IT careers: Why relationships are everything

My career commenced within the shipbuilding industry. It was the early 1980s and I joined a shipyard along with nine other engineering graduates. I spent the first two years on the shop floor as a ‘fitter’s mate’, in order to complete my training to become a chartered engineer. During this time, I learned little about engineering, but a lot about people, industrial relations and shop-floor survival tactics.

Following my stint on the shop floor, I went into the planning department and quickly became involved with the very first roll-out of computers onto the shop floor.

I was appointed to manage two major projects: the first was a manufacturing control system that I affectionately named COMICS (computer-oriented manufacturing information and control system) and the second an access-control system, whereby entry to, or exit from, the shipyard could only be gained via a bank of 20 computer-controlled turnstiles.