Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
I never really got why this is such a popular line of interview questioning. Looking back on how I got here, there wouldn’t have been a single point where I could have predicted where the next 5 years would take me.
Getting Started
What feels like an eternity ago, I graduated from the University of Bath with a Masters in Biochemical Engineering, ironically wanting to avoid oil and gas (spoiler alert – it didn’t last!). Starting off with stints in the water and pharmaceutical industries, I was building up a bit of career momentum, then ran headfirst into the 2008 financial crisis in the UK. Great.
With that delightful backdrop, the leap into oil and gas now felt like the right path after all, so I joined BJ Services in the Middle East as a Project Engineer for their Pipelines and Process Services division. The world of pre-commissioning and commissioning awaited! Engineering the jobs and then going out and actually doing them as the field engineer certainly taught me to be realistic when writing procedures from my (sort of) comfy desk, since I’d more than likely end up being the one out there doing it later.
Projects were varied, from 56” pipelines to intricate process pipework, from the searing summer heat of Qatar and Saudi to the freezing winters of Kazakhstan, from launching a single pig to campaigns of hundreds of pigs, it certainly wasn’t dull. And as anyone who’s worked in the field knows, the characters you meet along the way are equally colourful and interesting.
Back From the Field
Eventually, with a changing family life (kids on the horizon) and wanting to gain experience in different project phases, I returned to the UK and worked for JP Kenny as a commissioning engineer on Shah Deniz 2. As part of the systems engineering team, I was now influencing the subsea architecture design, making sure the required functionality was there both for pre-com, commissioning and future interventions in the operations phase. I was now interfacing with far more disciplines, learning their concerns and constraints along the way. One of these disciplines was Flow Assurance.
Making the jump to Flow Assurance with MSi Kenny (WoodGroup Kenny at the time) felt like going closer towards my Chemical Engineering roots. With the knowledge I’d picked up along the way I liked bringing the practical aspects back into the world of flow assurance, making sure that early development work always kept an eye on the realities of field operations. You could say I liked “keeping it real”. I’ll see myself out…
Taking off with AFS UK
At this point I joined AFS, helping Ian establish and grow our UK office, while being seconded into INEOS for the Clipper South project. This was not my first stint seconded on the client side of things, but what started off as a couple of weeks to review some tie-in options turned into 5 years supporting multiple projects and assets within INEOS. With a fast-paced environment, small but incredibly capable teams, a dynamic attitude and ambitious mindset, it was very much a “own it and deliver” environment. I quickly found myself back in the field, in an array of different capacities, once again seeing through engineered solutions all the way to installation, commissioning and operations.
Eventually I found myself back at Wood, this time as Project Manager and Engineering Manager. This time I was looking after some of their largest flow assurance projects for clients in the Middle East with teams of up to 15 FA engineers, often located in varying spots across the globe. This gave me the opportunity to further refine my team and project management skillset, within the framework of a now much larger organisation.
And more recently, Pontem’s draw of an exciting new challenge with respected friends and colleagues was too much to ignore. Bringing with me the knowledge and experience I’ve picked up on my 20yr-long journey, Pontem’s mission to turn data-driven insight into action and delivering solutions that work in the real world was absolutely the right fit. And I can keep on keeping it real. I’ll see myself out again….
So where do I see myself in 5 years’ time? By now I know better than to try and guess, but let’s get stuck in and find out!