I want to introduce you to one of our youngest employees
At MarineShaft, where the repair techniques are passed along from older engineers to younger (learning by doing), we keep a focus on education and taking in apprentices to get new “horsepower.”
I want to tell you about Jon Poulsen, who just completed his apprenticeship at MarineShaft as an industrial service engineer with top grades.
The Danish Maritime magazine “Søfart” has a focus on the “blue Denmark”. With the purpose to attract the young generation to this line of profession, they just interviewed Jon to ask him about his experiences as an apprentice
When did you get to know MarineShaft?
When I was around 13 years old, I wanted to get a job after school to earn money. My father is a service engineer at MarineShaft, and that´s how I started with MarineShaft - as a floor sweeper after school.
After some time I was given the opportunity to assist some of the service engineers with some repair as an “extra pair of hands,” and probably to see if I had engineer potential ;D
This hands-on opportunity awoke my interest to the extent that I decided to start my education as an engineer, and MarineShaft hired me as their apprentice.
Do you remember your first day of work?
Yes, it was a tough first day because I wanted to prove myself and my work ethic to everybody, now that I earned a lot more money than when I was sweeping floors. I almost forgot to drink water, I recall. However, the team took good care of me. We work well together and I like that there is always lots of humor even when working under pressure.
What is the best part about your job?
That no jobs are alike – We have no mass production.
Here the focus is 100% on fast repair time and quality. We have to help our customers save time/money and get the repair done while the vessel is in dock for a minimal time. The extreme minimal tolerances in our work. It has to be perfect within dimension/tolerance. The shaft alignment tolerance is 0,05 mm.
The feeling of repairing something that was considered unrepairable, and making it worth its value again is awesome.
And what is less fun to do?
Documentation. It can be boring to fill out measurement reports. This is probably also because it is more mental than practical work, but the documentation is for sure an important part of the job.
What are your future dreams?
On-site work. I went on a job abroad, where we did on-site machining of a rudder arrangement, and I loved being involved in the whole process and planning. Often we manufacture custome made tools for a repair.
When you are working on-site, you face problems and situations you do not see in the workshop and you grow as a technician.
What is great about the maritime business?
The bigger, the better ;D – Jon says with a smile
We hope Jon stays with MarineShaft for many years to come.
(ps. The tiller in the picture with Jon belongs to the vessel MSC Michaela - a repair, I will share more about later)
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