Guy Eid and Charlie Apps discuss the many interviews and discussions that The Field Engineer podcast has shared this year. Their highlights and plans for the new year. In 2025 The Field Engineer interviewed 17 individuals, Bruce Breeden, Marc Wabo, Rosemary Coates, Slava Gorovoy, Chris Tidy, Tim Robertson, Caroline Gregory, Tino Jongwe, Jason Jackman, Poonam Gupta, Kim Araman, Joe Deater, Varun Sharma, Paul Camidge, Danielle McGeary, Arturo González, and Sakher Fadaleh. We also held numerous roundtable discussions that featured panellists, Maurizio De Poli, Jerome Varvaro, Bruce Breeden, Kevin Mace, Paul Camidge, Charlie Apps and Guy Eid.
The Field Engineer has released it's first interview in Arabic. Guy Eid meets Sakher Fadaleh and discusses Sakher's 25 years of supporting medical devices in Jordan. Sakher Fadaleh has many years of experience in installing and qualifying medical instruments and machines. He has worked under challenging or extreme conditions or when there was limited infrastructure. Previously, Sakher was a Technical Support and Validation Specialist for analytical research and medical instruments for Thermo Fisher Scientific. He managed a service team covering Africa and Asia. The service team installed Liquid, Gas and Ion Chromatography, Mass spectroscopy, Molecular, and Elemental Instruments.
نشرت مجلة "مهندس الميدان" أول مقابلة لها باللغة العربية.يلتقي غاي عيد بصخر فضلة ويتحدث معه عن مسيرة صخر المهنية الممتدة على مدار 25 عامًا في دعم الأجهزة الطبية في الأردن.يتمتع صخر فضلة بخبرة طويلة في تركيب وتأهيل الأجهزة والمعدات الطبية. وقد عمل في ظروف صعبة أو قاسية، أو في ظل بنية تحتية محدودة.عمل صخر سابقًا كأخصائي دعم فني وتحقق من صحة الأجهزة التحليلية والطبية في شركة "ثيرمو فيشر ساينتيفيك". أدار فريق خدمة يغطي أفريقيا وآسيا، حيث قام الفريق بتركيب أجهزة كروماتوغرافيا السوائل والغازات والأيونات، وأجهزة مطياف الكتلة، وأجهزة التحليل الجزيئي والعنصري.
Five Field Service Leaders discuss, Why Field Service Recruitment Is Now a Multi-generational Hiring Challenge.Our Panel of five Field Service leaders are, Kevin Mace, Paul Camidge, Jerome Varvaro, Guy Eid, and Charlie Apps.
Are you working in Canada now? Or are you about to move to Canada to work? If so, what do you need to know about the Canadian culture in and out of work?In this podcast Guy Eid, MedTech professional and Caroline Gregory, Intercultural Trainer, discuss cultural topics. Guy moved to Canada in the Nineties and so draws on his own experience and on his experience helping others. Caroline has decades of experience training and coaching people who are moving countries or working globally.
Arturo González Ballast Water Treatment Service Engineer at Alfa Laval Ibérica.Responsible for executing commissioning, troubleshooting, maintenance, repairs, upgrades and overhaul for Alfa Laval’s Pureballast system on different types of vessel in Europe (Europe & UK) and Africa ( North Africa). Provide training/support to other service engineers and project coordinators at Alfa Laval Iberia. Arturo is originally from Panama and moved to Spain in 2022.
The Field Engineer's Community Manager Caroline Gregory meets Danielle McGeary. Discussing Danielle's life and career from Biomedical Engineer Intern to Vice President of Healthcare Technology Management at AAMI.The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation® (AAMI) is a non-profit organization founded in 1967.
Guy Eid meets Paul Camidge. Discussing Paul Camidge's 30 year career in medical service engineering and leadership.Paul is an experienced healthcare business manager with a background in technical service & support as well as medical account management in blue chip healthcare companies. Demonstrable skills in managing service departments to meet performance and financial targets. Outstanding team building skills with a history for turning round departmental performance by developing team members and changing culture. Accomplished at introducing continuous improvement techniques into a department and using them to drive performance and reduce costs.Key Strengths● Leadership – Demonstrable skills in providing clear leadership to translate overall company goals into departmental activities to reach and exceed. ● Team Building – Success in identifying key staff and developing both individuals and a team’s culture to move from underperforming to highly motivated and achieving.● Business Acumen – Solid skills in understanding companies’ marketplace, developing customer relationships, and providing products and services to meet customer demand and reach company goals.● Drive for results – Commitment to achieve tasks by providing effective management, inspirational motivation, and clear milestones for success.● Continuous Improvement – Track record of introducing a culture of continuous improvement and the resulting improvement in performance against the reduction in costs.
What is it like to move to Germany as a Health Tech Field Service Engineer?After over a decade of professional experience in India, working first with Allengers Medical Systems for six years and then Siemens Healthineers for another six, Varun's journey took a new turn in April 2023 when he relocated to Germany. It was a major decision as it was moving not just his career, but his entire life across continents. What followed has been a whirlwind of change, learning, and growth.A Career Shift Across Borders from India with move to GermanyVarun's first job after his move to Germany was with Medser GmbH in Frankfurt, a role that, unfortunately, didn’t turn out as expected. While the company had potential, the fit wasn’t right. But rather than seeing it as a failure, he took it as a stepping stone. Soon after, he moved to the beautiful city of Friedrichshafen, in the south of Germany, nestled near Lake Constance. Here, he found a more fulfilling role as a Production and Service Engineer and now Product Manager for SternMed GmbH. In this role, he currently contributes to both assembly and technical support for medical equipment.His move to Germany from India came with its fair share of culture shock. In India, workplace interactions are often warm, informal, and relationship driven. In Germany, things are more structured, punctual, and direct. It took time to adjust, but over time he has grown to appreciate the efficiency, clarity, and work-life balance that the German system offers.What surprised him the most about his move to Germany? Shops closing at 8 PM, Sundays being completely closed (even grocery stores!), and how quiet the streets get in the evenings. It’s peaceful, yes, but very different from the 24/7 buzz of Indian cities.
Joe Deater CBET AAMI GE Biomed of the Year 2025 Healthcare Technologies Management meets Charlie AppsAAMI & GE Healthcare BMET of the YearHealthcare technology management (HTM) leader and advocate Joe Deater, CBET, is the 2025 AAMI & GE Healthcare BMET of the Year. Deater is an Air Force Veteran who has worked at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan for more than 27 years.“Receiving this award lets me know that even though I feel as the majority of HTM professionals across the country do I do not deserve this recognition for doing my job, that others feel like I am making a difference in this world," Deater said. "That is humbling and also makes me proud to be a biomed.”Since 2017, Deater has served as an Adjunct Biomedical Technologies Instructor at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. He developed a new two-semester course from scratch and has since graduated four cohorts of students. All of his students who have pursued careers in HTM have secured jobs in HTM. Deater also continually attends career events and job fairs. Why? “I want to get HTM off the ‘top 5 best jobs you have never heard of’ list!”Joe Deater say, "Currently working as a BMET III at Munson Healthcare. I also am an Adjunct Instructor of Biomed at Northwestern Michigan College, both here in Traverse City Michigan. I have been in the field of Biomed or Healthcare Technologies Management (HTM) for over 30 years now and celebrated 27 years at Munson. I work hard at promoting this little-known field of work and try to encourage students and others to get into this great career field. I am often visiting and presenting about HTM to High Schools, Middle Schools and other Career fairs to get the word out".
Kim Araman LinkedIn Top Voice Career and Leadership Coach meets Guy Eid. Kim is based in Dubai in the UAE. In 2024 she was one of two career coaches to make the top 200, most influential people in the UAE. Kim offers some tips on how you can tap into the invisible job market, and network for career success using LinkedIn.
Field Engineer leaders Charlie Apps, Guy Eid, Bruce Breeden,Kevin Mace, and Maurizio de Poli in discussion about employee engagement.During the roundtable discussion, they discuss engagement, leadership,management, retention of employees, how to handle a merger, and how to leadmultigenerational teams. There are lots of examples from their own experienceas FSEs and as managers and team leaders.
Poonam Gupta Lead Evangelist Qbit Labs discusses her career working in Semiconductor Tech in India. Poonam discusses her career with Synopsys, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro and working with other organisations and groups. She also explains how more women can be encouraged into engineering and particularly into semiconductor engineering.
Charlie Apps meets Jason Jackman Regional Service Manager Miele UKJason Jackman discusses his background and his journey from the Army, to field service technician to regional service manager. Jason explains how the industry has changed over time and so their recruitment strategy has changed to reflect that. It's much harder to recruit from similar companies or competitors, so they also look for people with transferable skills or with the right attitude and aptitude. Jason highlights the importance of strong communication skills and also a 'can do' attitude.
