electronics technician for operating systems technology and site foreman

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Get to know the people who make our company what it is: a fascinating, diverse, pleasant place to work and for individual development. Our colleagues tell their personal stories.
From Essen to Rimpar. From mechanic to master. From natural gas to hydrogen. With Andreas, we walk through open doors. Language, culture and expertise: the motivation to develop in order to arrive. Lev talks about his exciting career. At the cutting edge of the energy transition. Terje introduces us to his everyday life on the coast. Combining work with private interests while engaging in a variety of activities. Johannes takes us with him to southern Bavaria. Protecting pipelines with electronics, gladly outdoors in nature. From hobby to profession — Till takes us with him. Moulding the energy transition with your own hands. Carsten shows how that’s possible at OGE. Maintaining an overview and keeping control of a 12,000-km pipeline network — around the clock. Isa tells you all about what’s involved. From gas turbine to reporting centre with up to 19,000 messages per month: From Russia to the EU. From a mathematics graduate to a scheduling expert. Resida tells us how she did it. How do you plan the route to the energy future and show talent in com­mu­ni­ca­tions at the same time?
From Essen to Rimpar. From mechanic to master. From natural gas to hydrogen. With Andreas, we walk through open doors. Language, culture and expertise: the motivation to develop in order to arrive. Lev talks about his exciting career. At the cutting edge of the energy transition. Terje introduces us to his everyday life on the coast. Combining work with private interests while engaging in a variety of activities. Johannes takes us with him to southern Bavaria. Protecting pipelines with electronics, gladly outdoors in nature. From hobby to profession — Till takes us with him. Moulding the energy transition with your own hands. Carsten shows how that’s possible at OGE. Maintaining an overview and keeping control of a 12,000-km pipeline network — around the clock. Isa tells you all about what’s involved. From gas turbine to reporting centre with up to 19,000 messages per month: From Russia to the EU. From a mathematics graduate to a scheduling expert. Resida tells us how she did it. How do you plan the route to the energy future and show talent in com­mu­ni­ca­tions at the same time? From Essen to Rimpar. From mechanic to master. From natural gas to hydrogen. With Andreas, we walk through open doors. Language, culture and expertise: the motivation to develop in order to arrive. Lev talks about his exciting career. At the cutting edge of the energy transition. Terje introduces us to his everyday life on the coast. Combining work with private interests while engaging in a variety of activities. Johannes takes us with him to southern Bavaria. Protecting pipelines with electronics, gladly outdoors in nature. From hobby to profession — Till takes us with him. Moulding the energy transition with your own hands. Carsten shows how that’s possible at OGE. Maintaining an overview and keeping control of a 12,000-km pipeline network — around the clock. Isa tells you all about what’s involved. From gas turbine to reporting centre with up to 19,000 messages per month: From Russia to the EU. From a mathematics graduate to a scheduling expert. Resida tells us how she did it. How do you plan the route to the energy future and show talent in com­mu­ni­ca­tions at the same time?
“Anyone wanting to progress in their career will find all doors are open here.”
Progression – both personal and professional – has been a recurring theme throughout my life. Venturing down new paths instead of just staying put has always paid off for me. And it’s broadened my horizons.
I was born in Leipzig and grew up there in the former East Germany. Then the borders finally opened, and suddenly my parents and I saw the world open up to us. When I was at primary school around the time of reunification in 1990/91, we moved to the West, to Essen.
I settled in, made friends, finished school. And then? A classic apprenticeship seemed to be the right choice. My interest in technology and my father’s career in industry gave me the idea of becoming an industrial mechanic. Ruhrgas AG, the predecessor company of OGE, was considered one of the best places in Essen for this kind of apprenticeship. Just as it is today, back then we apprentices had every opportunity to learn, to try things out, to be trained to a very high standard. But it was clear to us right from the start: We wouldn’t all be able to stay in Essen if we wanted to be taken on permanently.
Our field sites are all over the country. This presented a good opportunity for me to stand on my own two feet, to move out of my parents’ house and to gain my independence. I applied for a position as an industrial mechanic at the Rimpar site, north of Würzburg. It’s a beautiful place in hilly Lower Franconia, surrounded by vineyards. Close by is actually the geographical centre of the European Union, so it’s a fitting location for us as an infrastructure provider with a European network!
