In the first in a series of interviews with current and future leaders, Marine Technology Trust Trustee Chloe Fisher MEng, who works for Fugro in the Netherlands, talks about her internship experience.
When I was studying naval architecture at Newcastle University, the uncrewed vessel space really drew me in, not only from a sustainability perspective (making vessels smaller), but also a safety perspective. Bringing crew shoreside and reducing the number of personnel offshore. At that time, the uncrewed vessel industry was quite small and it was also during Covid, so applications for internships was a bit more of a challenge.
I sent out quite a lot of speculative emails, and, post Covid, things seemed quiet in terms of recruitment. Over the Christmas break I heard back from the managing director of Sea-Kit which was based in Essex. I’d heard about Sea-Kit through the Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) marine autonomy challenge. Sea-Kit was a sponsor. I had a verbal interview and we talked about the logistics of an internship in the summer months – that was the third year of my degree, an integrated masters. Essex was a good four hours from where I lived at the time but fortunately Sea-Kit provided some accommodation which made it a lot easier to say yes.
Having more of a naval architecture background, once there, I fell more into the design team working on current projects – engineering drawings, calculations – the subjects we’d covered in theory and lectures. Translating that into tangible products was really cool. Also, the nature of Sea-Kit being a start-up, downstairs we had the fit out team so we could very quickly address any technical issues together.
These are the actual products that are deployed around the world today. The margin for error was small and you felt the importance of what you were doing.
When it came to graduating, I did apply for a number of different opportunities. What drew me back to Sea-Kit was my internship experience – understanding what they did, the people involved, the products and the technology. I felt that my work wasn’t done there. I maintained the contact so I could jump back in.
The internship gave me a feel for a lot of different pathways. I spent a bit of time with the software team to understand the control systems and saw a little bit on the electrical side. I also got more exposure to project management, which is what I have fallen into a bit more into nowadays. It really helped me make decisions around what the pathways I preferred.
Chloe has now relocated to the Netherlands following the acquisition of Sea-Kit by Fugro. With that comes a lot of new opportunities, not just in maritime.
You see a lot to do with sustainability and the direction the industry is going in. We build uncrewed vessels, but within Fugro we do have crewed vessels as well. Outside of engineering, understanding the wider picture from a strategy and leadership point of view is where I’m currently at. Project management is very transferable and sustainability is an underlining theme I want to continue to work on. For me, Fugro has opened up a lot of doors in terms of training and development pathways, and what career progression looks like.
My advice is to use your degree studies to decide what themes you really enjoy and then pick up on those themes. For me it was the SMI competition and the sponsors of that competition – companies that were working in the safety and sustainability space. Even if they are not advertising opportunities, send speculative emails. Show you passion to demonstrate you have a real interest. That helps candidates to stand out more. And ask your lecturers if they can recommend companies that might be willing to provide opportunities.