UAE, MY SUCCESS STORY. CHAPTER 15 CONNECTION BETWEEN ADSB, UAE NAVY, AND NEW PORT NEWS.

My next company was Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding Company (ADSB). The interview was conducted by a tall, athletic American who was good-looking and, as I later discovered, a hockey player. I got the job because, aside from meeting the other requirements, I was the only candidate who asked questions during the interview. He later shared that his previous employer hired him because they both played hockey. His boss had said, "Great, you’ll work for me, and we’ll play on the same team." Nothing brings people together like a shared interest.

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ADSB was a subsidiary of Newport News Shipbuilding, established exclusively to build ships for the UAE Navy, which was the company's sole client. Confidentiality was paramount. We operated under strict protocols: everyone was required to arrive and leave on time, and any extra time on-site (15-20 minutes or more) had to be pre-approved. Photography was strictly prohibited on the premises. Monthly, all equipment, computers, and emails were inspected by IT engineers for unauthorized downloads, external communications, or potential information leaks. Personal emails were forbidden, and phone calls were restricted to family emergencies. Every action was monitored.

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Workers, including shipbuilders and welders, were required to live on the company's campus and could only leave with prior permission or in emergencies. To accommodate this, a large, well-equipped campus was built, featuring comfortable living quarters, spacious halls, restrooms, a recreation center, a library, televisions, sports facilities, a canteen, a café, and a shop—essentially everything one might need.

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The workforce primarily consisted of Filipino citizens. The client mandated that all welders and shipbuilders be strictly Filipino, a non-negotiable requirement since the client was the UAE government. At the time, Filipinos were regarded as the most skilled workers among Asian nationalities in various fields.

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Our project received a large order requiring 800 Filipino welders, but we initially had only 200. We needed to recruit an additional 600 welders in three phases, with 200 hired in each phase. My boss and I worked tirelessly to complete the recruitment within three months. However, with such a large intake, not everything went smoothly. Tragically, one Filipino worker hanged himself on campus, reportedly due to homesickness. It was the first workplace death I had encountered in my career. The police conducted an investigation, confirming that the worker had spent less than two months in the UAE.

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I quickly realized that ADSB had a distinct two-tier career structure. At the top were the expatriates from the USA and the UK—highly paid, top-class specialists, including military and naval engineers, managers, and other professionals. At the bottom were locally hired administrative staff who handled paperwork and routine tasks, such as clerks, secretaries, document controllers, and administrators. These positions were monotonous and low-paying. Salaries for administrative staff ranged from AED 2,500 to AED 3,000, with department heads earning a maximum of AED 3,500 per month. Despite their qualifications—most held master’s degrees—the administrative team was composed exclusively of Indian women. I was the only non-Indian on the team.

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The two-tier system created a gap between top management and bottom management, leaving no middle career ladder to climb. However, my boss managed to secure two roles for me: Project Administrator and Document Controller. I agreed to leave my position at the oil company under these conditions. My salary increased significantly, from AED 3,500 to AED 6,000—nearly doubling my earnings.

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At that time, AED 6,000 was a very good salary. It meant saying goodbye to sharing an apartment with a communal kitchen and bathroom, the pervasive smell of cheap Indian food that made you nauseous, and the loud neighbors whose shouting wasn’t anger but just their way of speaking. For AED 3,000 a month, I could afford to live in Simerland, an upscale hotel apartment, fully furnished with appliances, including a washing machine with a centrifuge. It offered all-inclusive services, weekly cleaning, and fresh towels. Simerland was a place reserved for Abu Dhabi’s elite: highly paid professionals, UAE nationals, company managers, and even prostitutes.

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Nursery fees were AED 450 per month, and my daughter's nanny requested an additional AED 150–200 per month for overtime, depending on the hours. I always paid her AED 200–250—more than she asked. My mother taught me that professionals like dentists, tailors, hairdressers, and especially your child’s nanny should always be paid more than they ask for. The nanny, Thelma, was a kind and caring Filipina who taught my daughter many important things: how to use cutlery, behave politely, and develop good manners. Thelma took care of my daughter, Amira, from the time she was only 43 days old, reassuring me that my baby would be fine in my absence. When Amira turned three and we moved to Dubai, Thelma cried as though I were taking her own granddaughter away.

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Since ADSB was a semi-state-owned company, we weren’t always overloaded with work, leaving plenty of free time. How you used that time was up to you—either engaging in idle gossip and meaningless chatter or pursuing self-education and learning something new. Fortunately, being non-Indian made me somewhat of an outcast within the team, which spared me from participating in unproductive gatherings. My boss, an American, believed that to do a good job, I needed to know as much as possible about shipbuilding and our projects. He took me to various construction sites and warships, showed me $4 million radars (strictly no photography allowed), and explained different aspects of military equipment, welding techniques, phases of shipbuilding, and naval engineering. It was fascinating.

