“From starting engineer to senior engineer in three years”
In June 1998 I started my career with Allseas as Installation Engineer within the Project Engineering Department. Although initially hired to do pipeline installation calculations, I was soon assigned to investigate fracture mechanics for assessments of allowable weld defects during the pipeline production process.
After almost two years working on this subject (and having become a real specialist in this field), I wanted to become more involved in the actual pipelay activities. For this, I was offered the opportunity to move to the Allseas office in Houston, USA, where I developed from a starting pipeline Installation Engineer to Senior Installation Engineer in about three years.
Subsequently, I moved back to Holland for my next career step, where I joined the Pipeline Production Department as Production Engineer. After about one year, I was asked to re-join the Engineering Department again, but now in a position of Engineering Unit Head. In this position, I was responsible for coaching new engineers and co-ordinating between various pipeline installation projects, together with one other Unit Head. Shortly after that, a vacancy occurred for the position of Engineering Manager, which I took in the middle of 2005.
I fulfilled the position of Engineering Manager until the end of 2009, during which time I was able to restructure the department, initiated a heavy lift engineering discipline, set up a new (engineering) office in Mumbai, India, and improved the overall quality of the Engineering Department.
After running the Engineering Department for almost five years, I expressed an interest to take on a new challenge, which was found in the Allseas office in Perth, Australia. I was transferred to the Project Management Department and took on the position of Assistant Project Manager, which I continue to fulfil.