What became my new workplace in Rimpar is one of OGE’s biggest field sites with 35 employees at the compressor station. I initially worked on maintenance here. In pipeline monitoring, we check our pipes for abnormalities and repair any damage. We take care of everything that is “outside the fence”, as we say here, meaning the pipeline network outside the compressor station.
Did I want to work as an industrial mechanic forever? I always enjoyed the tasks, but in 2014 I felt I was ready to take the next step – and become what’s known in German as a “Meister”, a highly skilled foreman. I was always quite ambitious, and I already had a rough idea that I wanted to take on a management role at some point. My supervisors supported me in my plans. The grant for training as an industrial master craftsman in Cologne is a really great bonus of being at OGE. It’s basically a scholarship that enables you to take seven months away from work with full pay to learn the theory in Cologne. One of the advantages is that some of the lecturers there are from OGE, so you have a close connection to your own company and its particular technical circumstances.
After successfully completing my training as an industrial master craftsman, I returned to the Rimpar site, where I initially assumed a subset of the responsibilities of a fully-fledged “Netzmeister Gas”, so it’s like an intermediate stage before you move up fully to the role of gas network foreman.
These days, my day-to-day work is rarely on the ground along our pipelines, but mostly in the office. Here I rely on the feedback I get from my colleagues, who keep me informed about what is going on with our lines. I always tell them: “You are my eyes, ears and hands!” Whenever work – including any carried out by contractors – could affect our pipelines, I get involved. This might mean dealing with requests for cables to be laid across our gas pipeline route, for example. There is often construction work going on in the vicinity of a pipeline, and we need to monitor, control and manage that. The main consideration here is safety, so everyone involved on site must adhere to the rules of conduct that apply in a safety strip along the gas pipeline.
Leadership tasks and responsibility for my team are parts of the job I am constantly grappling with. A big help to me here is the further training offered by OGE – for example, the management workshop with regular seminars on various practical topics.
Helping to shape the energy transition
The energy transition and the conversion of our infrastructure for use with hydrogen are aspects that I’ve been very interested in for a long time, especially from a technical perspective. There are a few things that are different from natural gas – and that’s what makes it exciting. The topic of hydrogen will really start to take shape here in southern Germany in the 2030s. The nice thing is that the changes to our pipeline network give us long-term security. The end of natural gas doesn’t mean the end for us – we’ll continue with hydrogen instead. That’s also a good argument when it comes to recruiting new, young colleagues looking for a job with future prospects.
You’ll be a good fit for our team if…
You are open and honest and easy to communicate with. I have to be able to trust my colleagues out on site. If there is a problem, I need to know about it. We can only be effective if we work as a team, so I need people who enjoy real teamwork. Overall, OGE is a great company for an apprenticeship or to advance professionally as a young or experienced specialist.
How do you plan the route to the energy future and show talent in com­mu­ni­ca­tions at the same time?
Language, culture and expertise: the motivation to develop in order to arrive. Lev talks about his exciting career.
A long journey to a worthwhile destination.
Where the Oka flows into the Volga – that’s where I come from: Nizhny Novgorod, 2,500 km east of Essen, its twin city. Back then I would never have thought that Essen would one day be my home. And by “back then”, I mean 2009, when I was finishing my teaching degree.
I actually wanted to be a history teacher, but the prospects of finding a good job were slim and I was keen to challenge myself. I was interested in Germany as a country with art, culture, well-educated people and ample career opportunities. Germany also had its own programme to attract young university graduates from Russia, so in 2011 I packed a big suitcase and heeded the call. It was the beginning of a long, protracted journey, and it would be 13 years before I reached my destination – and I had no idea what that would be.
From zero to C1 German in 13 months
The first thing was to learn German, as all I could really say back then was “Eins, zwei Polizei”. Within 13 months, studying for hours every day, I finally reached the all-important C1 level, a basic prerequisite to have a good chance of staying in Germany permanently. But still too little for a degree. When I had reached the language level required for that too, I studied business administration for two years at a university of applied sciences (Bonn-Rhein-Sieg). But the subject just didn’t suit me.
