Natural disasters are always largely spread in the news, and often move people as it could affect anyone. From a young age on, these incidents have also moved me: wondering what caused them and how we could predict them, in order to protect more people from suffering. This interest made me immerse in the world of science, leading me to my Bachelor’s in Earth System Sciences at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, where I also grew up.
Quickly I realized that what interests me in detail is actually underneath me: what lays inside the Earth, where we cannot easily go ourselves? Geophysics gives the opportunity to figure that out, which was the reason for me choosing my Master’s in Applied Geophysics. As I also desired to move abroad, to take advantage of visiting different universities and to meet different cultures and people, I chose a Joint Master between three universities in Europe: TU Delft (NL), ETH Zurich (CH) and RWTH Aachen (DE).
During this Master’s program we could visit the EAGE conference, where I got in touch with Shearwater for the first time. When a professor from my studies sent around a summer intern position at Shearwater, I did not hesitate to apply, as I had only heard of great feedback about this company, and I wanted to experience the geophysics industry during the summer. My interview was very positive, as my interviewers were really interested in my previous projects, from which a balanced, comfortable conversation developed.
I had the same welcoming feeling on my first day of the internship, where my supervisor introduced me to everyone in the office. I never had the impression of “just being an intern”, as all my questions (and I had a lot!) and ideas were always appreciated.
My main topic was to work with a modern and wireless seabed node, Pearl, which is being developed in Høvik itself. My goal was to consider which last improvements were needed, while processing data obtained from several offshore surveys. Therefore, my internship was very applied, and I could also do my own little tests to better understand the functionality of Pearl. One of the big highlights was a field test in the Oslo fjord, where different versions of Pearl were tested, a hands-on experience!
Encountering the great office atmosphere every day is very motivating and encouraged me to learn and grow. Shearwater showed me how projects are approached in the industry, as I had only gotten to know the academic world until then.
Working in a team with eager, ambitious and especially experienced people, all seeking to improve Pearl further and also drive the whole company in many ways, encouraged me to grow beyond my own limits, while being part of this community myself.
