Technology Night: Welcome to TÜV Rheinland

Cologne is as much about a feeling as about anything else. You see and feel this not only during carnival or when it comes to sports. As the fourth largest city in Germany, Cologne is also very attractive as a business location – as is evidenced by a colorful mix of industries and an ever increasing number of university students pursuing a variety of business and economics degrees. And with revenue on the up and up, the number of employees is also growing.

But where people work hard and with great dedication, fun shouldn’t be lacking either. In Cologne, things are just not taken as seriously as in other places and the tongue is often placed firmly in the cheek. It never seizes to amaze me that this Cologne attitude towards life is known far beyond the city and even the national borders.

Open doors at Technology Night

The concept of Technology Night – presenting technical and economic information in an entertaining way – therefore fits very well into our colorful city. Encouraging people to “feel, see, understand and experience technology”, many companies open their doors in Cologne for one night and show their production facilities and working environments to over 5,000 visitors.

Cologne is also a matter close to the heart for TÜV Rheinland, which is why we are not only attached to the city, but have also been a participant in Technology Night from the very beginning. All Cologne residents are cordially invited to take a look behind the scenes at our head office in Cologne-Poll, where many laboratories and workshops are located. Customers, business partners and applicants are usually amazed at the versatility hidden behind the three letters TÜV. Vehicle or elevator inspection are often the only aspects of our work people are aware of.

Discover exciting working environments

Our goal for Technology Night is therefore to show visitors and potential applicants a different side of TÜV Rheinland by presenting amazing and exciting professional fields and working environments.
During my research for the preparation, I myself was utterly amazed. I didn’t know, for example, that we also train chefs in addition to covering a wide range of professions from business to mechatronics. In our kitchen alone, we offer up to five new apprenticeships each year. And it also makes me a little proud that the employees in our two casinos are actually fed by a former star chef. While preparing the tour for the Wireless IoT (Internet of Things) team, I would have liked to be a student again when I learned that we were currently looking for student assistants for Silicon Valley or Shanghai.

The program – informative and entertaining

I also had a lot of fun preparing the “Hotel” tour, where visitors were shown what to look out for in hotels. There are just so many crazy stories that you can not only take useful tips with you, but also have a lot to laugh about. But I don’t want to give away too much, because our guests can expect a total of eleven guided tours and many interesting stations where they can become active themselves or simply ask their dedicated colleagues a few questions: for example, how they came to work for TÜV Rheinland, what training is needed or what tips they can give applicants. A visit to TÜV Rheinland for Technology Night 2019 is well worth it. I promise!