Spotlight on…Derya, smart product engineer

Derya: I’m the senior programme lead for our product development team. I joined Octopus last year to work on a project which is getting a lot of attention at the moment: the Octopus Home Mini (a CAD, or Consumer Access Device, which can unlock real-time smart meter data for customers, so they can explore their energy in real time online like never before).

I’m also working on the UX (that’s ‘user experience’) design for the heat pumps we are installing, as well as developing controls that will allow users to navigate their heat pumps using our app.

Over time, we hope to work on ways to allow customers even more control over their heat pumps, to access information about how their heating works and how to save money.

Derya: I studied electronics at University back home in Turkey and once I graduated I started looking for innovative electronics companies. There was only one company in the entire country that was developing cordless phones and I quickly joined them. After a few years, I heard about a company called Nokia that was developing mobile phones and I sent my CV via Dial-up (this was in the pre-internet days!), and within a few weeks I was working at the UK Nokia headquarters as an engineer.

I spent 15 years at Nokia and then eventually, different businesses in our industry started to disappear with the rise of Apple. I went looking for any other innovators in the technical engineering department, and landed at Hive working on building smart homes for the future.

Derya: Because of the lovely Rebecca Dibb-Simkin. We worked together at Hive, where she was defining/designing products and I was creating/building them. She joined Octopus and reached out to tell me about the incredibly innovative products that Octopus was championing and developing and I knew this is where I needed to be.

Derya: I have been fortunate enough to work on some incredibly interesting and innovative products. At Nokia I was responsible for our mobile payments system using technology called Near Field Communications (NFC), which was far ahead of its time and the first step towards putting mobile payments into phones.

I was also at the forefront of developing a way to get the internet on mobile phones, and my designs actually drove the Silicon industry to adopt WIFI technology into mobile phones.

Throughout my career I have been able to work on incredibly cutting edge, industry leading stuff, but my work at Hive is what I am most proud of as I was responsible for the end to end development of entire products.

Derya: So, currently smart meters come with In Home Displays, which allow you to view your consumption. However, they don’t offer a lot of information, and it is often outdated/incorrect. It’s also confined to a room as they have to be plugged into a wall at all times, so often people will simply unplug it and forget about the entire device.

Our Octopus Home Mini has 2 radios; a Zigbee radio and a WIFI radio. Over its Zigbee radio it connects to a smart meter through the Zigbee Smart Energy Network and retrieves near real time consumption data. Over its WIFI radio it connects to the home WIFI router, and streams the usage data it retrieves directly from the smart meter to the Cloud and our Kraken platform.

Derya: The Octopus Home Mini will let us explore energy data like never before. It paves the way for the true power of smart meters to be unleashed, providing detailed, real-time data which will allow us to unlock the domestic flexibility potential.

As the world becomes more and more green, and the usage of electric vehicles and sustainable products become more prevalent, having access to this data is crucial. Balancing the energy grid can be complicated, particularly when the world’s run on green sources like the wind and sun – so this technology is a game-changer in the industry.

Whilst we’re still in the very early trial stages right now, this product has the potential to benefit customers hugely as it will provide up to date usage and pricing data. So, you could immediately see what your current usage is costing you, which isn’t an option with the current IHDs. Paired with one of our agile tariffs, this could allow you to adjust your usage in real time to ensure the cheapest possible prices.

Derya: It was a super quick turnaround. We pivoted from an R&D project initiated by our Future Technologies Evangelist Phil Steele, first viewed the design at the end of 2021 and within weeks we’d built the first prototypes. After that it was just a matter of setting up manufacturing on a larger scale, and within a few weeks we had devices ready to be shared.

Right now, we’re in our pilot production stage, testing the product from end to end to ensure quality before doing a wide release.

Derya: There is a lot of variety in my role, and it does depend on what stage of product development we are at. I’m very involved with the technical aspect of designing and manufacturing our products. I supervise every aspect of product creation and my role is to ensure the entire process goes smoothly. The most important thing is to assure quality, without any delays so I spend my days constantly thinking of next steps, identifying any potential issues and resolving them alongside my team to ensure we are hitting out key milestones.

Derya: I love problem solving. I am very detail oriented and technical so solving complex and intricate issues is what drove me to this field of work. The only challenge I have come across is the frustration of not being able to access resources that I need to do my job. However, I am very lucky in this role as Octopus provides me with all the resources we need to bring our projects to life.

Derya: Groundbreaking, innovative products and services are part of the fabric of Octopus. It’s all part and parcel of the green world we want to help create. We want to create value to our company and provide an important service to our customers that they can’t get elsewhere.

Derya: At the moment, the most exciting thing I am working on is the Octopus product that will provide customers full control over their heat pump. We are completely overhauling the support system and allowing customer’s full autonomy from the app to the device.

(Want to find out more? Watch this space).

Also, I commute into London and secretly dream of eventually getting a job with the National Rail and overhauling their system to be more organised and efficient, haha.

Derya: Definitely our software platform, Kraken. A platform and database with such reach and efficiency is spectacular and can help modernise the entire industry. Beyond that I am really inspired by the different solar and wind technologies that are transforming the UK, and the entire world. I’m specifically inspired by the optimisation algorithms around these renewable energy sources that will allow us all use energy cheaply when the wind’s blowing.

Derya: As a woman, and as someone from Turkey working in a very technical field, I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider, or have others treating you like you don’t belong.

So, my advice is to work hard and be great at your job because ultimately we are all the same. I have always felt like I can do anything anyone else can do. Plus, to not be intimidated and to focus on honing your skills, talents and interests.