I have been working for fme for over 6 years. Time to look back and share my experiences.

Some of you might think that I was forced by our management to write this blog post, but I clearly deny that! We employees were encouraged to participate in the fme blog and I thought it might not be wrong to give an honest report on what it’s like to work at fme.

How it all began

Where do I start now… maybe just at the beginning. In my time before fme I had already worked for several companies in my life, usually not for long, because in my eyes it simply did not fit. Countless overtime hours were demanded and expected, working hours from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., unjust superiors and so on and so on… I think I can say, without exaggerating, that I have already experienced pretty much all negative experiences of the professional world. After all these experiences, I have approached my new position at fme with corresponding skepticism.

First of all, I would like to say one thing right away… as in every company, not everything at fme is just sunshine, but… in at least 95% of cases it is.

From job interview to employment contract

This already started with the first interview… I was welcomed very friendly and it was a really pleasant conversation in which one did not have the feeling to stand in court, quite the contrary… it was not only the typical expertise inquiries, but one really tried to get to know each other. Another conversation and one phone call and I was allowed to sign my employment contract – an open-ended employment contract… I hadn’t seen this for a long time before. I was really satisfied with all the basic conditions – salary, holidays and other things fit.

The first working days

On the first working day I was as usual introduced to all colleagues present, received a laptop, a company mobile phone and was first asked to read various documents and quickly got an impression of how everything works at fme. It struck me directly positive how friendly and relaxed, but also busy everyone seemed. The 2nd working day was then directly the first highlight – we went to the headquarters in Braunschweig for the Company Meeting – the big annual meeting where all employees meet and are informed about the past year in detail – with following party… and that was really a blast.

What is it like to work as a consultant at fme?

Well… someone who reads this article will certainly not only want to read about the things that impress me at fme, but rather get an honest impression of what it’s like to work here!

First of all, you have to know that most colleagues are employed as consultants – being a consultant means making your knowledge and skills available to other companies, i.e. our clients, on behalf of fme. You get to know a lot of companies and thus also people and your personal network is constantly expanding. Here in our business unit in Frankfurt (Hattersheim) we support the life science sector, i.e. many of the large pharmaceutical companies, especially here in the area.

fme itself deals with digital transformation, cloud and to a large extent with document management – that is, the management of documents in every way. In addition, there are migrations with our product migration-center when clients merge their document management systems or replace them with new ones.

To be honest, this is a very special sector in which we are active. However, that shouldn’t put you off – I wasn’t an expert on the subject or the industry myself when I started here. However, I have received all the necessary knowledge from my colleagues or through training.

As a consultant, you are with the client and are continuously on the road – as far as right, but at fme also everything only as far as you want it yourself. One of the principles at fme is employee satisfaction. For family reasons, I personally cannot travel endlessly and stay overnight in hotels all the time. In general, you can really talk openly about everything with your superiors here; even our Executive Board always has an open ear and really tries to make the employees feel comfortable.

The human factor

Personally, a healthy work-life balance is very important to me and I am glad that I can realize this at fme in exactly the way I imagine it. You can actually reduce everything to 2 factors – the client must be satisfied, the employee as well. I really appreciate this culture at fme – for the first time I have the opportunity to work from home now and then, which makes you incredibly flexible. Stone carved working hours do not exist for me – in the end I adhere to what the client wants and with everything else I can decide very freely – as long as I perform my contractually agreed hours everything is fine.

In general, you can say that you can easily fulfil yourself at fme. True to the slogan “everything can be done, nothing is a must”, it is even appreciated if you are dealing with topics that really interest you. Talked briefly to the superior and you can and should actually get started. Of course, this should have something to do with fme’s core activities. Appropriate specialist training courses are then also no problem.

The human factor plays a really big role here – it is simply important that you fit in with fme and what that means is not so easy to put into words.
There are certainly some special characters or the typical computer scientist, which is not to be interpreted negatively. It is always fun to sit at lunch with colleagues and laugh. It just fits.

The clients

Perhaps also a word about our clients… in 6 years I have really got to know many clients and still do not regret a single encounter. It is always fun to meet new people and to exchange expertise. And since many of fme’s clients remain loyal for a very long time, I am always happy to meet old contacts and work with them again.

Nearly full points

If you ask yourself now… mhhh, at the beginning he had written that 95 % is all sunshine at fme, what are now the 5 % which are not? In fact, it’s not that easy to answer… sometimes there are little things that don’t make you happy at one point, but isn’t this the case always and everywhere?

In any case, I hope that I was able to give an impression of what it is like to work as a consultant at fme. Personally, I can only tell everyone:
It’s fun and fme is definitely worth anapplication!