What I do

I control a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which is used underwater and performs a variety of tasks. I’m currently helping to build a wind farm in the English Channel.

Hear more about Charlotte's role by watching the video below...

How I became a technician

I did a Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Electronic Engineering and then I got a job in Aberdeen as an Electronic Technician for another company who were making parts for ROVs. I then did a couple of other jobs offshore as an Electronic Technician and then saw jobs advertised for ROV Technicians.

Oceaneering knew me because of my work with the company that made ROV parts, so I got an interview and got the job. That was eight years ago.

We don’t all know everything, so we share our knowledge to solve problems - it’s a nice way to work.

The job is unusual, varied and has so many challenges.

A typical day in my working life

We start with a group meeting to discuss what we’re doing that day. Our work is governed by tide tables, so we have to schedule everything. We also need to schedule preventive maintenance to stop issues before they arise. For the wind farm, I’ll use the ROV to survey its underwater sea structures, to check they’re aligned. I might also need to remove something from the seabed to stop it obstructing the wind farm. Once the ROV is back on deck, we do maintenance for an hour or two and then we’ll either work on planning or just relax.

A little more about
my everyday role

What I love most about my job

The varied nature of it, we work on different things every day. The flying of the ROV is one of my favourite parts of the job. The job is unusual, varied and has so many challenges.

The best bits about working in a team

It is a small team, and we have a lot of challenges to overcome. We don’t all know everything, so we share our knowledge to solve problems - it’s a nice way to work. We are working with a trainee at the moment, and he is really keen to learn stuff. He’s even bringing knowledge to the team from the work he’s done in previous jobs.

The most exciting thing I’ve achieved so far in my job

I think one of the most exciting things was on a gold salvage job. It was a first world war boat that had been torpedoed and was out in the Irish Sea. We spent four weeks searching for gold but didn’t find it. It was a cargo ship heading back to Canada, and it was torpedoed by the same submarine that torpedoed the RMS Lusitania, which started the First World War!

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