing project delivery in an international, safe andinclusive environment. -A genuine people’s person who relishes a challenge. Gordon Foot recently updated the blog he wrote for The Field Engineer titled, 'Diversity in field engineering – Allyship – a practical and positive compass.' So don't hesitate to read that too. https://thefieldengineer.com/blog/learning-and-development/skills-for-intercultural-success/diversity-in-field-engineering-allyship-a-practical-and-positive-compass/

See All (59)

About

The Field Engineer podcast is for all engineers who work in field based engineering and customer service and support. Our mission is to provide a home and community for everyone in field-based engineering, wherever you are, and whatever industry or sector you work in. We welcome Field Service Engineers, Field Process Engineers, Field Applications Engineers, Field Sales Engineers, Field technicians, Biomedical and Medical field service, and anyone who has an interest in supporting the Field Engineering community. A community where you can find support and solutions to your urgent questions.

Information

  • Creator
    The Field Engineer
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    59
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Field Engineer
  • Show Website
    The Field Engineer