Optimus, the Aberdeen-based independent engineering consultancy, is bustling with fresh young faces this summer, as four summer students get a taste of working in the oil and gas industry.
The company, whose international corporate headquarters is Gordon House at the top of Rubislaw Den North, has also devised its own in-house trainee programme, with two trainees joining the scheme.
Managing director Karl Green said: “As North Sea oil reserves run down operators have to get smarter about how they do things, at the same time as developing new energy sources – both of which give young people an opportunity to shape the future of Scotland’s energy industry.
“It’s a vibrant and rewarding industry to be part of, as our latest recruits are discovering for themselves.”
Aliya Hossain, 18, who is currently working towards an MEng in civil engineering at Heriot-Watt University, and Kofo Spaine, 19, who is studying towards an MEng in engineering science at Balliol College, Oxford, have joined Optimus’ structural team for the summer.
Ailsa Duncan, 19, who is currently working towards a BA in business at Strathclyde University, is Optimus’ first business student placement. She has joined the business development team and also hopes to gain experience in other non-engineering parts of the business during her ten-week-long placement.
Pavinee Yokyongsakul, 23, completed a BEng in chemical engineering at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, last year and is currently studying towards an MSc in process safety and loss prevention at Sheffield University. She has joined the safety department at Optimus, which has an office in Bangkok, to work on a range of projects that will support her dissertation into the hazard and operability analysis process.
The fifth student, Daisy Murphy, 20, who is studying towards an MEng in chemical engineering and applied chemistry at Aston University, will start a one-year placement in the engineering department in September.
Mr Green said: “Optimus has a long-running, thriving summer placement programme – we’ve taken on a total of seven summer placement students over the past two years – but we’re always thinking of new, innovative ways to invest in young talent and our trainee development programme is one of these.”
Andrew Cook, 24, and Matthew Finlayson, 26, have become Optimus’ first formal design and drafting trainees. They will work towards their Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) diploma using Optimus’ in-house trainee development programme, which has been designed to meet the ECITB course requirements. Matthew is training in the piping department in Inverness, while Andrew is training in the structural design department in Aberdeen. He used to work in a fabrication shop, working to designs given to him by companies like Optimus. Now he is training to be the one who creates those designs.
Mr Green said the company felt it had a “duty of care”.
“We want to give youngsters coming into the industry the opportunity to get started, and we’re passionate about mentoring them,” he said.
“We also want to ensure we address the issue of succession planning. Our workforce is big on experience – ‘grey hair to nae hair’ – and we have to make sure we have good people coming in behind them.”
Optimus employs 116 people at its Aberdeen headquarters and satellite office in Inverness, and a further ten people at its office in Bangkok, Thailand.