From history teacher to IT expert
I really didn’t want to have to go home without a success story to tell. After all, I had come to Germany to make it here, to achieve something, to become someone. So the journey continued – quite literally: I got a job with a travel company guiding tourists from former USSR countries to western European destinations (including Belgium, France and the Netherlands). I then spent time working for a temporary employment agency as a sandblaster. All of these were merely interim solutions before I found the right goal: Using an education voucher from the employment agency, I started a two-year vocational training course to become an IT specialist in system integration. From budding history teacher to trained IT expert? It doesn’t sound like a linear career path, but I’d had to handle bits of IT in all of my previous roles and it had always interested me. My lecturer at the vocational college gave us not only the knowledge but also a sense of enthusiasm and fascination for this area of work. I was hooked.
I now had a qualification recognised by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), so I finally had the feeling of having really made it here in Germany. It wasn’t long before I got my first jobs as a network engineer. In 2023 I got my German citizenship, and one year later I saw a job advertisement on LinkedIn – for a position at OGE. I hadn’t heard of the company before, but I was immediately impressed by what OGE did and its importance within the energy industry.
In my role here as a network engineer, I wanted to do my bit to maintain and expand the IT systems and ensure a smooth flow of data at all times.
At OGE, I come to the office two to three days a week and can otherwise work from home. A typical day in the office begins at 8 a.m. in the Technology Centre in the wide-area technology department at OGE in Essen.
Here we are connected to all OGE sites and control the overarching IT systems, networks and network devices.
Every morning starts with a team meeting, where we discuss all current and important topics. After that, I plan my day. This includes tasks arriving at short notice as well as large-scale projects. Sometimes a new switch and all the devices required for the network have to be set up in one location by the following month, or a completely new network has to be planned. Then in the meantime there might be a system error that needs to be rectified quickly. Configuring new network devices is also one of my tasks.
The entire field of IT is constantly changing. What was new knowledge ten years ago is often outdated today, so it’s extremely important for network engineers to keep up their professional development. That means my training is never actually complete: I’m always looking at new aspects and requirements in my profession, for example with webinars hosted by important technology companies or by learning the programming language Python. That helps me with data analysis, among other things, and with applications using artificial intelligence.
I am also in contact with my line manager about this: AI and the automation of processes in IT are also becoming increasingly important and more integrated for OGE, and that’s something else I want to keep learning about.
My experience of teamwork at OGE
Our work has an impact on all areas and employees, which means we really have to work as a team. There are 14 of us in our department, ranging from all-rounders to specialists and from very experienced experts to newcomers. Whether we’re working on a firewall, server, router or WIFI: We tackle each project with the right individual team. We work really well together and support each other, so I’ve felt really at home here from day one. My path as a career changer was pretty unique, but I’m not the only one here at OGE with an unconventional CV – although I’m still the only one from my hometown, Essen’s twin city, to have found my way into the company.
You’ll be a good fit for our team if…
You have an affinity for technical subjects and enjoy network-related tasks – so far so obvious. One thing I think is crucial, though, is to be curious about technical innovations and motivated to acquire new knowledge.
From Essen to Rimpar. From mechanic to master. From natural gas to hydrogen. With Andreas, we walk through open doors.
At the cutting edge of the energy transition. Terje introduces us to his everyday life on the coast.
Terje, electronics technician for operating systems technology and site foreman
“Here we can hear the electricity doing its job.”
Most people’s associations with “Krummhörn” are probably limited to dykes, sheep and the Wadden Sea. You can even smell the sea here in a westerly wind – it’s just 1 km away as the crow flies. And the wind is usually westerly here in East Frisia. I grew up here, and at first glance it’s just as the holidaymakers find it. When you look closer, however, you see that we also host part of the great big world of energy. Our compressor station also transports Norwegian natural gas into the German natural gas grid, and we have recently been connected to the WAL, the “Wilhelmshaven pipeline link”, which transports natural gas from the LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven to the German gas transmission system. Here in Krummhörn, we are likewise working to ensure that Germany’s energy supply remains secure.
