Oliver Loudon has been with ICT Group for eight years. He is stationed at the headquarters in Barendrecht, but can usually be found in the nature in South-Holland. There he works, often in the field, on a large assignment for Waterschap Hollandse Delta. 'I'm a real outdoorsman and cannot imagine working inside an office every day.'
Before joining ICT Group, Oliver was a software engineer at a large technology company. "There I worked on a large infrastructure project, but mainly in the office," he says. "Previously, after graduating, I worked in automotive electronics and in the Port of Rotterdam. That was nice and I was outdoors a lot and I experienced all kinds of things there. I wanted something like that again." Oliver decided to look for a new challenge. He found it at ICT Group.
Satisfaction
Oliver ended up in the Water, Infra and Energy unit. He immediately felt at home at ICT Group. "A friendly organization and colleagues with lots of different expertise, who immediately took me in tow," he says. For two and a half years, Oliver has been working on a major assignment for Waterschap Hollandse Delta. This water board traditionally consists of four areas, IJsselmonde, Hoeksche Waard, Voorne-Putten and Goeree-Overflakee, which have merged. They all still have their own control systems for their dams and pumping stations, the so-called "works of art. "We are now unifying that," Oliver explains. "A major operation. 477 of the 600 engineering structures have now been done. Within the project, I am responsible for a piece of hardware and I make sure that the software and hardware fit together properly. When everything is tested and built in, I hand it over to the water board and our service department."
"Each time the work is also slightly different. Every time I have to come up with an appropriate solution. That's exactly what I like about it."
Freedom
Together with a draftsman, project manager and two software engineers, Oliver forms a close-knit team. On location, he usually works on his own. Out in nature, often in the middle of nowhere. "That gives me a sense of freedom," he says. "Each time the work is also slightly different. Every time I have to come up with an appropriate solution. That's exactly what I like about it."
His perseverance comes in handy. Oliver: "If I think I am not going to succeed in solving an issue, I zoom out. Often it helps to look at it from a distance. This happened last week with a sensor that wasn't reading properly. I was getting a value back, but I knew it wasn't the right value. Then I'd stop for a bit, go do something else, and after a while I got enough distance to dive back in and fix the problem."
Oliver is very service-oriented. "It's no problem for me if I have to get out of bed in the middle of the night when there's a breakdown somewhere. Then I just want to help the customer out of trouble. For myself, I see it as a test every time. Have I got the application right? Am I coming to a solution?
It is a combination of discipline, faith in your experience and perseverance. These three qualities help me enormously in my work as a problem solver." There is another characteristic that characterizes Oliver. He has a hard time saying no. "That sometimes works against me," he says with a laugh, "but it also shows how much I enjoy my work at ICT Group."
