Name: Emilio Maldonado Reyes
Place of Birth: Monterrey, Mexico
Date of Birth: 14 February, 1987
Studied at TU/e: “I started my Master in Automotive Technology in August 2011, and defended my thesis in October 2013. Officially, I graduated in November, 2013”
Current position: Design architect for automotive projects

What do you do now?
“Right now I’m one of the pioneers of the new branch of Prodrive Technologies based in Mexico. Prodrive is a well established company in the Netherlands, which is now expanding operations towards emerging markets. I’m a design architect for automotive projects. It is definitely what I wanted to do. One of the reasons I decided to study abroad is that I wanted to be a designer of solutions, and there was no way of obtaining the necessary tools in my country.”

How did you find this job?
“To be honest, finding my job was the definition of serendipity. A mutual acquaintance put me in a good word for me  with someone who was recruiting for this specific position, before the actual job posting was available on the Internet. Chance, maybe - however I already had other offers from other companies at the time. I don’t think it is difficult for a highly skilled and trained professional to find employment. There is always a great need for good engineers out there.”

Have you considered staying in The Netherlands?
“Even before coming to the Netherlands it was my intention to go back. I believe in my country and I did not want to be part of what we call ‘brain drain; when trained professionals choose to stay abroad because they have better there. I really like the Netherlands, but I feel like I owe my country a lot, and now I have what it takes to actually start making a difference, even if it’s a small one.”

How do you reflect on your time at TU/e?
“I chose to study at TU/e because it offered what I thought to be the best blend of subjects for the field of automotive engineering, without compromising in one specific area. I really liked that the approach was towards having a system-level integration of all of the different topics. Looking back, I have very fond memories of my time there. I would definitely do it again, although maybe I would have spent more time delimiting my research topic. Things can get out of hand very fast if you’re doing experiments.”

What advice would you give to current students?
“Plan ahead. More importantly, plan for eventualities. I’ve never heard of a case in which someone said “Oh, I had plenty of time to do my thesis, and I actually finished earlier than expected”. You won’t. Seriously.”