“At home, they taught me that education is great, but being a good person comes first,” says Ishay Cohen. Indeed, before he began studying engineering, Ishay contemplated pursuing a degree in psychology. Although he chose to pursue a career in the world of STEM, he continues to follow the family motto in other places. These days he volunteers at ‘Paamonim’, a non-profit organization that assists families in difficult financial strains.
My Story
Ishay joined Elbit as a student in 2017 and was quickly promoted to be a planner. Four years ago, he was promoted again to his current job as head of production of UAV operational planning and control. “One of the things I like about the job is how quickly things develop,” he says. “The fact that they allow you to try new things – really speaks my language.”
Ishay grew up in Rehovot, the youngest of five children, and remained in the city after marriage. But as he expanded the family, he moved with his wife, Ella, and their children to Aluma, a communal settlement near Kiryat Gat. According to Ishay, there has been a period of rapid growth worldwide for the demand of UAVs, which also requires us to adjust and change the activities in the unit. “The global reality has created additional requirements to adapt the capabilities to the different needs of our customers and provide a complex product at high availability,” he explains.
The unit models its products according to the specific needs of each customer, which requires vast engineering skills as well as complex operational activities.
As someone who started as a junior and is now in charge of a growing team, Ishay learns to enjoy every angle of it: “I started my job during Covid-19 and had to figure out how to do it all remotely, and how to build a team from scratch. But once things were on track, I started enjoying the process enormously and loved watching people grow and change within the team.” To him, one of the biggest benefits of the company is the ability to make a difference. “In Elbit, there’s no such thing as ‘no’; there’s always a way.”
