{"id":9001,"date":"2025-08-20T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/?p=9001"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:15:21","slug":"career-growth-and-sharing-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/news-center\/career-growth-and-sharing-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Career growth and sharing knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cStay curious. Ask questions. Make time to learn. Fix things properly the first <\/strong>time around. If you don\u2019t know something, find someone who does. Know what\u2019s under your feet \u2014 this is <\/strong>where you live half of your time. Oh, and safety matters!\u201d\u200b That is the advice that Croatian Chief Engineer, Dejvis (Davy) gives our young cadets.<\/strong><\/p>

He joined EXMAR in 1999, celebrating his 26th year sailing with us, and has experienced everything from WAASLAND to CHAMPAGNY.\u200b <\/strong>Congratulations, Davy! Time for a trip down memory lane.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What did your path to becoming chief engineer look like?<\/strong><\/h4>

\u201cBefore joining EXMAR, I walked a bit of a different path than many other Chief Engineers. I sailed as Engine Cadet on Croatian vessels during the start of the war in Croatia. Upon return, I served some years in the Police Special Unit, where I maintained their trucks and engines.<\/p>

With those skills, I started building my own speedboats. In ten years, I managed to build four boats up to 7 meters, and started a business in beach and holiday activities. I also, still, repair vintage cars, motorcycles and boats. Life was never boring, yet I was looking for something more. That\u2019s why I decided to go back to sailing in 1999, this time as Fifth Engineer with EXMAR.\u201d<\/p>

What was the switch to EXMAR like for you?<\/strong><\/h4>

\u201cI boarded WAASLAND for the first time as a young engineer \u2014I was 27 years-old\u2014 and thought: \u2018Wow, all foreign ships must be like this!\u2019 It was so meticulously organized and tidy, I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. It completely changed my view of standards forever. I later realised its standards were a league of their own, but all voyages and vessels taught me invaluable lessons. Even today, after so many years on board, EXMAR vessels still amaze me. Like the brand-new and high-tech CHAMPAGNY, which I visited earlier today. On smaller vessels, I handle electrical and automation myself, but here, you need specialists with very specific training.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Davy\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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What are you most proud of\u00a0 in your career?<\/strong><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cI am proud to have always been more of a maker than a user. My colleagues and I jump from ship to ship, building and improving things, finding ways for people to work better. That mindset has guided me and helped me grow into the Chief Engineer role. I am proud of my career, but not without acknowledging all the colleagues who helped me evolve. I still keep in touch with many of them. I\u2019ll happily take this moment\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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to thank our famous and retired Chief Engineer Jan Stautemas! As for the future, I\u2019d love to be part of something like a technical squad, \u2014a team of chief engineers working across multiple vessels, sharing knowledge and searching for improvements together, in order to raise the standard of operations on ships. I believe there\u2019s real value in building such a collaborative network within a fleet.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Waasland\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sunday\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Tell us some more about your famous ‘Sunday Sessions’?<\/strong><\/h4>

\u201cI\u2019ve always taken time to share what I know with young people on board. Every Sunday afternoon, I share technical skills. Yes, you can Google what you don\u2019t know, but what\u2019s better than to talk about it? If you\u2019re on a ship for two months, you need to know what\u2019s under your feet. These sessions make sure our standards remain high.<\/p>

For one hour, I bring everyone down to the office or ECR, pull out a huge whiteboard and give our young cadets and apprentices a notebook. We choose a topic, put it on a page and I teach them all I know. From the basics of electricity and electronics to cooling systems, and from testing electric motors to gaskets and welding\u2026 You name it! Whatever I don\u2019t know, we look up together; anything to help them develop their knowledge and skills.<\/p>

It\u2019s not about showing off, it\u2019s about passing something on. I love it when I see something clicks for someone else, and I will always remain thankful for what my teachers have taught me. After all, everyone has room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Any advice for young engineers?<\/strong><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cStay curious. Ask questions. Make time to learn. Fix things properly the first time around. If you don\u2019t know something, find someone who does. Know what\u2019s under your feet \u2014 this is where you live half of your time. Oh, and safety matters!<\/p>

I started here as a Fifth Engineer in 1999. Now, after 26 years, I enter the Antwerp office and I see all these faces, \u2014they have gotten older.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Then I look in the mirror, and I\u2019m older too! Not that older means wiser automatically, because I also learn from my younger colleagues, but I really hope to transfer as much as possible of my humble knowledge to them. At EXMAR, we are experts, and we all have to keep pushing to remain an example.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cStay curious. Ask questions. Make time to learn. Fix things properly the first time around. If you don\u2019t know something, find someone who does. Know what\u2019s under your feet \u2014 this is where you live half of your time. Oh, and safety matters!\u201d\u200b That is the advice that Croatian Chief Engineer, Dejvis (Davy) gives our young cadets.<\/p>\n

He joined EXMAR in 1999, celebrating his 26th year sailing with us, and has experienced everything from WAASLAND to CHAMPAGNY.\u200b Congratulations, Davy! Time for a trip down memory lane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[163,161,162],"class_list":["post-9001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ship-to-shore","tag-chief-engineer","tag-esm","tag-seafarer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9001"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10342,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9001\/revisions\/10342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exmar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}