Katrin Orth has made a success of both work and study. During just over two years at Axians in Portugal and then Germany, where she is working on innovation and technology management, Katrin has relished her role as a student in the corporate world.
As a child at school, Katrin Orth dreamed of becoming a reporter and making documentaries in order to “Understand and help others understand”. The young student from Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany ended up following a different path, studying Engineering and Management at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences. But the ambition was the same: “I chose this path because I was good at maths. Maths gave me the tools to gain a clearer understanding of complex things.”
Now aged 27, Katrin Orth is studying for her Master’s degree while simultaneously managing digitalisation and technological innovation projects at Axians in Mannheim. “After a year at SAP in Walldorf, I wanted to enhance my studies with some practical experience more focused on innovation. I saw a VINCI Energies posting on LinkedIn. That position had already been filled, but they invited me to join them as a “working student” at the Digitalschmiede, the innovation hub VINCI Energies operates in Frankfurt.”
Working abroad
Katrin’s experience at the VINCI Energies innovation lab in Germany began in September 2022, but she soon found herself on a six-month placement with Axians Portugal in Lisbon. “I took that opportunity to work abroad. I joined the Sales and Co-Innovation.AI teams, working in what is an area of expertise for Axians Portugal. We worked on pioneering solutions based on artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the metaverse, also in collaboration with the University of Lisbon.”
Of all the projects she found particularly interesting, Katrin Orth highlights the joint effort with Omexom Germany on “A sort of dictionary in different languages using AI to support technicians working on cable installations and maintenance”. Katrin also particularly enjoyed working on a project involving the use of drones for onshore and offshore wind farm maintenance.
“VINCI Energies is an enormous company, but you feel like you’re in an SME.”
Having returned to Germany and the Digitalschmiede in late 2023, she joined Axians a few months later. Since then, she has worked at Axians Neo, who develops and sells a solution for digital planning for the rollout and management of mobile field operations, and for SAP-based maintenance. “We are developing innovative new features and improving existing solutions ones with the aim of creating a range of new solutions for other businesses,” explains the young engineer.
Enhancing life and work
More than two years after her arrival at VINCI Energies, Katrin Orth has the same enthusiasm as in the very earliest days. “I love the diversity of the projects we work on at VINCI Energies. We’ve covered everything from problems in connection with high-voltage lines and electric vehicle charging points to AI and digital twins, via airports and the Athletes’ Village for Paris 2024. I work on something different every day – it’s never the same. You never get bored and it’s so rewarding to be working on enhancing people’s life and work through technology.”
The “working student” particularly appreciates how her work requires her to immerse herself in the specific expertise and processes of the group’s different businesses to gain a better understanding of their problems: “It takes a lot of research and study – it’s really interesting”. She has always wanted to use her knowledge to design practical solutions and applications, and making a tangible contribution to the work of operational teams in the field feeds into that. She can always count on the support of VINCI Energies, not only for technical training but also for personal development, a module she recalls fondly: “It helped me so much.”
For Katrin, VINCI Energies represents a fantastic opportunity. “With its Axians, Actemium, Omexom, and Building Solutions brands, VINCI Energies is so diversified and present on so many sites internationally that all doors seem to be open. It’s an enormous company, but you feel like you’re in an SME, which is a huge advantage. Everything is fluid. It’s easy to make contact with other employees, and we’re encouraged to evolve and to change jobs within the group.”
A competitive equestrian since a very young age, Katrin Orth sees numerous qualities in her job that are also required in her sport: precision, patience, and a sense of priorities, along with the abilities to multi-task and take care of other people.
01/16/2025
