Christian is an Innovation Engineer at HARMAN Professional in Aarhus Denmark. He has been with the company for 5 years and has a background in Electrical Engineering. At HARMAN, Christian works on the Martin Professional lighting products. We have approached Christian to find out more about his professional journey.
What makes your work unique?
Working with lighting products is very rewarding because you get to see the finished products at many places - concerts, theaters, and TV shows. We are very proud of our products as a team because they require strong teamwork and many engineering disciplines to develop.
What are some cool things you've learned about Martin Professional that your 7-year-old self would be excited to know now?
It has always been a dream for me to be working with Martin Professional products since I was a young boy and my father showed me a lighting show at a Martin Professional Pro Shop. I got my first Martin lighting product when I was 7 years old! Since that time, professional lighting products and electronics have been a great passion and hobby. To experience and participate in all the engineering and innovation work would certainly be the coolest thing to show my 7-year-old self, who at the time also wanted to be an inventor.
When did you step into the lighting industry as part of your professional life?
I started using Martin Professional products on a professional basis when I was the co-owner of a sound and light production and rental company for 6 years. There I got experience with lighting products as both a lighting designer and a lighting technician. Over the years, this sparked new energy, and I wanted to dive deeper into the technical side of lighting products. This made me apply for a job at Martin Professional, back when Martin Professional was not yet part of HARMAN. But the job I wanted to require a degree in electrical engineering, which I did not have at the time.
On the basis of a potential job at Martin Professional, I started my education as an electrical engineer. During my education at university, Martin Professional was acquired by HARMAN, and I was hired as an electrical engineer intern at HARMAN. Next, a specific job opening was created for me, and I was hired full-time just after completing my electrical engineering degree. So, all in all, a very happy ending to my journey to HARMAN.
How do you stimulate innovative thinking?
In my daily work, I am a project lead on multiple technology and platform projects, and I am also a mentor for our engineering interns at our site. What motivates me most is working with new technologies and making innovative inventions that have the possibility to change the lighting industry. I hope that my contributions will someday lead to a lighting product that can achieve that level of change. It is also here where I get inspired with new ideas, and I am constantly looking into new technology or ways to use lighting products.
It is very motivating when you get an idea and can't stop thinking about it until it is defined. When it has been defined, it is important to share the idea with the right colleagues, who can give you quality feedback and help accelerate the idea if it is good. It is important to pay attention to the feedback because this will help shape future ideas.
Not all ideas are equally good, but if you believe in your idea, then go for it. If you have difficulty defining it, then start making a simple drawing or description - it does not need to be perfect at first. Ideas typically have a way to evolve naturally in your mind. Another solution is to bring a colleague on board who might have the correct insights to help shape your idea.
It's people like Christian who remind us of how important it is to combine passion with purpose. At HARMAN, this fuels our innovation and helps us create meaning for all the work put in to positively impact people's lives.
Found yourself inspired by Christian's story and would like to learn more about our work opportunities? Check out
this page to envision your career with us.
