The 5 years milestone

The 5 years milestone…

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This 15th of March I complete 5 years in the Netherlands and 5 years working at Tata Steel Nederland (TSN). I think the 5 years milestone is somewhat special and it is worth writing about. Maybe younger or even older colleagues can relate to my story…

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I still remember my 1st day at TSN, 15th of March 2019 (in the pre-covid era). It was a FRIDAY (who starts working on a Friday? I did!)! I was living in a small hotel in IJmuiden with all my belongings packed in two suitcases. I had left Germany and, until then, my dream in the academic world to venture overseas and experience life in the industry.

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Be prepared, dear reader, as this story is filled with unexpected scenes.

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On my first days at work, I was introduced to my colleagues. At the time, I was the youngest employee in the group. I was also enrolled in a Young Professional Program (a kind of program designed by HR to train Young Professionals mainly in soft skills, which I found extremely relevant). Many of my closest friends at work I have made through this program.

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After almost one year at TSN, working a lot with Finite Element Models and refractories’ thermomechanical characterization, I became project leader of an R&D project for the Hot Strip Mill. It was now my task to plan and manage, together with this business unit, which kind of research my group in R&D would perform (initially mainly refractories’ related, but it expanded with time). I have been doing it since then, and how much I learned during this process cannot be written in a few paragraphs. Recently, I had the chance to spend some months at the Hot Strip Mill, on a secondment. What a school!

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In other projects within R&D, I was involved with Digital Twins, Thermal Logistics, Smart Sensoring, 3D Scanning, Continuous Casting Simulation, Hydrogen… (and several other topics). I had the chance to collaborate (and in some cases, even co-author publications) with top engineering software suppliers such as Ansys , Matlab Inc. and TRANSVALOR that seemed distant during my Mechanical Engineering course in Brazil.

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In the last 1,5 year I also joined the Young Board. A board of young employees that act as a mirror to the Board of Management of TSN and try to bring the younger generation vision to the decision table. This gave me access to a new side of TSN, where strategy, internal and external communication play a major role to guarantee, among others, our sustainable transition.

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Perhaps in this text, I sound like a senior colleague nearing the end of their career, almost retiring, and remembering all the facts that marked their story. However, I am only describing 5 years of work at TSN.

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Allow me to conclude this reflection with some insights I've gathered during my 5 years in the industry:

-?????? Work is fluid. What I mean is, if you allow, work will try to occupy all your available time. It is important how to deal with it. I tend to like the fluidity of work, in the sense that I am rarely bored. There is always something new happening.

-?????? It is ok to ask. It is ok to ask for help. It is also ok to ask to your clients what they want. Assuming the needs of your clients can create some mismanagement of expectation.

-?????? Innovation comes by observing the external world. I now value a lot going to conferences and reading about distinct industries. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel! Maybe the tool that will revolutionize our work was already invented and we are just not applying it yet. This is even more relevant in current times of Artificial Intelligence.

-?????? Get out of your bubble. Access to people matters. Go for business lunches, coffees, etc. Know who your stakeholders and their stakeholders are and build sustainable connections.

-?????? Impostor syndrome is real. In my experience, the support and recognition from your colleagues and clients can assist you to overcome it. If you can, try to be a supportive colleague as well, and be open to say “good job” when the job was indeed good!

-?????? Invest time in acquiring new tools. Once someone told me, “If you only have a hammer, you will treat all your problems as nails”. There is no problem being very good in hammering, just be sure you know when to use a hammer and when to use a different tool.

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Finally, I conclude this text highlighting the random paths our life can take. There are moments when I observe my own life as if I'm a spectator, and I can't help but laugh. If I were watching it on TV, I might think the scriptwriter was pushing the boundaries of reality too far.

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I hope this text was somewhat relevant for you as I am rarely writing on LinkedIn . I forgot to mention in the text that I am now moving to a decarbonisation project within R&D. Stay tuned to know the next steps of this exciting adventure.