You like where you work. Interesting vessels, technically challenging projects and plenty of opportunities to keep developing. So why would you even look at what is happening elsewhere?
According to Middle Point expert John Lawson, being happy where you are is a good thing. Especially at larger shipyards and maritime manufacturing companies, you can spend years working on different projects, solving new technical problems and taking on more responsibility without changing employer.
The part you see less easily is how engineers with similar experience are developing elsewhere. What responsibilities have they taken on? Which technical problems are they solving? How do their engineering teams work with suppliers and specialist engineering partners? And what experience are they gaining that you simply come across less often at your own company?
You probably do not think about these questions every week. We do, by the way. John sees knowing what happens elsewhere as part of managing your career, even when you have no plans to leave.
“Being happy where you are is never a bad thing. But if you completely shut yourself off from what is happening elsewhere, you also limit your view of where your career could go. Knowing the strengths of different shipyards and engineering offices helps you understand which experience could add something to what you already have.”
For John and his team, that matters because many engineers joined the maritime industry for exactly those things: ships, engineering, innovation and the chance to work on exceptional projects. You do not have to leave a good employer to keep developing. But knowing what else exists gives you more information when you eventually have a career decision to make.
The same job title can lead to a very different profile
Take two Senior Electrical Engineers with roughly the same number of years of experience. One may have spent years becoming a technical specialist. The other may have gradually taken responsibility for budgets, delivery, integration and third parties.
Same title. Quite different engineer. John sees this regularly.
“A job title is just the tip of the iceberg. Senior Engineers can have the same title on paper while doing very different work. Some stay focused on design and engineering and become specialists in their field. Others take responsibility for budgets, delivery, integration and third parties, which can take them towards Project Engineering or Project Management.”
And there is another distinction in there that is easy to overlook. The more senior you become, the more likely technical and commercial responsibilities are to meet. That does not mean every Senior Engineer has to move in that direction. Quite the opposite: some engineers are at their best when they continue to deepen their technical expertise.
So simply asking ‘What comes after Senior Engineer?’ is not very useful. You first need to understand how the organisation works and what the role actually contains.
“A job title is only a title on paper. You need to look at the organisation and understand how they operate to see where the progression really lies. That is where Middle Point can add an outside perspective.”
What would you like to have done five years from now?
An engineering career is difficult to plan five years ahead. The good news is that you do not have to. Having some idea of the experience you still want to gain is much more useful.
Suppose you would eventually like responsibility for a complete system. The interesting question is what experience will help you get there. If you want to become a Lead Engineer while remaining technically involved, multidisciplinary engineering and technical coordination may become important. If you would rather become a specialist, a technically exceptional project may add far more than a new title.
John and his team therefore start with what an engineer has already done.
“To understand where someone can develop, we first need to understand what they have already developed. We look at previous roles, specific projects, software, systems and the environments they have worked in. From there, we can understand where they still want to grow and whether that ambition matches the experience they have already built.”
That makes ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ almost too broad a question. Try: ‘What would I like to have done by then?’ A particular type of vessel? Commissioning? More system responsibility? A new technology? Technical leadership? Working with different disciplines? Once you can answer that, it becomes much easier to recognise experience that could add something.
Engineering keeps developing too
‘Engineering never stands still.’ You have probably heard that one before. It has become such a familiar phrase that it barely says anything anymore. John is seeing something more specific in his conversations with engineers and maritime companies: sustainability and software are increasingly influencing how vessels are engineered.
Hybrid vessels, alternative fuels, digital twins and new ways of designing for longer periods at sea are some of the examples he encounters. And because the development differs from project to project, engineers increasingly work with specialist suppliers and integrators who bring expertise that may not sit within the shipyard itself.
“The role of engineers is changing at every level. Sustainability and software are becoming much more important in the industry. When you work with specialist suppliers and integrators in these areas, you need to be adaptable and willing to think ahead. What worked on the last project will not automatically be the answer on the next one.”
That changes the work in a very practical way. A modern vessel brings together knowledge from shipyards, equipment manufacturers, specialist suppliers, engineering companies and system integrators. Someone still has to make sure those individual solutions work together. Requirements need to align. Interfaces need to work. Technical decisions made by one party can affect several others.
For an experienced engineer, development can therefore mean becoming better at working across those boundaries. Technical ability remains essential, but coordination, planning and communication start to carry more weight as projects become more multidisciplinary. John sees that in client requirements too.
