Industrial construction may not be the first thing that comes to mind to start your career as a newly graduated civil engineering student. This was also my experience when I graduated as a civil engineer from the TU Eindhoven in 2011. The emphasis of this degree is usually more on residential or commercial construction. The various disciplines such as building physics, urban planning and architecture that you encounter during your studies are all reflected in this. Yet, I started my career in industrial construction by working for Bilfinger as a civil engineer.

Industrial construction: listen carefully and ask lots of questions

The industry is a part of the construction sector in which more than enough structural challenges can be found, precisely because you are very much involved with the essence of structural design. Of course, this is true to a greater or lesser extent in all subsectors of construction, but all the more so in the industry because matters such as large spans, (very) large loads and high-rise buildings are regularly under discussion. This means that you have to make the right constructive considerations beforehand, because it is not easy to solve things afterwards with extra reinforcement or a larger profile. So you are really concerned with the essence of structural design and not just doing sums.

What also makes industrial construction fun is the collaboration with disciplines such as mechanical engineering, process engineering and electrical and instrumentation engineering. In my opinion, the key to good cooperation is communication: listening to each other and asking the right questions. Lots and lots of questions. This too is crucial in all subsectors of construction, of course, but in industrial construction in particular because the feeling for each other’s field is often not self-evident.

Back to the old nest

In the meantime I have been working for other employers, but now I have been back ‘at the old nest’ for over a year in the position of Lead Engineer Civil. And I still like it very much! For me, Bilfinger has all the conveniences of a large company, but at the same time the friendliness and sociability of a small team. In addition, the work is still varied and interesting.