Scholarships with Lantek kickstart an engineering career for five young women

International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated every year on 11th February. Lantek is contributing to the movement through internships where young people under 30 have the opportunity for scholarships in Basque companies with subsidiaries abroad provided by the Basque Government.

Lantek had already experimented with the scheme and, in 2022, having recognised how it provided an opportunity to train and develop new talent, it welcomed four young people, two in the UK and two in Germany, focussed on customer support engineering activities for Lantek’s CAD/CAM solutions.

Colleagues in the UK and German offices have played a major role in making the internships a success, helping them with language, transport, accommodation and generally making them feel at home in their new environment, while Lantek’s HR department worked with them for pastoral care, tutor meetings, and UK visas, ensuring that they felt happy and supported at all times. One of the young people decided to leave the program after 6 months, but the other three Leire Olaeta, and Leyre Barcina and Itsaso Altuna are now full time Lantek employees as of the beginning of 2024.

Shortly after joining the Lantek UK office, Leire and Leyre were selected to be part of the Lantek Bend software competence team working alongside senior engineers. Leire Olaeta says, “Since the selection process started and the first meetings with Carlos, Rodrigo, and Joerg, we felt welcome and a valuable, part of the team.” Joerg Menzel, part of the Lantek UK team mentoring the two young women says, “We have a very mature office with people being able to cover nearly every aspect of our software portfolio. Leire and Leyre saw the opportunity and ran with it – their potential was great, and I am happy to say their contributions make the entire office better.”

In Germany, Itsaso Altuna was mentored by Gwenhael Born helping her with language barriers and the journey from basic German to leading customer installations. He says, “For me, the most difficult part was to avoid micromanagement, giving enough space for her to develop but not so much that she felt left alone. At the end, it went well.” Itsaso Altuna says, “It was kind of a big moment for me when I realised, ‘Hey, I understood that’! I already felt welcomed, but I have felt much more integrated since that point. That definitively came in handy when I heard some talk about a barbeque, I made sure I was invited to that!” she continues, “When I completed my studies, I wanted a job where I could ask questions directly to the client. I started working as a teacher in 2020 because it felt like the secure option at the time. I wanted a challenge that would line up more with my interests, so I jumped in when I was offered the internship at Lantek.”

Lantek is repeating the internship program in 2024. Two young women Elene Arando and Naiara Azkarate have joined the UK office. Elene says, “I was motivated to go out to discover new places and be able to continue furthering my skills. I heard about the opportunity of working abroad and I thought it could be a good option. I came to Lantek UK and the experience has been great, everybody at the office is very nice and I am constantly learning new things.” Lantek is confident that it can repeat the previous success and it hopes to continue growing the Global Training Program in the coming years.