Career Story Rufus Steels

Rufus Steels did not take the most direct route into product development. After a bachelor's degree in Electronics and ICT, he completed a second bachelor's in Game Development, purely out of interest. Today, he works as an Embedded Software Engineer at NiniX Technologies, where his days alternate between the lab and the computer. What drives him is the path from idea to product: "Developing a concept, testing it and refining it until it actually works. That creative and technical process continues to fascinate me."

From games back to the lab

Finding a job after graduating turned out to be harder than Rufus expected. Through Vital, a friend who also works at NiniX, he heard about the position. With his technical background, stepping into product development seemed an interesting move.

What convinced him was the chance to work with hardware again. "I missed working in a lab. Game development is mostly software-oriented, but I wanted to work hands-on again with electronics, designing and testing. At NiniX, I could do just that."

A fast start

His first months moved quickly. "Of course, there were obstacles, like learning to work with new tools and methods, but I learned a lot." The combination of practical work and design appealed to him straight away.

Between the lab and the computer

No two weeks look the same, because his work follows the phases of each project. At the start, he is mainly in the lab working on prototypes: soldering, testing and making adjustments. Then comes the design phase, in which he draws PCB layouts and writes software. "Sometimes I spend weeks in the lab, and other times I work at the computer for long periods. That variety keeps it interesting."

Technology with a tangible result

One of the projects Rufus found most interesting was for a manufacturer of incubators. The company wanted to predict more accurately when an egg would hatch, in order to reduce chick mortality. Rufus worked on the hardware and the sensor calibration that made this possible. "It's great to contribute to an innovative, tangible product."