Horsepower in her Blood
Inga Starbatty was practically born with a love of anything with an engine. Her father is a master mechanic, and as a child her dream job was to be one too. These were ideal prerequisites for the FutureStarter, who now works at ZF in Jeversen.
She tests assistance systems in commercial vehicles and ensures that the roads are safer for everyone. This is a job that Inga has been working towards for a long time.
At the age of 16, she didn't have the confidence to follow in her father's footsteps and assert herself as a mechatronics engineer in a male-dominated profession. However, she didn't want to leave the automotive sector either, which is why she trained as an automotive saleswoman and then worked as a service assistant. It was already clear at the time that this would not be the end of her career journey. However, the automotive enthusiast did not yet know exactly where it would take her.
FutureStarter Inga Starbatty works in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) application area.
The Goal Always in Sight
For a while, she turned her second passion, horse riding, also into a career. While her father had given her a love of vehicles, her mother passed to her a connection to horses. It was at this time that Inga Starbatty obtained her truck driver's license – after all, she regularly had to transport her four-legged friends to competitions. Her intensive involvement with the subject rekindled her desire for a career in the mobility sector.
Inga caught up on her A-levels at night school, worked at the car dealership again and always kept her eyes focused on her actual goal of studying engineering. It was almost three years before she was finally ready: "That was a good test of how serious I was about it." It was an exhausting time.
Dream Shattered?
Finally, just in time for graduation, the pandemic began. Once again, the dream of working as an engineer receded into the distance thanks to a year of "forced break". A job advertisement from ZF, or Wabco at the time, brought new hope. They were looking for someone in the commercial vehicle sector with a degree and experience in dealing with customers (a truck driver's license would be an advantage). It almost seemed as if the job was tailored to Inga's CV, so it was hardly surprising that she was accepted. She started in September 2021.
Inga Starbatty's work contributes to safer road traffic for everyone.
Since then, she has been working in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) application department. Customers send test vehicles to her department, where she integrates systems that are already working and tests them. This is all with the aim of ensuring that the customer vehicles pass the TÜV and ultimately contribute to road safety.
In the video, Inga Starbatty shows us her world between work, horse stable and motorcycle saddle. The expert also explains in detail how the ZF Safety Innovation Truck uses the latest technologies to make traffic safer for everyone. Finally, on a trip to the IAA Transportation 2024, Inga shows us pioneering product highlights from ZF.
