Twente? It’s my perfect home

This article is part of a series called “Twente Leeft!” (Twente Lives!). You can read personal stories here about living and working in Twente. Twente is a nice place to be, according to the talents we meet. The beautiful nature, space, the down-to-earth mentality; they all characterise Twente. There are also plenty of career opportunities! Twente has many innovative, international and future-proof companies that are desperate for staff. Want to know what Twente has to offer? You can find Clareyne’s story below. 

“My gut feeling has not let me down”, says Clareyne. “Twente just feels right.” She is referring to the level-headed mentality, and the freedom that she believes prevails here. She was studying Industrial Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the university when she experienced that for the first time. She has noticed it at work as well. “Many companies say that everyone there is equal, but that is actually the case here at IMS in Almelo. We really work together when there is a project, and it is just as easy to start a discussion with a director as it is with a colleague. 
 

“Mijn 'gut feeling' heeft me niet bedrogen”, zegt Clareyne. “"Twente klopt gewoon.”

Clareyne de Vries

She feels like a fish in water, as the only female Mechanical Engineer at the company from Almelo, which develops advanced production lines. Men are the majority by far, both at the technical university and in the technology sector. Clareyne never had any problems with that, and still does not. “I do walk to the reception for a chat with other women every now and then, but conversations with my colleagues are really about everything, from cars to so-called women’s topics. There is no difference here between men and women, including their salary. 

She always knew, from a young age, that she would go in this direction. “I always want to know how things work. I registered for two studies at the time; this and medicine. It may seem far apart, but medicine is ultimately also about how things work, namely the human body.” It was not a problem for her that she was rejected for medicine because it did not matter to her which study she would eventually do. Looking back, she is glad about the way it turned out. “I can express my creativity in my work, and I can work on technical solutions from different perspectives. You can think out of the box in my profession, and that suits me very well.”

Clareyne is creatively looking for solutions to make production lines for the automotive industry more efficient or of a higher technological quality. She also paints one colourful painting after another in her spare time. She recently started cycling, too. “My boyfriend Bas has been telling me to go with him once for years. I only agreed recently. I was hooked immediately. It is so lovely to be on a bike and ride through the beautiful nature in Twente. You know, you really have everything here. Nature, a great university, friendly people, a nice city centre and very interesting companies. Many students have their minds set on jobs at big companies elsewhere in the country. However, there are jobs and positions here that are at least equally challenging. Take mine, for example. Plenty of challenges, a great atmosphere in the workplace and small enough to know all my colleagues. I’m not nearly done here.”
“I can express my creativity in my work, and I can work on technical solutions from different perspectives.”
Clareyne de Vries

“I can express my creativity in my work, and I can work on technical solutions from different perspectives.”

Clareyne de Vries

The Mechanical Engineer works on various projects at IMS. “We develop both prototypes and serialised machines for small, precise products used in the automotive and smart-device industry. The great thing here is that you put the things that you come up with together yourself. You learn the most from it, in this way. Something can look amazing on paper but still turn out very differently in practice. You could have drawn a bolt somewhere in CAD, but then it turns out that you are unable to make that angle with your wrench, for example.”

Clareyne also worked on a new platform that is currently at a customer in the Czech Republic. “We have built the platform in a modular way. A machine line can be easily expanded or arranged differently in this way.”

She is currently working on perfecting a machine that can assemble components of only a few square millimetres in size, to ease the production process for a customer in the automotive industry. “A copper wire, thinner than a hair, must be placed in a housing with extreme precision, repetitively.” This task is perfect for her. “I follow a principle; form follows function, not the other way around. But the design is also important! I can use both my backgrounds at IMS, and I have infinite possibilities for following courses. A great job at a great company. “Just” here in Twente.”