Bart Groenewegen started working for Bluewater during his graduation, and then started working as a Maintenance Engineer within Floating Production. Whilst working full-time in this position, he also managed to obtain a degree in Maritime Technology.

I've been here for five years now - the time has passed really quickly! A few years ago, I was studying naval engineering and looking for a good place to carry out my graduation project. My specializations were oil & gas and shipbuilding, so I thought: there’s only one company in the Netherlands that I want to work for. There seemed to be a 100% overlap between the work Bluewater carries out and my background, and I was delighted that I got to do my graduation project here. Bluewater seemed happy with my commitment and how I fit into the team, and I was offered a permanent contract. I was really happy to take on the job at the time, with the caveat that I still wanted to graduate. Taking time for my studies was no problem at all. 

Fast-growing responsibilities

Soon after joining, I was able to take on more 'hands-on' jobs, such as developing technical work packages, in addition to 'pure' engineering tasks. I’m also involved in all sorts of interesting research. 

When I joined, and was pretty much fresh out of the classroom, we started working on the HB2021 project scope and lifetime extension in a fairly small team. After this phase I was sent to Norway on an assignment. Some team members, and even my supervisor, moved on to other projects. So, in addition to all sorts of practical jobs, I started doing more and more coordinating and organizing, even taking on administrative work and ended my assignment doing  night shifts. My responsibilities grew quickly!

I’ve found the work much more varied than I expected it to be. Of course, we often have clear targets and deliverables, but we also need to deal with practical considerations which require constant attention and flexibility. There are many competent engineers within Bluewater, but I personally enjoy projects that combine ‘hardcore’ engineering with organizational tasks and managing changes. It’s especially interesting to organize and coordinate aspects of a project based on an understanding of its technical aspects. 

Room for personal growth

Normally, I spend most hours at the computer, which I enjoy most of the time, but it’s great to be able to combine this with working in the ‘real world’. In a really big company, I think roles can be more rigidly defined. People might spend the whole day looking at a screen without ever seeing how their work translates into the ‘real world’. Bluewater’s culture offers you more involvement in your own work and taking on different tasks, I think. Once you feel reasonably comfortable taking on a new type of assignment, there’s room to discuss your ideas and there’s always someone available to support you. However, it helps if you take the initiative. 

There’s a lot of room for personal growth here. Once I’d completed my studies, I thought I’d had enough of school for the time being, but now I’d like to do a post-bachelor course in project management. Bluewater is very supportive of this type of move. There’s so much happening in my field, for example I’m really interested in condition-based monitoring right now. This can really help streamline maintenance efforts and reduce operational costs. It’s great that there’s plenty of room to really dig into topics such as this.

One of the good things about Bluewater is the fact this it’s not a listed company, but privately owned. That means the company can stay close to its unique character and specializations. I am very grateful that Bluewater has given me the opportunity to prove myself and develop within the company. I really appreciate that. I'm also glad that my colleagues and managers gave me a little push from time to time!