Would you go to Singapore for two years to lead a project? VEO’s Jouni Iso-Aho did, and his team was responsible for, no more than the commissioning of the world’s largest biodiesel refinery’s electrification system.

 

Watch the video of Jouni’s thoughts in the aftermath of the project.

 

 

“I began my career at VEO as a summer trainee in 2015. I studied electrical and automation engineering at VAMK, Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, and continued working while studying at VEO as an hourly paid employee after my summer trainee period. In 2017 I graduated and started to work full-time at VEO – and that’s still going on.”

Jouni works mainly in medium voltage projects. He takes care of tasks related to commissioning, and nowadays he also guides VEO’s new employees in commissioning. Before the project in Singapore, he had participated in projects in Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, and Portugal. The 16-month work trip to Singapore was the longest one for him so far.

 

Responsible tasks and new working cultures

The opportunity to challenge himself and be responsible for large-scale operations motivated Jouni to take part in the project in Singapore:

“At VEO I had heard about other’s experiences of working abroad, even in Singapore. I knew that this would be a great opportunity to challenge myself professionally, make good use of my skills, and gain even more competence and know-how from my field.”

The project was similar to many VEO’s projects in Finland and Nordic countries, only the scale of the project was larger. In Singapore, Jouni was responsible for supervision and commissioning.

“I learned a lot more about commissioning and documentation as well as about different working cultures. We had for example Italian and Indian employees in our team, and the working environment in general was multicultural. As a seaport, Singapore is an extremely international area. It was an eye-opening experience to work with people from different backgrounds and cultures. We grew into a team; the working atmosphere felt open and warm.”

In Singapore, Jouni easily found his everyday routines to balance work life and free time. In addition, he met his new colleagues in his free time; they spent evenings together and sometimes had barbeques. And of course, the warm weather all year round was one of the positive aspects of living in Singapore.

 

International opportunities are appreciated

Jouni came back to Finland at the beginning of September 2022. In the future, he wants to continue working in the field of commissioning and keep sharing his knowledge.
“We have the Site Operation Team at VEO, and we try to focus even more on commissioning in the future.”

Jouni seems grateful for career opportunities at VEO:
“Many of us at VEO are motivated to develop our skills and explore the world. It’s extremely great that our work enables these opportunities for us. VEO offers a lot of international challenges for those employees who are keen on travelling. Also, perfect language skills are not required to participate in international projects. We learn by doing so I recommend challenging yourself.”