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My boss, a former officer in the U.S. Navy who had served on submarines, often shared his insights. He said Soviet-Russian submarines, while fast, were noisy and radioactive. In just three years, their crews received as much radiation as U.S. Navy officers accumulated over 20 years. By American standards, such submarines would fail every inspection. However, their heightened radioactivity made them extremely fast. Priorities vary—some value speed, while others prioritize the well-being of their people.

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He also remarked that female officers performed much better than their male counterparts on warships. Their primary responsibility was to monitor radar screens attentively for hours, a task requiring unwavering focus. Men, he noted, often grew tired, lost concentration, or fell asleep. Women, however, excelled at maintaining vigilance for long periods.

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He acknowledged that gender discrimination existed in the U.S., particularly in the military. Male colleagues often resented women’s presence on warships or in the army. If a man earned a promotion, it was accepted as normal. But if a woman received a deserved promotion, it would spark rumors, gossip, and negative comments. In my opinion, this is a more civilized form of discrimination than what I had experienced in my homeland, though it remains unpleasant.

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For instance, if a man enters an office claiming to be an engineer, his credentials are readily accepted. But if a woman does the same, she still has to prove herself.

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My boss taught me how to use the MS Project program. It was a vital necessity. Our team included a UAE national, as required by the contract conditions. This was the first time I learned that UAE nationals could take sick leave to care for their children. Perhaps it wasn’t officially codified in law, but de facto, this was how things worked. Every time one of his children fell ill, he would take sick leave to take them to the hospital. Considering he had five children, he was almost always absent. He was the marine engineer for our project and was responsible for overseeing the entire project using MS Project and reporting to the client. At that time, MS Project was considered the most advanced and complex project management tool.

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Since the UAE national was part of our team, we had to cover up his frequent absences from the client. My boss, the head of our project, taught me how to use the MS Project program and handle the absent engineer’s responsibilities. These tasks didn’t involve standard A4 sheets but massive formats, spanning half a wall, printed on specialized engineering equipment used for large drawings. I had to meticulously outline project deadlines, track progress, inform teams and superiors about any delays, prepare reports, and schedule daily and future tasks. All of this had to be done using MS Project, printed, and displayed on the wall. I also had to communicate schedules to workers, ensuring they understood the plan, particularly any changes.

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The client, the UAE Navy, was tough and demanding. All meetings were required to be conducted by a British naval officer, our colleague and head of another department. The client frequently changed decisions, timelines, project conditions, and technical specifications. They would often reverse decisions after part of the work was completed, express dissatisfaction with quality or deadlines, and scrutinize every detail. However, they never got personal. Despite their high standards, they never insulted, humiliated, or judged us based on nationality, age, or social status. I admired the professionalism of the UAE Navy staff. A valuable lesson I learned was that one can be as demanding and critical as necessary, but it should always be about the work, never personal.

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Since I worked at two rates, my duties also included managing documents. I created a structured filing system for each project, organizing and categorizing thousands of files. Drawing from childhood experiences in USSR libraries, I sorted files by project, labeling each with the project logo on the spine for easy identification. Within each project, I established a consistent structure: rack one for technical specifications (index 1), rack two for finances (index 2), rack three for HR, and so on, based on the importance of the documentation. Each file had a clear title on the spine and a table of contents inside. With this system, locating any document took just 1-2 minutes, similar to finding a book in a library.

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Every day, we received hundreds of documents that needed to be reviewed, sorted, distributed, scanned, copied, saved in folders, or sent to project participants and clients. The workload was immense, so I was assigned an assistant — a reserved but diligent Indian colleague. He became my first personal subordinate. I appreciated this help and made an effort to explain tasks, standards, and the importance of adhering to ISO requirements, which I had learned independently. I wanted our files to be so well-organized that they could pass an ISO audit without any preparation. My assistant was curious, intelligent, and quick to learn. He offered helpful ideas and provided crucial support, especially when technical failures erased hours of work.

We worked seamlessly together, forming a tandem where words were often unnecessary. When I decided to leave the job, he came to me in tears. He said no one had ever treated him with such respect and dignity, and for the first time, he felt truly valued. Even 20 years later, his words and emotions mean more to me than any compensation I have ever received.

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After a year, I had to leave. My boss was transferred to another international project, as was customary in serious companies that provided career growth opportunities to talented employees. These opportunities allowed individuals to gain experience not only within the company but also on international projects in different countries, significantly enhancing their professional value.

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Once my boss left, I was informed that the agreement regarding my dual rates was no longer recognized, and I would receive a standard salary of 3,000 dirhams per month. This was unacceptable to me, so I resigned, learning an important lesson: always document agreements with an employer, no matter how trustworthy they may seem. Life is unpredictable—today, your boss might be there, but tomorrow they might not. It is always better to have agreements in writing.

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Leaving ADSB felt like stepping out of a heavily fortified vault into the open air—a liberation filled with both promise and uncertainty. The world beyond beckoned with freedom, yet its unpredictability was daunting. Still, the experience I gained—wisdom, resilience, and new knowledge—left an indelible mark. It equipped me with the ability to navigate the labyrinth of power while staying true to my human essence.

One chapter had closed, and another was beginning—a chapter that promised even greater challenges and rewards beyond imagination.