Dreamers & Makers

What inspired you to pursue a career in the railway industry?

Currently, I work as a Configuration Manager (CM) in Mobility at Sener in the UK. Explaining how I ended up here is a bit complicated. My career path hasn’t been straightforward, and for the past five years, I’ve primarily focused on Configuration Management in the rail industry. I’m not entirely sure if I chose this path or if it chose me. When I put myself out there with my skills, background, experience, and the things I enjoy doing, this position somehow aligned perfectly, and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.

How did you join Sener?

In 2024, I decided to move to the UK from Melbourne, Australia, where I had been living for almost saven years. The reason for this relocation was that I wanted to be near my parents, who live in the Netherlands, as they started to have serious health problems. The very first day I applied, I got a call from a recruiter who was looking for a CM for Sener. In a way, we found each other because I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to continue the CM path, and then when I had the second interview with Jaime Larumbe, who is the CM Lead for Sener, I said to myself (and to my friends), “I want to work with this guy!”.

What business area do you belong to and what do you do? What is your day-to-day life like?

About three years ago, before joining Sener, I started referring to my profession as a religion. And as in any doctrine, some people do not believe in our field (atheists), others are skeptical and doubt the existence of Configuration Management as a discipline (agnostics), some believe but do not always follow it (sinners) and finally, there are those who believe and follow (true believers). Of course, there is a reason behind this peculiar comparison: what we are trying to do is to guide the different disciplines to follow certain principles.

In reality, what we have on our hands is like a million-piece jigsaw puzzle. We have five configuration management principles, and we apply them to the million-piece puzzle. We allow the project to be coherent, visible and controlled. NASA, for example, describes it as “the backbone of the enterprise system”. We are basically in charge of making it happen.

My daily routine is rarely the same. I have a hands-on approach, while maintaining what we have as a process. Assess -> analyze -> develop a process -> agree on the process -> maintain the process. So, little by little, I create processes, big or small. And once we agree, it becomes my routinely maintained procedure. I enjoy developing processes more than maintaining them, and fortunately, in the projects I have worked on so far, I spend more time developing.

The development part is a bit unknown and uncertain; you can’t know exactly what you will face, so I spend time with colleagues to check and see their views. Finally, depending on the project, my job is to convince people about these processes. I spent about seven months convincing all relevant parties in my project of the overall approach, and last Friday, I think I finally succeeded!

What has been your progression since you joined Sener?

I started at Sener with the Purple Line project in Maryland, USA (June 2024) and recently joined the Scarborough Subway Extension project.
I am working on several areas for myself that directly or indirectly affect the service we provide. As an example, how can I manage to keep it for seven months? There were many dead ends, and I had to find another way, too many times. The progression I am experiencing is growing together, and what I am learning along is that I cannot dictate the pace. In this position, I can walk with the rest, maybe a couple of feet ahead, but not much. Therefore, my progression since I joined Sener is learning how to influence and add value in processes involving 10 to 100 stakeholders. That is not always tangible, yet too powerful!

How do you think the projects you work on influence the world or society today and in the future?

Whenever we participate in a project, we directly or indirectly shape and change the culture of people. We may not change the world as a whole, but each human life is a different life, and we all contribute to overall world-changing actions. Some people are being pulled, and some are pulling others. We are on the right track, and Sener surely plays a major role, as a leader and a puller.

How do you keep up to date with general knowledge and trends in your sector?

I love peer-to-peer learning. My superpower is to absorb and understand the know-how in the room. Talking to peers is so insightful if something is interesting that I don’t know about, or something that has come up recently. I’m curious about the changing trends in humanity, science, engineering, and social dynamics. I’m also interested in how we adapt and how our approach changes these trends.

The way I see my job is I observe people at work, because everyone is different, we can never expect the same results from the same situation. I also observe how different companies, industries, or environments change over time and consider how these changes might impact us or how we can apply their strategies.

In your opinion, what distinguishes Sener from its competitors?

I can only share what sets Sener apart based on my personal experience. In Sener, the approach is very people-oriented, and I genuinely appreciate it. It’s not just corporate talk, and that makes a big difference. I hope this is true for all branches, not just the UK one. Prioritizing excellent service over profit optimization is key. In the long run, the best service will also lead to the best financial results, but corporations don’t always think about the future. For employees, it means we get the chance to do our best, use the best resources, and excel. Hats off to Sener!

What new challenges do you see yourself working on in the medium term?

I really enjoy creating functional and practical systems, but focusing solely on configuration management isn’t enough for me, and life offers so much more! Over the past decade, I’ve lived on four different continents, and predicting my next destination is always a challenge. I know I’ll be thriving and will stay in the UK for at least the next 2–3 years. I’m currently working on a new challenge, and only time will tell!