Current Vacancies

Test Engineering Specialist

Test Engineering Specialist

£40 – £55K

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Business Development Manager (Germany)

Business Development Manager

(Germany)

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Lead Electronics Design Engineer

Lead Electronics Design Engineer

£55 – £70K

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Graduate Software Engineer

Graduate Software Engineer

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Graduate Electronics Engineer

Graduate Electronics Engineer

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What is it like working in the Electronics Industry?

We shone the spotlight on some of our recent graduates and asked them about their experience of joining the company.

Graduate Hardware Designer experience in the Electronics Industry
Graduate Hardware Designer experience in the Electronics Industry

Joining XJTAG as a graduate has been the perfect opportunity to apply what I learnt at university and to keep learning and developing my skills. It’s proved a great way to get exposure to the many different sides of industry, and it’s particularly interesting to see how various client companies do things differently.

Having a clear training plan when I started was great, and various engineers were assigned to help where necessary, which made me feel guided through the initial training. I immediately found that everyone was kind and helpful and seemed to get on very well together. They clearly knew each other personally a lot, and I was very quickly welcomed into everyone’s personal lives.

My favourite subjects at university were the various digital modules as I found logic very logical (pun intended!). I studied JTAG boundary scan in a few of my modules and found it fascinating how a little extra silicon on the pins of a few chips means we can test so much of the assembled board.

Being a graduate at XJTAG is really interesting because I get exposed to many things I had never known about before, including having fun in the workshop with the 3D printer and CNC machine. I get to work on a lot of different aspects of what we do, so I rapidly felt integrated with the other engineers. I very quickly got to work on customer projects and was surprised at how many different services XJTAG provides. I love working here, and it feels like I learn something new every day. I definitely enjoy how much responsibility I was given even though I was so new to the company.

The social events (in person and virtual) very quickly made it clear that employee wellbeing is important to the company. The go-karting, mini-golf, BBQs, food truck, and pub lunches have been great, as is having a pool table; I like that we have areas for employees to be social.

Cambridge is also a great place to be – I love the city centre and sitting on the Greens in summer. This is a perfect first-time job and introduction to industry. The company’s management is very approachable, the team is super friendly, and people are always willing to help if there’s a problem.

Graduate Hardware Design Engineer experience in the Electronics Industry
Graduate Hardware Design Engineer experience in the Electronics Industry

I was born and raised in Malaga, Spain, and recently graduated with a bachelors in electronics systems engineering from the Universidad de Málaga.

I had heard many horror stories about what companies can be like, so when I started looking for a job, I had concerns about how things might turn out. I needn’t have worried. When I came for my interview at XJTAG, I found the work environment was nice and friendly, and the way the technical interview was conducted convinced me that I would have excellent mentors to learn from, which is something I really value as a new graduate.

XJTAG has a great company culture. All the staff are very friendly and respectful, and everyone’s always so helpful. They’re patient when training us fresh grads and answering all my questions. As for personal development, I found the management really cared about new graduates and dedicate time for training.

My advice for women seeking a career in engineering is to have confidence in themselves and not to be scared of seeking out new opportunities. You probably know more than you think! Don’t be deterred from applying for jobs if you don’t meet all the stated requirements. I think a lot of companies are in fact just looking for someone who knows how to learn.

One of the many things I love about my job is that I get to do many different types of task – last week I was doing circuit design, today I’m working on a PCB layout, and a little while ago I was writing HDL code for an FPGA. It’s nice not to be restricted to what I do.

Even though I’m fresh from university and don’t have any prior industry experience, I feel like I’m listened to and that my input on projects is valued. I very quickly felt a respected part of our team. The work/life balance is good here, too. I can work flexible hours, and overtime is only required when it’s really needed.

All those reasons make XJTAG a friendly, fun, and enjoyable place to work.

Graduate Software Engineer experience in the Electronics Industry

I’ve always loved maths, physics, and computing, so I studied an integrated Masters in Physics at York as a way to incorporate all three. I particularly enjoyed the final year’s High-Performance Computing modules and my project work, which was mainly programming, so when I graduated, I looked primarily for a job in software engineering.

When I had an interview with XJTAG, I immediately felt how welcoming the company was, and got the impression that it had a positive and accommodating work environment; they were the main reasons I decided to join. I like that I was interviewed by the two bosses directly, and I found further interviews and interactions with the software team and their manager positive and reassuring.

My technical interview included a programming test, and I felt like it was much more reasonable than in other companies because I was offered the time and flexibility to submit something I was happy with.

Everyone is as genuine today as they were in my interview and during my first few weeks. I feel well supported by other team members, who are always willing to help anytime they can. Their support was particularly noticeable earlier in the year when COVID forced us to work from home.

Every day gives me new challenges, and there is so much that I can learn here. I feel I’ve been allowed to work independently and given the necessary time to work through problems without undue pressure. I like the flexibility of working hours, which makes organising life outside of work much easier because I’m able to come in early or work late if I need to accommodate daytime appointments such as landlord visits or deliveries.

We all enthusiastically join the frequent BBQs, lunchtime outings, and quarterly socials. I love the relaxed but productive work environment and have really been enjoying my first year at XJTAG.

Graduate Software Engineer experience in the Electronics Industry
Graduate Software Engineer experience in the Electronics Industry

I recently graduated with an Integrated Masters in Physics from the University of Leeds. Throughout my degree, I had to do various coding projects, and my interest in software engineering grew from those. It solidified as a prospective career during my final project, which centred around using MATLAB to automate data manipulation.

My first impressions of XJTAG were that the people were so welcoming and kind, and I was really put at ease during the interview process. It was nice that I was given a technical task to demonstrate my abilities as well as having a general chat with the software team manager and recent graduates to show my personality – a chance you don’t often get with larger companies. This down-to-earth feeling is what made me want to join XJTAG, on top of the fact it’s a world leader in its field, which shows it’s forward thinking and innovative. It’s nice to be able to brag about your job and be proud of the company you work for.

I’ve been blown away with how supportive my colleagues have been. The learning curve was steep when I joined as I didn’t know C# prior to this job but I was supported the whole time. I was taught Python at university but feel I now know more about C# after just a few months than I do about Python, even though Python was taught throughout most of my degree!

I like that XJTAG is a medium sized company. It has meant that, even as a recent graduate, my opinion matters and I can have a say in how we can improve the working environment. Within a couple of months of joining the company, I was highly involved in creating a social committee and arranging frequent virtual and in-person social events, which has been a lot of fun! I have found that we have a really great work culture here.

It didn’t matter that I came into my job at XJTAG with very little electronics knowledge; I’ve learned so much through getting thorough explanations from colleagues and by fixing bugs. I love the way there isn’t a rigid structure of job roles, so you’re free to take on as much responsibility as you would like, and your efforts are always recognised.

STEM is a great career if you like to solve problems and seek answers as there’s always progression in research leading to new ways to develop and learn. For other women wondering about a career in any type of engineering, I would say not to be put off by a lack of representation in certain fields – you will become the representation that others will follow.