A Year (and a Half) in the Life: Being a Graduate at Global Maritime with Alfredo Borobia

Posted by: Global Maritime | Date: May 2, 2023
Global Maritime

We recently sat down with Alfredo Borobia, a Graduate Naval Architect here at Global Maritime, to discuss his career so far. From how his interest in naval engineering first ignited through to his current role at the company, learn all about being a Global Maritime graduate.

Alfredo, who is currently working through his Chartered Engineer application, joined Global Maritime one and a half years ago as a university graduate.

When discussing what drew him to Global Maritime, Alfredo said: “Global Maritime’s department diversification gives you a variety of options to develop your career in different areas. Ranging from engineering, marine warranty survey, marine operations and more. The variety of projects within different disciplines gives you flexibility to work on areas of your expertise and interest.”

“When I first joined GM, I was interested in marine warranty survey (MWS). I worked on this business stream for about a year. Now, I am more involved in supporting the engineering department performing analysis and calculations. This is one of the aspects that is so wonderful about the company; having the opportunity to be exposed to different business areas, scopes of works, and disciplines. You’re constantly learning through different challenges.”

As part of his Chartered Engineer application, Alfredo is working on a list of different topics and areas covered during his initial professional development. This can typically last between 4 or 5 years from graduation. Although it is not mandatory to work on different departments, it is strongly recommended, says the architect: “It’s a personal decision. You can work for longer periods on the same business stream. However, I personally wanted to try different departments and scopes of work. It is important to focus on doing one type of work at a time. There is sufficient time ahead to try different scopes of work. This is just the beginning of my career.”

Alfredo says Global Maritime has been open and supportive of his desire to learn different areas of the business and develop his knowledge: “It is important to identity with your manager your strengths, interests, and areas of the business where you can make a positive impact. Having in mind a long-term vision is useful to identify areas of the IPD that you haven’t worked on. It is all about being prepared for the next challenge and opportunity.”

When asked about how he chose Global Maritime as the place to start his career, Alfredo said: “During my university days I made a list of potential employees and what they had to offer. GM was there. One day I saw a LinkedIn post calling Graduate Naval Architects. So, I picked up the phone and contacted the recruiter to ask about more details. That was the beginning for landing an interview a couple of weeks later.”

Speaking of his university degree, Alfredo says the marine environment has been a passion of his since he was a child: “I was fortunate to grow up sailing in the Caribbean Sea surrounded by boats every weekend. Deciding to study Naval Architecture was a decision that just made sense to me. I could see myself working on something that will always like me.”

Like his GM career, Alfredo’s interest in the energy industry was also an evolution: “When starting naval architecture, your first thought normally is that you are going to build ships. As time goes on, you realize there is much more to it than that. Different modules of the degree give you a broader perspective of the options out there to develop your career.”

“Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, my interest was focused on the marine renewable energies. This motivated me to do a Masters in Ship and Offshore Structures at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow,” he added.

Since joining the team, Alfredo has had the chance to work on a wide range of projects from cargo transportation, decommissioning for the oil and gas platforms that have reached the end of their lifespan, Oil & Gas, marine renewables, and Jack Up SSAs. His portfolio includes clients and projects such as MWS for Kinsale Energy, MWS for Corpower, Fluor, HiveWind, Kincardine, and Jack Up SSAs.

And the variety is something Alfredo really enjoys in his role: “Having the opportunity to work on such as variety of projects is what I enjoy the most of working at Global Maritime. I think that’s one of the aspects that makes a good engineer. Being exposed to different projects help you build knowledge across a variety of areas gaining transferrable skills. It really helps to develop analytical and conceptual background of skills that allow you to solve new problems.”

Interested in learning about a career at Global Maritime? Visit the Careers section of our website to find out more.

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