Many of us know who and what we want to be growing up. Astronauts, Fighter Pilots, Chefs… the list is endless.

However, there is a huge throughput in secondary and higher education of those who want to be a Designer or an Engineer. Some know exactly what they want to design or engineer, others just want to be designing or engineering.

I wanted to put together a short article highlighting why a budding individual may want to look at marine/yachting over and above other transport industries such as aerospace or automotive. I may be biased, but the marine world has a huge amount going for it and is highly worth considering.

Creativity

True creativity in many sectors has continued to dwindle, mainly due to increased restrictions, rules and regulations to govern safety and meet the standards imposed by global markets and rule-setters.

Take a car for example. The automotive world is governed in thousands of areas. Safety (both occupant and pedestrian), visibility, weight, performance and economy. All these requirements mean that whilst a car can carry a different badge and have a few different angles, each vehicle type has clear similarities. Due to the inherent series-build nature and tight margins, a car will always be designed a certain way and likely by huge teams of hundreds, with each Designer or Engineer tasked with an incredibly narrow design brief.

Take a boat however and we face a lot less restriction. We, of course, have safety pressures such as making a yacht watertight and with correct fire safety. However, at the same time we can be highly creative in the end product. Take for example the 24m rule within the world of series built yachts. Global shipyards have taken a rule and exploited it in so many ways that the end products are vastly different and can cater to the needs of a diverse customer base.

Moreover, design teams are a whole lot smaller. Teams of 50 or less are tasked with designing a yacht from a blank sheet, meaning that Designers and Engineers are given a lot of flexibility when it comes to their assigned area of each project.

Innovation

Alongside the opportunity to be creative, the ability to innovate isn’t far behind. In other sectors, we’ve seen major innovation in terms of propulsion, interiors, electronics and more. Marine remains decades behind many other sectors, and this leaves the door open for huge leaps in technology and innovation.

In the past five years alone, we’ve seen technology come to the fore such as wind assisted shipping, totally new hull design and big leaps into autonomous drive systems. In some ways we’re not far off reinventing the wheel in a sector that has existed for hundreds of years, predating planes, trains and automobiles.

More and more marine tech firms are launching and we’re seeking a migration away from the ‘baby step’ engineer sectors of automotive and aerospace into a world where an Engineer can really make a difference in how an industry functions.

If you’re an Engineer with a wild imagination, this could be the world for you.

Working on-site with manufacturing

In yachting, many of the major yards have an engineering office on site and this is surely one of the holy grails for a Designer or Engineer. This is an opportunity to see your work come to life, to support the people manufacturing your work and to make real-time changes to improve ergonomics or to improve in terms of cost, quality or delivery.

Likewise, design and engineering in yachting breeds collaboration with both internal and external colleagues. A chance to work closely across multiple departments and drive forwards new ideas, bring together diverse expertise and work towards a common goal. Many yards will work on full scale mock-ups of projects, giving Engineers so much scope to evolve.

So, if you’re looking to work in a world where you’ll be able to fully exploit your skills and ability, maybe it’s time you considered looking at our wonderful world!  Get in touch and be a part of something exciting!

Three days, 40,000 steps, a shipyard visit, two parties and one international marine trade show… welcome to Metstrade.

Our second METS as SYR, it was a pleasure to visit Amsterdam once more for the biggest and best B2B show that the yacht industry has to offer. A hub of technology, innovation and every product you could possibly think of or want for a yacht, superyacht or indeed, a commercial craft. Some excellent new ideas launched this year too including the Young Professionals Lounge with career talks, the Startup Pavillion and the Foiling Technology Pavillion. A strong nod to the continued work by the Metstrade team to provide an engaging and exciting industry event. Celebrating its 35th year, our Consultants have been visiting this event for close to a decade now and it remains a firm favourite for us.

Arriving in The Netherlands on Monday, SYR ventured south of the capital to meet some of our key industry customers, receiving detailed facility tours which allow us to understand the client better and to be able to advise our candidates in more depth about what to expect when applying and interviewing. A key part of our service offering is our knowledge and relationships with our customers, so days out like this are key.

Back in Amsterdam, SYR attended the annual Vrithink Night Out, hosted by industry legends Vripack. A series of quick-fire presentations on matters such as foiling, emissions and battery charging the event attracts a wide cross section of individuals from across the industry and inspires conversation, networking and indeed the enjoyment of a few beverages over the course of an evening. SYR were able to bump into some old friends and also make some new connections during the evening, paving the way for a successful number of ongoing job leads. Rounding out the evening with dinner with our friends from UKSA and Polaris Yacht Supply, this set the stage for a great few days.

Our time this year was split between The Superyacht Forum and Metstrade itself. Engaging and exciting talks followed by lots of networking and a host of prearranged meetings. This made for a busy and fruitful day, showing that despite its challenges in 2023, yachting still has an appetite for growth. The forum itself offered some great networking opportunities too and was followed by the annual Red Party hosted on site at the purpose built evening space at the RAI. Many thanks to Martin and his team for hosting such an engaging series of discussions and for continually switching up the event make it more and more appealing each year.

Will The Superyacht Group be able to top this event next year? We have no doubt, but we still feel that when it comes to employment, that us shoreside types are a little unheard… perhaps a subject we speak on in the 2024 edition?

Our final day at the show saw us split time between candidate and client meetings. Metstrade is a great chance to meet in a less formal setting and without the pressure of having to sell directly to the UHNW sector. With close to 30 meetings taking place during show hours, it proved a challenging mixture of logistics, time management and reading of the show map! However, we met with everyone we needed to and those who wanted to meet with us. A resounding success though an extra day in the show would always be helpful!

We leave our visit with a host of exciting new opportunities across sales, operations, build and management. A lot of follow ups to come in the next few days as well which we hope will glean further opportunities to round out 2023 and to kick 2024 off to a winning start. We’re already excited for the next edition of this great event.