Caroline Gregory, The Field Engineer Community Manager discusses her career with Guy Eid and Charlie Apps, both team leaders and managers. Caroline is also an intercultural trainer and coach and runs Intercultural Success.The Field EngineerThe aim of the community is to support engineers through their careers. To help them to network, learn, and exchange knowledge with fellow engineers and specialists.We have networking groups which are technology focused, industry sector focused, country specific and job role specific.We also have a Job Board dedicated to vacancies for field-based engineering, and customer support jobs.Intercultural SuccessIntercultural Success offers a unique combination of specialised training, consultancy, coaching, and international human resources services.We have been involved in Skills Training, Intercultural Training, Coaching and Human Resources Management, for over 30 years.If you work internationally and you’d like to discuss the things that are troubling you, arrange an initial consultation using Zoom or Teams.Our clients are from a wide variety of professions, sectors and countries. We offer a whole range of training courses, coaching, and consultancy as well as specialised workshops.Who do we work with?Intercultural Success works with any company with people who work across cultures, from new recruits to directors.We work with people from every culture and language group.From all over the world.Public and private sectors.From multinationals to start ups.Our services are all personalised to individual needs. What we design is inherently practical and has immediate impact on the individuals and organisations involved.
Charlie Apps meets Chris Tidy who is the Founder of Hard Hat Awareness Week. In this interview Chris explains why a proper hard hat is important and vital protection.Do you wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle or bicycle? Do you wear a hard hat at work?In many countries wearing a helmet at work in certain jobs is compulsory under health and safety at work legislation, but it's not mandatory for riding a motorbike home from work. So, someone can spend all day wearing a hard hat at work, leave the hard hat in their locker, and then jump on their motorbike that might be capable of 130mph without a helmet!"In 2024, an estimated 30,000 people died in India due to road accidents while riding two-wheelers, with a significant portion of these deaths occurring among those not wearing helmets."In the interview Chris Tidy explains why a proper hard hat is important and vital protection, across all field of activity where head injury is a possibility, both in work and leisure.Chris also discusses the amazing life of Hugh Cairns who led the growth of helmet use for motorcycle despatch riders during the Second World War.Now the standards like EN397, EN12492, ISO 3873 offer a guarantee of a certain level of head protection in an accident. That is if you wear the helmet!
Tino Jongwe is a Biomedical Engineer from Zimbabwe who has already worked in three overseas locations, Canada, Australia, and the USA. Tino discusses his experience of working as a biomedical engineer, BMET, in hospitals in Canada. He compares the roles of working full time in hospitals in a BMET role, with being a Field Service Engineer for medical equipment for Elekta. The regular hours of a BMET, compared to the travel and variety of being a Field Service Engineer. Tino worked as a Solutions Service Engineer in Australia, and he is now a Field Service Engineer for Elekta in the USA. Guy Eid interviews Tino Jongwe and gives a masterclass in letting the interviewee do the talking.
Part three. The final section of our Field Service Engineering Leaders Roundtable Mastermind Discussion.Topics include, instruments, customization, customisation, patches, software, firmware, hardware, training, AI, augmented reality, AR, artificial reality, scheduling, escalation and escalations, downtime, maintenance. The importance of the field service engineer who is at this moment in front of the customer.Service Level Agreements, and the importance of staffing correctly to fulfil SLAs - headcount and budgets.Managing field service teams, ,managing, management, hierarchy, communication, two way communication.Featuring Bruce Breeden Chief Service Officer at Michelli Weighing & Measurement, Jerry Varvaro Head of BPS Service - Americas at Sartorius , Maurizio De Poli Global Service Manager at Nanion Technologies. Hosted by The Field Engineer volunteer Advisory Team Members, Charlie Apps former Global Technical Support Manager at CMR Surgical, and Guy Eid former National Field Service Manager bioMérieux.
Part 2. of the Field Service Engineering leaders roundtable mastermind discussion discusses leadership, hiring, onboarding, and KPIs.
Part one of Field Service Engineering Leaders Roundtable Mastermind Discussion about Servant Leadership.
Featuring Bruce Breeden Chief Service Officer at Michelli Weighing & Measurement, Jerry Varvaro Head of BPS Service - Americas at Sartorius , Maurizio De Poli Global Service Manager at Nanion Technologies. Hosted by The Field Engineer volunteer Advisory Team Members, Charlie Apps former Global Technical Support Manager at CMR Surgical, and Guy Eid former National Field Service Manager bioMérieux.
A short clip of Bruce Breeden discussing leadership, from the Field Service Engineering Leaders Roundtable Mastermind Discussion.
https://youtube.com/shorts/D98zrQnvSbk