“We increasingly see companies looking for engineers who can coordinate and plan within multidisciplinary teams and work with different partners across the world. Strong technical ability is still important, but so are the interpersonal skills needed to work well with all those parties.”
A list of trends is not particularly useful on its own. Ammonia, hybrid propulsion, digital twins or MBSE only become relevant when you understand what they mean for your own work and where you want to develop next.
Your employer shows you one version of your profession
If you work at a good shipyard, you can develop at a very high technical level without going anywhere. But every organisation divides its work differently. A yacht builder operates differently from a commercial shipyard. An offshore engineering company has another project environment again. Even companies within the same sector can divide responsibilities between engineering, production, project management and suppliers in different ways.
John sees an important nuance here: experience does not transfer equally easily between every part of the maritime industry.
Marine Systems, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers often work on systems that are relevant across different types of vessels. Their experience can therefore be easier to transfer between yacht building, commercial shipbuilding and offshore.
For Structural Engineers, Naval Architects and engineers working on exterior or interior disciplines, that move can be less straightforward. The purpose, design requirements and operating environment of a yacht can be very different from those of an offshore vessel.
“Moving between sectors really depends on the discipline. Marine Systems, Mechanical and Electrical experience can often transfer well because those disciplines are closely connected to how the vessel works. Structural, Naval Architecture and exterior or interior disciplines can be more specific to the type and purpose of the vessel. Transitions tend to work best when there is enough similarity between the vessels and the experience required.”
That is a much more useful comparison than simply saying that your maritime experience is ‘transferable’. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is not. And sometimes an engineer has experience that fits another part of the industry much better than they initially expect.
Middle Point sees the differences between maritime companies
Our consultants work with maritime builders and engineering companies across yacht building, shipbuilding and offshore engineering in the Netherlands and Germany. Over time, you learn more than which companies currently have vacancies. You learn what they build, how they organise engineering and what type of engineer tends to succeed there. John has seen how valuable that can be when an engineer has spent a long time looking at their career from within one organisation.
“When you work in one place for a long time, you can develop tunnel vision and assume your career has to go in one particular direction. We have helped engineers into roles they did not initially see as a match. Because we understood both the company and the engineer, we could see the connection. Some of those engineers are still thriving in those careers years later.”
That outside perspective does not automatically point towards another employer. Sometimes it simply shows that there are more ways to use the experience you already have.
“Sometimes it takes an external perspective to help you find the right internal path.”
And the market itself keeps adding new possibilities. The combination companies need depends heavily on the organisation and the stage of a project, but John increasingly sees demand for engineers who can combine technical depth with coordination across disciplines and partners. That is useful information when you are deciding what you still want to learn.
We keep an eye on the wider picture with you
John: “Having a conversation with us does not mean you are looking for another role. Our job is to understand what made you interested enough to have that conversation in the first place. What drives you? What projects interest you? Which environment suits you? What do you still want to achieve?”
John once spoke with an engineer who wanted to work with ammonia as a fuel. About a month later, he spoke with a shipyard working with ammonia that needed exactly that specialist knowledge. Something similar happened with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).
“An engineer told me about his work with MBSE. At the time, it was not something I had come across much myself. A week later, I had an opening where that experience was relevant. With very niche roles, a conversation with an engineer can open our eyes as consultants too. Then, when something appears in the market, you know exactly why it could be worth calling that person.”
You may simply discover that you are exactly where you should be
Looking around can still lead to a very uneventful conclusion: your current employer gives you exactly what you need. Perhaps you have more technical ownership than engineers in comparable roles elsewhere. Maybe the vessels are unusually complex. Or the projects that can give you the experience you want over the next few years are already coming up internally. Good. Then there is no career problem to solve.
What you do have is a clearer idea of what you are building towards and how your experience compares with what is happening elsewhere in the maritime industry. And perhaps two years from now, something does come along that makes you curious. An ammonia project. A different type of vessel. Your first real step into MBSE. More responsibility for system integration. Or something neither you nor your consultant has thought of yet.
You do not need a five-year plan in Excel for that. One question will get you surprisingly far:
What would you regret still not having done five years from now?
Feel free to reach out anytime.
John Lawson at LinkedIn or contact us via info@middlepoint.nl / [+31 (0)20 717 3626](tel:+31 (0)20 717 3626)
