Student Artem Makarov found his dream job in industrial water treatment

After my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Applied Sciences I wanted to develop myself further and at the same time was seeking for which area of expertise I should concentrate on. I though Aalto Water and Environmental Engineering Master’s degree to be a right choice in that position and I was not mistaken. Surely, earlier studies in South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences together with practical trainings in laboratories and HSY influenced my choice very much. I was fully interested in engineering, water and business and the programme of Water and Environmental Engineering (WAT) was able to provide me everything. In addition, I had a friend of mine, who started studies in this programme one year earlier and I heard only positive feedback from her about WAT.

Courses related to water treatment technologies and processes by ProfessorAnna Mikolawere of the most interesting for me. Those included industrial site visits and interesting projects as a supplement for classical teaching, and I felt that this combination is often the best for a student.Studies in Aalto have been concentrating more on the theoretical background behind the processes and engineering, which was missing sometimes in University of Applied Sciences. This was very useful for me in order to make my practical know-how to be in line with theory. Equal relation and attention to every single student was the most surprising thing about my studies here and I find this very important. Every country in the world should be focusing on this matter.

I was lucky to find my dream job already after my first year of WAT studies, which includes both engineering and sales activities, as I have always wanted. I am working as a consultant at the company Academic Work Finland Oy performing the duties of Sales Support Engineer at Outotec Oyj. The job includes both engineering and sales activities in the unit of Outotec's minerals processing technologies. I am involved in development of complex technological solutions for industrial water treatment and tailings handling within the mining industry, supporting sales cases and implementation projects in Europe and Eurasia. Laboratory and pilot scale test campaigns inhouse and on site are in my list of duties also when needed. I am planning after graduation to develop my skills more and grow into an expert in the industry of industrial water treatment and generated wastes handling.

Currently my regular day is different from the time I was a first-year student in WAT, since I am finalizing my studies and working full-time simultaneously. As a student I enjoyed being at lectures and doing lab works daily. At work, my regular day usually consists of several meetings to discuss the team planning, proposals preparations, requests for quotation from customers. Every work case is usually different from each other and needs individual approach. Therefore I love this job, it is full of learning every day.

Even though WAT is teaching the students mainly about municipal water treatment, it does have a lot of correlations with industrial effluent treatment (e.g. from mining, pulp & paper, paints and oil industries). Treatment methods and theory behind those which I studied on my first year of Master’s together with a course about process control gave me a good background to start working in this field. For my 2^nd year elective courses I took the package of LITO courses, which contain business courses for non-business students. This package indeed was very helpful at my work. It made me understand sales, marketing and organizational management issues in theory and apply those in practice.

I welcome the future students to the interesting journey inside the modern world, where almost every area and industry needs to take care of the water resources. I would suggest not to dive deep into the first path of the courses that you find interesting, but rather to observe the wide picture at first and then start the decision-making process. I have learnt that there is indeed a lack of such water professionals around Finland and the world, and thus, we should all be proud of WAT programme and the possibilities it creates for the students.