A Day in the Life of… a Zeta Electronic Design Engineer

Where does your interest in electronics come from?

It comes from my childhood really, my dad was an Officer in the Turkish Navy and used to take me to see Warships. I would go to the electronic control rooms and look at the devices and control gadgets. I would ask silly questions like; what can you do with that? What is that? It just sparked an interest in me, so at the age of 14 I decided to join Naval high school. It was a first step for me into electronics in the Navy and it continued for seven years. In that time I gained a Naval high school and Naval academy education, both combined with warfare electronics.

Why did you choose Zeta?

Zeta’s reputation in the LED lighting industry attracted my attention, and when I did more research I saw a really great potential for R&D, new investments and state-of-the-art projects and products. Also, when I first came here, Zeta’s CEO Philip Shadbolt showed me around and explained the capabilities they had for R&D and what they were doing at that time. After seeing the facilities I envisioned great things for me at the company and could see myself as an R&D Engineer here.

What does your role at Zeta entail?

I’m working as an Electronic Design Engineer, specialising in embedded software. In short, I give life to printed circuit-boards by writing software for them. Apart from that I also support our Lead Product Designer and the hardware design side as, at the end of the day, it’s all about teamwork and all parts of the design need to come together to create the perfect product.

What interesting advances have you made in your first year at Zeta?

It’s been almost a year for me working at Zeta and I’ve been leading multiple very exciting projects, including the development of a new smart street light with solar and wireless capabilities, due to be launched next year. Here at Zeta we are constantly following, developing and evolving the latest technologies and in turn are able to integrate them into our products and therefore upgrade them.

What is the best part of Electronic Design Engineering?

Most people buy electronic devices for their functionality but don’t necessarily need to know what’s going on behind it. Imagine you’re going to a concert, everyone wants to go backstage and meet the famous people, well I feel like I’m backstage in electronic design and I am with all these famous people. It gives me pleasure to see what’s going on in the background and how to make things work. When I bring two things together, write the software and it comes to life it makes me happy.

What are the challenges?

Having a university education gave me a background and foundation to be able to conduct a professional piece of work but if you’re not following the latest advancements in technology you can find yourself out of the game so quickly. Investing in cutting-edge devices such as a 3D printer, Goniometer and Oscilloscope, as Zeta has done this year, is vital if you want to compete.

What exciting developments are you seeing in the LED lighting industry?

I can see that there are improvements and advancements currently coming into play in the LED lighting industry. The most important advancements are; IOT technology (Internet of Things), machine-to-machine communication and connected devices which are all becoming more and more popular these days. In the future I think we will see all lighting and all devices talking to each other, more in terms of Smart cities, not necessarily domestically. We are already seeing a few examples in the UK and around the world, but there’s still room for growth.

What’s next for you and Zeta?

Zeta is a fast growing company with a good reputation in the market, and is already past the baby step years. I see Zeta making giant steps in the market, both in Europe and the rest of the world with our state-of-the-art LED lighting products and technologies and I am excited to be a part of it.