Daniel Eckenstein: "Be bold, tread your own path and aim to do something big."

When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

When I was at primary school, I wrote an essay about wanting to be the station master in the village of Brienz where my family used to spend the holidays. The job of running the station and organising the trains and passengers really appealed to me as presumably did working in a dreamlike, tourist area.

You studied civil engineering at ETH. What inspired you to study at ETH?

I wanted to understand how the transport sector works and gain a solid technical education. Numerous conversations with engineers led me to civil engineering. I was influenced by a presentation given by a civil engineer where he portrayed himself metaphorically as a builder of bridges between various stakeholders comprising politicians, builders, residents and interest groups. In a nutshell: I was attracted by the idea of both learning about materials and discussing topics with a wide range of people on a level playing field.

How did your degree from ETH help you get onto the career ladder? What do you enjoy about working for SBB?

At ETH, I learnt how to quickly immerse myself in a topic and properly analyse the baseline. These are useful skills both in a lecture or group exercise but also in the world of work. Writing my master’s thesis at SBB and being included in the Trainee Program gave me the perfect gateway into the huge company which is SBB and opened many doors for me. During my 18-month program and the various positions I held, for example, I also got to work in automotive engineering. This sector is less accessible to most civil engineers. But it gave me more pieces in the puzzle of understanding the complete system and complemented my experience to date. I really like the diversity and range of different topics I encounter in my work.

What does a typical day for you entail? What jobs do you have to do?

I’m currently working in strategic system management within infrastructure and am managing a change project. We want to systematically align collaboration in a large number of different technical systems within infrastructure with customer benefits and most importantly make the overall railways system more efficient. It’s all about creating systematic dialogue between the various actors and moving away from the current trend of silo mentality.

How has your working day changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?

In March, I moved to working from home pretty much all the time. As “office staff” here at SBB, we are in a comfortable position. We no longer have fixed places of work and are all equipped with notebooks and mobile phones. But I miss the personal interaction. That’s especially true for a project like ours where we need to understand positions and find joint solutions. Obviously, it’s very useful when you can gauge the mood in the room. But that was a luxury we can live without as we have lots of online tools. And unlike our colleagues working in the trains, along the tracks or in workshops, we don't necessarily need to be physically present to maintain regular operations and keep Switzerland moving.

You've been the President of the AIV Alumni for over five years now. What advice would you give anyone studying at ETH today?

Keep your eyes and ears open. Studying at ETH provides an excellent basis for a huge number of different jobs. You really can't imagine all the interesting places you could find work. I would also recommend students to get as much hands-on insight as possible although I recognise how difficult that is at the moment. Despite the current situation, try to find a way to get insight into construction sites, companies or laboratories and make contact with the people working there. Be bold, tread your own path and aim to do something big.