From Half a Sausage to Egypt: 25 Years of Curiosity, Challenges and Team Spirit
“I came to EID thinking I would stay for two years. Twenty-five years later, I’m still here.”
When Cidália Gameiro arrived at EID in 2001, she wasn’t looking for a lifelong career.
Fresh out of university, she joined the company for what was supposed to be a three-month internship as part of her degree in Electrical Engineering. The plan was simple: finish the internship, gain some experience and eventually move on.
Life, however, had other plans.
Twenty-five years later, Cidália has become one of EID’s most experienced Test Engineers, having worked across some of the company’s most significant communications programmes: from the PRC-525 tactical radio to today’s naval communication systems.
Looking back, she smiles.
“At the beginning, I thought I would stay here for two years… and then leave to try something different. Somehow, twenty-five years have gone by.”
Learning by doing
Few people have followed the evolution of EID’s communication systems as closely as Cidália.
After starting in hardware, she quickly moved into software before finding her place in testing, a role that would define much of her career.
Back then, testing was very different from today’s structured procedures – “We would take the radios outside, one person would stay near the company, another would walk towards the eucalyptus trees, and we’d simply see if we could still communicate,” she recalls with a laugh.
As the technology evolved, so did the tests.
The nearby fields became the beaches of Fonte da Telha, then Porto Alto, then military training grounds across Portugal. Five kilometres became twenty… Twenty became thirty… Soon, Cidália wasn’t only testing equipment: she was training Portuguese Army and Navy personnel, supporting military exercises and helping validate systems under real operational conditions.
That direct contact with end users completely changed the way she understood engineering.
“You realise that many things look perfect in theory. It’s only when you’re standing beside the people who will actually use the equipment that you understand what really matters.”
The lessons you never find in a laboratory
Some of the most valuable lessons came in the most unexpected ways.
Like the day she proudly presented a new voice activation feature that allowed soldiers to communicate without pressing the Push-to-Talk button. She expected enthusiasm… Instead, one of the military operators looked at her and calmly replied: “Engineer Cidália… that won’t work for us.” Curious, she accepted their invitation to climb inside a Leopard combat vehicle. Less than a hundred metres later, she understood — the engine noise was so intense that the system interpreted it as continuous speech, keeping the communication channel permanently open.
“That experience taught me that real operational environments always have something to teach us. Sometimes, you only discover the best solution when you’re out in the field.”
Adventures far beyond the office
Testing communications equipment rarely meant staying behind a desk.
Over the years, Cidália found herself coordinating nationwide field trials using military maps, travelling inside armoured vehicles, accompanying military exercises and even providing training abroad.
One assignment remains particularly memorable: Egypt.
She travelled there to train local operators after EID delivered communication systems for one of its international programmes. Nothing, however, went according to plan, the training room prepared for ten people suddenly filled with more than fifty — only six spoke English.
So, every evening, she and her colleague Fernando Pimenta would brief a local engineer at the hotel, who would then translate and deliver the lessons during the following day.
“It wasn’t what we had planned,” she laughs. “But somehow, it worked.
More than technology
Although technology has changed dramatically over the last quarter of a century, Cidália believes the biggest transformation has been the relationship between engineers and customers.
Artificial Intelligence, automation and increasingly sophisticated systems are reshaping the defence industry, but she remains convinced that engineering is ultimately about people.
“AI will help us. It already does. But understanding a customer’s real needs, interpreting operational problems and finding the best solution together, that’s still very human.”
It is precisely that proximity with customers that continues to motivate her after all these years: “I enjoy seeing how our systems are actually used. Every visit teaches me something new.”
A family that grows together
Perhaps the most emotional part of the conversation comes when Cidália reflects on EID itself.
She speaks about colleagues who became lifelong friends, about dinners that still happen today and about supporting one another through difficult moments.
At one point, she pauses. Her voice breaks.
“I get emotional because I really believe relationships matter.”
She remembers earlier days when colleagues would organise football matches after work, spend summer afternoons together or simply enjoy being around each other outside the office.
While today’s company is larger and busier, she believes that same spirit can still be nurtured.
“Sometimes all it takes is an afternoon together. Those moments create bonds that stay with you.”
Twenty-five years later
Asked what reaching twenty-five years at EID means, Cidália doesn’t talk about seniority, she talks about responsibility!
Responsibility for sharing knowledge, welcoming younger colleagues and passing on the company’s culture.
Looking back, she sees far more than projects and technologies, she sees: friendships, challenges overcome, countries visited, military exercises, thousands of hours of testing and a career she never imagined when she first walked through EID’s doors.
“Today I feel a responsibility to help pass on EID’s spirit to the newer generations. That’s probably the biggest lesson these twenty-five years have given me.”
After a quarter of a century, one thing remains unchanged: Curiosity.
The willingness to learn.
And the same enthusiasm that brought her to EID all those years ago — even if she only intended to stay for two.
