Xander

Xander de Kock has been with Royal HaskoningDHV for a little over five years now, and his career progression in that time has been nothing short of inspirational.

In 2016, Xander joined RHDHV as the driver for the Cape Town office. His responsibilities, he says, included printing tender documents and drawings, delivery of invoices and other important documentation, events, maintenance of the office and general upkeep of the premises. Then Covid struck and suddenly no deliveries were needed; there was no more maintenance to be done.

“I realised then that my role was changing,” he says, “so, I did an N6 advanced Certificate in electrical engineering. It’s an engineering qualification and I hoped to move into that role. And I did! In August last year, I transferred to the IEAM team with the help of a few key role players. I transferred officially in August, but I had been helping on a project from the start of 2021.” At the end of 2022 Xander will have completed his in-service training and officially have his Diploma.

He says what he enjoys most about the company is the fact that it’s not some soulless enterprise. “When I joined, I realised what a big company it was, but being a big corporate company doesn't mean that there is no soul and no energy or interesting projects to work on.” He’s also particularly fond of the state-of the-art facilities he gets to use, “At the moment, I'm working mostly on data centre projects, where we use the latest technology and digital tools. We don’t struggle with old hardware and software. And I think that's a good mindset from the company side. Because we have such a large footprint we work on very diverse projects with interesting colleagues and specialists in the field. Even though we’ve been working remotely, they’ve all mentored me a lot.”

 What’s always fascinated Xander about electrical engineering is that so much of what we do on a daily basis requires electricity in some form. “It powers our whole world; everything we do is electricity. It’s all around us yet so few people understand it. It ranges from small electronics to High Voltage distribution, which is what I'm more focused on. It’s the way of the future and is especially interesting now with renewable energy and Green hydrogen coming into the mainstream. It’s an exciting industry to be in.”

 When Xander was considering careers, he initially thought that he would go the trade route – get his N4 certificate and apprentice to become an electrician. But when he started working for the company and saw the big projects and innovations, he was hooked. He now hopes to be a Technologist one day. “I enjoy the fact that you have a design, and you see it being realised, so I want to work towards my Advanced Diploma (old BTech) . That’s my plan for the future. The company and the people have really inspired me. We are so future-driven and employee-focused, and with the training we have available; I know that I will be able to make it happen.”

 It's not just the training that makes Xander feel this way – it’s the ethos of the company as a whole. “When I joined the company, I obviously started as a driver, and what I’ve appreciated from the start is that everyone – from the engineers, team leads and DAGs to the cleaning staff – is treated with respect. It’s a very important part of the culture.– and that’s the best way to grow.”