What is an Advanced Field Service Engineer? What are the steps to working as an Advanced Field Service Engineer? This article focuses on one woman’s career story and journey to becoming an Advanced Field Service Engineer. Tiffany Nungari has a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from The University of Maryland and has worked as a Research Assistant, a Scientist and an Application Engineer. She now works for Agilent Technologies as an Advanced Field Service Engineer for lab equipment.

How to become an Advanced Field Service Engineer

Background

Were there any childhood interests which led to field service?

Growing up, I was always passionate about biology and knew I wanted a career helping people. My initial plan was to attend medical school, but during college, I realized that while I wanted to help others, the path of being a doctor was not for me because I had difficulty maintaining professional objectivity with empathy.

I then focused on research, but I was still looking for more. I didn’t know much about field service, but once I learned more, I realized that I could still help others, just in a different way. The day-to-day work was more varied, dealing with different challenges every day, getting the chance to visit different labs and learn about their research. It’s a position that always has you learning something new every day.

A career as an Advanced Field Service Engineer

Why would you recommend this career to other people?

Field service work can be a rewarding challenge for those who thrive on problem-solving. The tasks are often complex, requiring critical thinking and adaptability. While familiarity with the equipment is helpful, the standard solution may not always apply. In those
situations, you have to methodically troubleshoot the issue, step by step, to identify the root cause and devise a solution. For me, the excitement lies in this troubleshooting process and the sense of accomplishment that comes with resolving an unfamiliar
problem.

Typical Week as an Advanced Field Service Engineer

Working as an Advanced Field Service Engineer – what’s your typical week like?

With this job you have to be flexible. You can have your entire month planned out but can be changed abruptly with emergency calls. Customer visits Monday – Friday with repairs, preventative maintenance, or installs. Sometimes repairs take longer than expected so you might try to add an extra day to finish the repair which means you might have to reschedule calls or add the repair on top of calls you already have scheduled. The nice part of the job is that you oversee your own schedule, so you can adjust your schedule to what makes sense to you.

How do you develop the relationship so that it becomes more than just ‘supplier’ and ‘customer’?

You must be genuine, truthful, and transparent to build a relationship. When I visit a new customer, I try to have casual conversations to help build rapport and make the interaction
more personal. Transparency is important when things don’t go as planned. Being able to communicate that early and being upfront builds trust and shows accountability. I also make it a point to listen to the customers frustrations, whether it’s about the instrument or
broader product concerns. That way, customers know their concerns are heard and acted on. I’ve had customers reach out just to check in on how I’m doing, which I consider to be a clear indication that our relationship goes beyond the service interaction.

Solutions to Challenges

What do you find most challenging when you are working – technical side or people/customers?

One challenge I am constantly working on is knowing when to step away from a call when I can’t fix it right away. I take a lot of pride in minimizing the customers downtime, so my instinct is to put in extra hours to try to complete a repair the same day whenever possible
because I don’t want to inconvenience the customer any longer. I’ve learned to balance that urgency with efficiency by stepping away when needed so I can return with a fresh and new approach. I try to stay mindful about it and have developed a better sense of when to
pause and reset.

Women in Field Engineering

How do you think more women can be encouraged to work as field service engineers and then advanced field service engineers, team leaders and managers?

I didn’t know field service was a career path I could take at first, especially since most field engineers are men. I think having more visibility would go a long way, it helps show younger women that this is a real option for them and something they can step into.
Another factor is companies providing a strong support system where women feel welcomed and valued. At the end of the day, seeing people who look like you in a role really changes whether you can picture yourself doing it, especially when you’re also in a
supportive and inclusive environment. Women can absolutely do this job, especially when they have the support.

Further Reading and Watching

Spotlight on a Woman Biomedical Technician one year on
Spotlight on a Woman working as a Hardware Installation Engineer