Employee Spotlight – Ivan Rybtsov
Working within Production as an Optical Alignment Engineer, we were delighted to spend time with Ivan Rybtsov to find out more about his work within the company and learn a little about his background and entry into the world of science.
Who or what was your inspiration to follow a career in science?
I always had many great people to draw inspiration from. Great scientists such as Nikola Tesla or Albert Einstein always looked up at me from the pages of my school textbooks and made me wonder whether they were asking themselves the same questions growing up as I did. Questions about time and the meaning of life, questions about the universe and its complexity, questions about why everything is the way it is.
But perhaps the greatest inspiration and motivation to study Physics comes from my grandfather, who made a career as a radioelectronics engineer in the millitary. He is, and always has been, a great role model for me. Electronics were not only a part of his job but his hobby too. As a kid I remember always seeing him solder some piece in the living room. There were transistors and capacitors, resistors and coils and my imagination could run wild when I looked at an electronics board. I always imagined it to be a little city for electrons to live in. My other grandfather was also a radio engineering enthusiast. He built handheld cam radios as a hobby and we always had fun talking to each other from different rooms and locations. I believe this is what has set my mind in the direction of Physics.
Can you describe a typical day?
A typical day in EI will see me fine tuning instruments to meet customer specifications. Because our instruments allow flexibility and can be customised to exact user requirements, this provides a diverse and interesting variety of work. Our aim is to provide our customers with the best and most reliable equipment we can produce. We have a fantastic wealth of knowledge in the company, and are continually evolving.
I am an optical alignment engineer but working in EI has given me the opportunity to learn other skills such as mechanical assembly and soldering. We have a great team of skilled engineers at EI but sometimes they cannot work on a piece of hardware that needs to be assembled/wired straight away. I am always keen to get involved and offer assistance to get the systems out the door.
What do you like most about life at Edinburgh Instruments?
The best part has to be the people I get to work with. The company is filled with enthusiastic folk who know their job very well. They are always friendly and greet me with a couple of jokes every morning as I walk past them to get to the clean room where we assemble the FS5 spectrofluorometer. This sets the day off. However, despite our humourous approach we work hard and don’t stop until the job is done. We know that it is a production line and there are things that always need to be completed.
What is the best part of your job?
What I like most about my job is the fact that I can learn so many new skills without having to change my occupation. My jobs can range from highly technical problem solving to wiring and soldering to even development tasks. I believe that EI will give me a good start in my career as a skilled engineer.
How do you like to relax in your free time?
I have got many hobbies outside work but not all of them are relaxing. Mostly I swim once a week with a masters class at my local pool. I do Muay Thai two to three times a week and I run from time to time too. I am also into theatre. I have performed in several plays, just for fun, and I enjoy it very much. The creative process involved gives me great pleasure and satisfaction. I like being the centre of attention and I think this also shows at my work place. I am very sociable and interact with a lot of people. This in turn helps me to get things done at work. I also love everything to do with movies and I am a big fan of movies and movie making, which I have also used in previous theatre experience. For me there is no better way to relax than to do something that interests you.
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