Putting an interest in technology to professional use
I’ve been interested in technology and electronics from an early age. My family also has close ties to agriculture, and I was particularly fascinated by the large agricultural machinery on our farm. Watching as the adults repaired and tinkered with it and later helping out myself – that was exactly my thing.
So after school I wanted to learn something technical, ideally somewhere I could work outdoors. When I then discovered that you can become an electronics technician for operating systems technology at OGE – working on large machines and systems – I applied for the training programme. The timing worked out: OGE was looking for two recruits for the full three-and-a-half-year apprenticeship, and I became one of them. Even before the apprenticeship began, we met the other new OGE apprentices from all over Germany – on a sailing ship! OGE traditionally organises this sailing trip to help all apprentices and training instructors get to know each other. For those of us from the north it was a home game, and we were able to show the others a thing or two on the high seas.
From the little training workshop to the really big machines
Back on the mainland and in Krummhörn, we started out in our own training workshop and our fully equipped training office to help us grasp the basics. Very soon though, we were allowed to join our colleagues, familiarise ourselves with the overall system and actually get involved in the work. The machines operating here and the pipelines are gigantic in scale, and that’s pretty exciting to someone who likes technology. When our electric compressor is running, we can hear the electricity doing its job!
My training period was of course defined by the usual tasks of an electronics technician for operating technology: maintenance work on complex systems as well as on the pipeline network – without on-call duty during the training, of course. For project work, which might involve new construction, for example, we supervised the work of contractor companies and made sure, most importantly, that the gas infrastructure was not disrupted.
A major task, a real highlight
During the training, I was able to be there to see our new electric compressor being installed. The delivery and installation of the enormous motor is something I’ll never forget, so helping to supervise and integrate this was one of the highlights of my apprenticeship.
In the office and outside
My working days vary a great deal. Right now I’m a site foreman in Krummhörn. Sometimes I’m in the office reviewing quotes, for example, and sometimes I’m on site at the plant or deployed out in the field on our pipelines.
Yesterday I arrived here at the compressor station at 7 a.m. We started with a meeting between the master foreman and me as the site foreman. We then discussed our plan for the day with the team, which consists of six colleagues, after which we allocated tasks: maintenance, site supervision, work on the pipelines. I personally went out to carry out a site survey. I discussed the work on site with those responsible from a contractor company, drew up work permits and carried out a safety briefing. My working day again involved this varied mix of office time and work outside, which is something I particularly like.
In the future, we will also generate and store green hydrogen from wind power here at our station. This is the KRUH2 project, for which we are currently undergoing basic hydrogen training. We’re already very knowledgeable about natural gas, of course, but we need to get more familiar with hydrogen. In the KRUH2 project, our compressor station is currently also very interesting for companies with hydrogen testing facilities. They visit us to see how we handle the technical implementation.
This week I am also on call, which always runs from Monday to Monday. During this time, I have to be contactable on my work phone around the clock. If there is a fault report, our central reporting centre in Essen will contact me. A typical report is a fuse failure: if an electrical fuse has blown somewhere, we can fix it very quickly. We have a control system on site where we can locate these kinds of faults straightaway. Where more major repair work might be required, our fault clearance service manager makes decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Employment offer upon successful completion
In Krummhörn, all the apprentices who have done the training programme here – and proved themselves – are generally employed afterwards. In our Operations Sector, virtually all the electronics technicians now working here – including those in automation technology – started out that way. That was also the case for me, and I was very happy about it. After my training, I first started working at our compressor station in Emsbüren, but when a vacancy came up for an electronics technician in Krummhörn, I decided to apply. After another year and a half, the foreman position came up here. I had already worked well with my colleague and had always supported him, so the transition went smoothly, which is important for our complex systems. Anyone wanting to develop further at OGE will find there are opportunities to do so here.
Further qualification as a master tradesman
Personally, I am currently working on gaining a further qualification as a master tradesman, for which I have been attending evening classes after work for two years now. OGE supports me here, too. My school is 40 minutes’ drive from the compressor station, which puts me outside the permitted radius for on-call duty, so colleagues fill in for me, and I’m really grateful for that. We’re a really great team here!
Incidentally, OGE will cover 50% of the total costs if you pass the master tradesman’s examination.
