My Name is Eilish Millar and I am currently working as a Trainee Cost Engineer for Van Oord Offshore Wind working within the MPI Offshore heavy maintenance division. 

My career began at sixteen when I started a four year apprenticeship in mechanical engineering, attending Hartlepool FE one day a week alongside four days in the factory gaining hands on experience on manual machinery and machine building. After working as a mechanical engineer for five years I was presented with the opportunity to work as an estimator, quoting various types of work in the mechanical engineering sector. 

My current responsibilities are predominantly working alongside the operations and maintenance (heavy maintenance) team, helping them to provide clients with quotations whilst gaining knowledge in the O&M sector, learning more about the industry with each project. I enjoy this type of work as I find I am always learning something new whilst being presented with new challenges. I plan to develop my estimating skills whilst eventually taking on bigger responsibilities when working on larger projects.

I feel all the staff here at Van Oord have been very welcoming and have all came forward to help me with anything I have needed, taking time out of their busy schedules to ensure I am comfortable and capable of completing any given tasks. Van Oord as a company invests a great deal of time and effort ensuring all their employees are working to the safest possible standards, offering any required training to ensure all employees are up to date on the safety standards. The company are very encouraging towards employees taking up any internal or external training they feel they may require to improve their skills. Van Oord are always encouraging employees to give feedback and voice their opinions to allow the company to continuously improve whilst creating the best working environment for everyone. 

I look forward to seeing where my future with Van Oord leads me and to watch both the company and the Offshore wind industry grow in the coming years.