Berend has been with Bluewater for 15 years. He started out as a Mechanical Engineer, and later became Senior Mechanical Engineer and Lead Mechanical Engineer. Since last year, he’s held a line management position as Department Head Construction, Commissioning and After Sales. This department carries out a great deal offshore inspection work, and work at shipyards all around the world.

“I've always loved a nice mechanical installation. As a teenager I’d enjoy taking apart moped engines and putting them back together. The technology I worked with as a kid is pretty universal. I really enjoy applying a lot of what I learned in my current work – although the scale is very different!”

“After studying mechanical engineering, I found a job. Some fifteen years ago I sent an application to Bluewater. The company’s international character really appealed to me, as did the specialised, technically ingenious products. I thought it would be great to be a part of that. I was hired right away and got to contribute to all kinds of great projects as part of a large group of engineers. After a while I started working for the maintenance department for two years and gained a lot of new knowledge. I went back to engineering, and I was able to develop myself further. I carried out many inspections, but also supervised manufacturing on construction work worldwide. These construction activities involve major challenges, for example working on enormous structures measuring tens of meters, with very small tolerances of less than a millimeter.” 

New skills and insights

“Working in different areas allows you to develop skills and new insights that you just don't pick up in the office. It is great to experience the entire life cycle of a project, for example, from the first tender inquiry to the engineering, construction, and commissioning phase and ultimately the offshore installation. Or hold regular discussions with parties and disciplines which have different backgrounds. It’s very interesting to see how they see projects from their perspective. What concerns them? Where do they see opportunities?”

“In fact, for a while, I worked on projects that had fallen between the cracks to some extent. Taking on all kinds of tasks that did not really fit my profile allowed me to keep developing. Bluewater is ideally sized for this flexible way of working. You can easily approach colleagues if you need specialist knowledge or advice. You can knock on your boss’s door – or even their boss's door - if you have an idea. Everyone is prepared to listen to you – as a result, the working atmosphere is very nice.” 

Map your own path

“In addition, there are many interesting training courses. Previously, I did a lot of training in the field of engineering, but now I’m focusing on management courses. If you come from a technical background, you tend to look at managing projects and people a little differently. I’m trying to stop thinking about things with an engineer’s typical eye for detail – I want to understand the big picture first. However, technical knowledge and insight into the underlying processes allows you to propose useful adjustments. If you are proactive and know what you want, there are plenty of opportunities at Bluewater. You can map out your own path and find tasks to match. In fact, I'm still discovering what my job could entail and how I can shape it.”