“For a long time, I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. When I was in eleventh grade, I wanted to leave school and do something else. My uncle runs a dairy farm and I’ve always found that fascinating, so it felt natural to go into the dairy business. I started an apprenticeship at DMK – and that’s where I really prospered.

As a dairy technologist, my job is to process the milk into cheese, yoghurt and other great products. That involves operating large and expensive machines and equipment. I take care of every step along the way, from the milk reception point right the way through to a supermarket-ready product. It’s demanding and varied. For the first time in my life, I really have a lot of responsibility and that means a great deal to me. I need to be precise in my work as otherwise, it will affect the taste of the products, for example. Plus there is also the health aspect, so I always have to focus on the purity. It is really exciting to operate the technical equipment but dealing with the data digitally also needs a lot of intuition and good organization.

I completed my training as a dairy technologist last year. That was a very exciting time, and amazingly, learning and studying was suddenly much easier than it was at school. In the future, knowledge of dairy technology needs to be passed on to lots more people. Dairy technologists are in demand throughout Germany. That’s why a high level of training is so important.

I am happy with my degree, but I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal. I am going to keep developing professionally to become a food technologist, which means two years of further training at DMK, as well as going to vocational school. I completed my training as a dairy technologist with a dream grade of 1.6, which made me one of the 32 best to receive a scholarship from the Chamber of Agriculture in Lower Saxony. That is a really helpful source of financial support. On the one hand, it pays for my technical schooling and on the other, it means I can get the digital technology I need. Now, a lot of doors are open to me. I can become a state-certified technologist, a master technologist or an engineer. I would never have dreamed of any of that in eleventh grade.

Your school leaving certifcate does not matter when it comes to learning the profession of a dairy technologist and later perhaps becoming an engineer. What counts is your motivation! I am sure that anyone who is interested in the job will be able to find the right company. For myself, I can only say that the job gives me a lot of self-confidence.”

Cash is available for students: Hannover University of Applied Sciences and companies throughout Germany are supporting students in the dairy food technology field in a bid to increase the number of students, prevent a shortage of skilled workers and bring research and practice closer together. To this end, DMK Group, frischli Milchwerke, Uelzena Group, SIG Combibloc and GEA Group are giving selected students a monthly sum of up to 1,200 euros. Anyone with a university entrance qualification and matriculation in Dairy Food Technology is eligible to apply. The program can also be extended to the Food Packaging Technology degree program. You can find more details at: https://prostudium-hsh.de/