A 10-Year Engineering Career at SoftInWay Shaped by Curiosity | Anna Vorobyova’s Story

For Anna Vorobyova, the path to engineering began in her grandfather’s room, a wonder cabinet of components and small mechanical parts arranged with the care of someone who understood that every piece mattered. His ceremonial military uniform hung alongside them, and he’d lift Anna onto his shoulders so she could wear it and pretend she was a pilot.

Engineering ran in Anna’s family long before she knew what the word meant. Several relatives worked as military engineers servicing fighter aircraft, but her grandfather was at the center of it all, spending his career at a military airfield, working on experimental projects, and helping build test rigs. No one talked to her about engineering in a formal way back then. They didn’t have to. It was always in the room, in the conversations, in the care her grandfather brought to everything he touched.

Figure 1. Anna Vorobyova’s Grandfather in his Ceremonial Military Uniform

Choosing a Career in Engineering

Anna’s grandfather passed away before she knew what to pursue in university. When the time came to choose, almost by chance, her father happened to mention the precise name of his engineering specialization, “Aircraft Engines and Power Plants”. In that moment, she felt the direction of her life shift.

Anna began following in her grandfather’s footsteps into the same field, at the same university. The more she learned about his life over the years to come, the more meaningful that decision became.

However, his path to education had not been as straightforward. As a young boy during World War II he had worked in a factory, and after the war he built his credentials piece by piece through military school and then earned a university degree, all while working full time. That commitment to learning through everything is something Anna carries with her every day.

From Graduate to Engineer, Anna Joins SoftInWay

After graduating from university, Anna found herself at SoftInWay where she continues to shape her technical abilities and her confidence as an engineer. One of the most important lessons she learned early on was simply to trust herself, her knowledge, her instincts, and her problem-solving.

Figure 2. Anna Working at SoftInWay in Her Home Office

Within her first two weeks at SoftInWay, Anna received her first real client assignment as an intern, and her first serious encounter with CFD simulations. She learned quickly: picking up simulation tools, interpreting results, understanding the physics behind the calculations, while simultaneously performing structural analysis of a centrifugal impeller, preparing engineering reports, and working with the technical lead to improve a compressor design in AxSTREAM.

She’ll never forget those first centrifugal compressor calculations, not only for their complexity, but for the support system around her.

No matter how small the question, her colleagues were always there to explain. That kind of patient and genuinely supportive environment made an enormous difference for someone just beginning her career.

Settling into Her Work and the Tip of the Simulation Iceberg

After her first successful simulation results, Anna felt a quiet confidence that she had it all figured out. Looking back now, she finds that feeling almost amusing.

It was only the beginning. The deeper she went into simulation and turbomachinery analysis, the more she understood how much there was still to learn, and that early experience became one of her most important lessons: engineering is not a destination. It’s a continuous process. Every project brings new physics, new challenges, new reasons to grow, both technically and professionally.

Figure 3. CFD Simulations Anna did with AxSTREAM

Building Impact over 10+ Years at SoftInWay

Over more than ten years as an Aerodynamics Engineer on SoftInWay’s Compressor Team, Anna has worked across everything from customer engineering studies to internal product development. She works remotely, assisted by her support team (her two cats, Lavrik and Tosha).

What she values most is the ability to see the complete journey, from the first idea to a fully implemented solution.

Figure 4. Anna in Her Home Office with her support team, Lavrik and Tosha

Beyond simulation work, her role has stretched into software development, tutorials, user documentation, conference papers, and research. She even completed and defended her dissertation, “Modification of the Real Gas Equation of State for Modelling of Working Processes in a Centrifugal Compressor Near the Critical Point of CO₂”, which improved how CO₂’s behavior near its critical point is predicted in simulations, and was built on the company’s AxSTREAM platform. It remains one of her most meaningful professional achievements.

The Motivation That Drives Her Forward

After more than a decade, what continues to motivate Anna is the same thing that once drew her grandfather to his own workbench: there is always something new to learn and solve. Every project brings a different challenge and that constant evolution keeps the work engaging and meaningful.

She shares a favorite quote from Tennyson’s Ulysses that she feels reflects both her own mindset and the culture of her team:

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Figure 5. Anna Vorobyova and Her Grandfather

Stories like Anna’s are a reminder that the best engineering careers are not only built on what you know, but on the willingness to keep learning despite the obstacles along the way. At SoftInWay, that willingness is met with the right people, meaningful work, and the room to grow.

At SoftInWay, legacy lives here.

References

• Tennyson, A. L. (n.d.). Ulysses. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses