Internship in Denmark turned into a permanent adventure

In August 2023, MIT-student Dahlia Dry moved to the southernmost Nordic country in Europe, Denmark. Through the MIT-Denmark program, part of MIT’s international program, MISTI, she got an internship position at a Danish company in Copenhagen.

TEGnology, a high-tech startup focused on the conversion of heat into electricity, was to be her workplace for the foreseeable future. What she did not foresee was her almost immediate interest in making her stay permanent.

Denmark on the forefront of clean tech

Dahlia Dry grew up in South Florida and migrated north to Boston to study at MIT. During her studies she developed an interest in working in the interface between software and hardware and the development of sustainable technologies.

When she majored in Physics and Electrical engineering, she began looking for work. “I was looking for jobs in Boston and found it difficult to find something in clean tech that seemed compelling to me, so I thought why not try the MIT-Denmark program?”

“I had been wanting to try and live in Europe, specifically Northern Europe. The way things are structured felt very appealing to me, and as an avid cyclist, I was very excited by the actual bike-infrastructure”, Dahlia says.

Denmark is home to many major players within clean technologies. Furthermore, the need for international talent is at an all-time high in Denmark, and STEM-educated talent is in especially high demand.

All in all, Denmark represented a perfect destination for the future of Dahlia’s career. Both culturally and professionally Denmark seemed like a match for her interests and thus her Danish adventure began.

Copenhagen checked all the boxes

“I did not know much about Copenhagen before I got here, but everyone I talked to who had been to Copenhagen, absolutely loved it. That was very encouraging”, Dahlia says.

“For me it was a temporary until proven permanent situation when I came. Starting to work and live here I quickly became very open to the idea of staying longer – my boxes were checked.”

Denmark is internationally recognized for having a happy population and consistently ranks high in quality-of-life indexes.

“Something that really attracted me to stay, was the fact that Danes know how to do leisure really well – and the investment in public spaces where people can go and enjoy themselves, without having to pay for it is very appealing to me”, Dahlia says.

The Danish work-life balance

Both culturally and professionally Denmark and the company TEGnology was a perfect match.

“There is much less of an emphasis on the performative 9 to 5. You come into work, do what is expected of you, but with a lot of flexibility to navigate the work-life balance – this seems to me to be leading to a lot more productivity in the workplace”, Dahlia says.

“Fairly quickly I realized that I would like to stay in Denmark on a permanent basis, so I let Hao Yin (CEO of TEGnology) know that I was looking to stay – if you enjoyed the free trial, you should consider subscribing to the permanent version,” she adds with a smile.

The feeling of the match was luckily mutual. Hao was very happy with what Dahlia had offered the company in terms of expertise, knowledge, and a curious and positive approach.

“Having Dahlia join the team was like a treasure falling from the sky,” Hao says. It had turned out that Dahlia’s background was a perfect match with TEGnology and Hao stresses that her joining the team has had a profound impact on the company: “Our product development accelerated when Dahlia joined the team.”

Dahlia is now working at TEGnology in a permanent position. What she wanted professionally and privately was fulfilled and she is happy she made the move to Denmark.

And she has only praise when it comes to her work with TEGnology and MIT-Denmark: “I think that MISTI and the MIT-Denmark program is hands down one of the best things MIT has to offer.”