ITW SPIE EN

1. How did you find out about SPIE?
Pierre Champion: I was looking for a company that could take me on a work/study internship
during the last year of my studies at an engineering school in Brittany, specialising in electronics
and digital technology.. SPIE sent an offer to the school and I applied immediately because
I wanted to work in a group operating internationally. The interview went well, and I felt the
people that dealt with me were really listening to me. So in 2014-2015, I spent a year on a work/
study internship at SPIE Communications (now called SPIE ICS), in Rennes, Brittany. As a junior
project manager and pre-sales support, I was involved in logistics, integrating and implementing
network/telecoms hardware solutions, personal computers, sales outlets and managing
electrical and electronic waste. I was very pleasantly surprised by the welcome I received; they
treated me as a new member of the team and not just as an intern.
What does your current job consist of?
P.C.: After my year on the work/study internship, I wanted to stay at SPIE and the company
gave me the opportunity to continue, with a move to Nice, in the South of France.
As a project engineer, I now play a much more operational role. I am developing my own
portfolio of customers. I really like working in technical sales.
How do you see the future?
P.C.: Although I am young, SPIE is now allowing me a remarkable degree of autonomy,
so I am able to keep on acquiring new skills. I would like this period of training to continue
before I take on a more important assignment in another country. I will go wherever SPIE
offers me an interesting new project!
24-year-old Pierre Champion, who started out at SPIE on a work/study internship,
is now a project engineer.
Find more about our job offers on www.spie-job.com/en
INTERVIEWS
WITHOURSO’SPIEPEOPLE
“I’m learning a lot
thanks to the autonomy
that SPIE gives me.”