Alina – From Engineering to Management
Alina has found the meaning of her life through philosophy and courage. In her story, you will find out how she overcomes challenges and what opportunities she seized in her life.
“Think about everything with philosophy!”
My entire life I have been interested in philosophy, because without it you can’t understand the meaning of your life. Through philosophy, I’m now trying to understand why something happened in my life and caused destruction, and how that destruction helped me to be how I am now. There are a lot of doors in your life. Just open them – don’t close your mind and don’t be afraid to start over and learn something new. If I hadn’t opened those doors, I wouldn’t be part of Evonik, and I wouldn’t be Part of Something Special!
“I want to become an expert in an area where I can make a difference in people’s lives.”
I started my career at Evonik working on a project for a development program for young engineers coming from the university. What I liked most about the project was working with people. I like to help them create their future, to help them grow and search for ways to learn about them from another side. Everyone is talented! The question is: Who can unlock their talent? Who will be the starting point for them? I would like to be their starting point, showing people their potential career paths one-on-one without telling them what they should do. Because everyone should decide that on their own. For me, it is important to have a job where I can unlock my potential and share my ideas.
“Evonik gave me a chance.”
I had to leave my home country of Ukraine and I was scared, of course. But at the same time it was a new step for me, a new chance. What I have experienced the most while working at Evonik was the support for my development, especially from the team HR Special Sourcing and their project #JoinInAtEvonik. Evonik gave me the chance to improve my German and English and to show what I can do for Evonik; it also revealed my potential to learn something new. That is what being Part of Something Special means to me. If you go through a change, you have to have a target and shouldn’t be scared. My target was to open a new book with a new page and new experiences. So the right direction is don’t be scared, just do it!
“Women can move mountains!”
I started my career in engineering, but in my home country it was difficult for me as a girl working in this area. That’s why I switched to management. But what encourages women to start a career in engineering is their interest. Once women see that they can dare to dream, they can move mountains, they start to do it! Women should not be afraid of following their goal of realizing a big project. They have potential and they can do it!