Anyone who has an interest in technology, enjoys manual activities in their free time or likes tinkering with electronics will fit in perfectly here. An interest in technology simply helps in everyday working life.
Language, culture and expertise: the motivation to develop in order to arrive. Lev talks about his exciting career.
Combining work with private interests while engaging in a variety of activities. Johannes takes us with him to southern Bavaria.
Johannes, industrial master tradesman in metalworking and site spokesperson
“I helped build my workplace myself.”
Working in my home region, close to my family and friends – that’s really important to me. My job as an industrial mechanic at OGE allows me to combine everything: my enthusiasm for the trade, creating something with my own hands, my attachment to the area I come from and my fulfilling personal life. But first things first…
I grew up here in the countryside around Passau, which is in southern Bavaria, close to the Austrian border. The nearest mountain bike track is just around the corner; here we’ve all known each other since kindergarten, and lots of my friends and relatives have their own workshops at home. That meant I had a connection to hands-on work early on; it’s just natural for us to nail, saw, hammer and wire things ourselves. It was clear to me at an early stage that I didn’t want to go to university or to move far away; I wanted to learn a trade. OGE was the obvious choice, with its Wildenranna compressor station close by. My parents also recommended that I apply for an apprenticeship at OGE, which has a good reputation as an employer.
Training as an industrial mechanic
I started my apprentice as an industrial mechanic in 2010. It was an exciting time! Firstly because we were the first ever year group to be trained here, and secondly because the technology of the compressor station was being upgraded just as I started at OGE. We gained two new compressors, which were installed in a new building on a greenfield site.
New technology at the compressor station
As a young apprentice, I was able to be involved right from the start and thus to help build my future workplace myself.
It was quite a special opportunity to not only get to know my own future profession but also directly to think outside the box. From clearing the forest on the site to civil engineering work and pipeline construction through to commissioning: I gained valuable insights into other trades and an understanding for technical and organisational correlations.
After successfully completing my apprenticeship, I was fortunately offered a permanent employment contract. We’re not a big team here; right now, there are six of us: the master foreman, a site foreman, an electrician, an industrial mechanic and a technician. There’s also one apprentice. We are already a close-knit group, and it has to be that way because the work depends on each individual. Together, we are responsible here for maintenance and repair as well as the fault clearance service. That goes for our compressed air systems, our oil and pneumatic system, the gas pressure control systems and the three gas metering and pressure regulating stations. The area we cover also includes around 80 kilometres of the Megal pipeline system. Megal stands for the “Mittel-Europäische Gasleitung”, the “Central European Gas Pipeline”, in southern Germany, which forms part of the European gas transmission system.
Here we have very varied tasks, something different almost every day. We assist, for example, with the regular pressure vessel tests carried out by TÜV, the inspection authority. On a working day like that, I start at 7 a.m. with a short team meeting. Then I drive my workshop vehicle to the site where the testing is to take place. We take the system out of service, dismantle it, remove it and prepare it for TÜV. The TÜV inspectors take a close look at everything and finally give their approval. Then we have to reassemble everything and put it back into operation so that the gas can flow again. This kind of workday ends at 4.15 p.m.
As an industrial mechanic, I spend around half of my work time at the compressor station and the other half out and about in the area we cover. Spending quite a bit of time outside is one of the main things I like about this job.
On-call duty with time off in lieu
On top of our normal working days, we also have on-call duty. When we’re on call, we have to be available around the clock, including at weekends, in case of fault reports. On-call duty always lasts seven days and is followed by a week’s break. During that week I only have to work four days – that’s the compensation for on-call duty. It’s pretty cool because every two weeks I get a long weekend!
Logging and rectifying faults – around the clock
A typical situation for on-call duty is a fault on the pipeline or at the compressor station. These are usually minor issues like a blown fuse. Generally they’re not system-relevant initially, as all our important systems are built for redundancy, which means that if one component fails then another one takes over. This has absolutely no impact on our customers, but every fault report must of course be taken seriously and the cause then rectified. I can resolve almost everything by myself when I’m on call.
Five years ago I gained my qualification as a master tradesman in metalworking. It worked out well for me at the time that I was able to study remotely with the vocational college in Passau, so there were relatively few attendance days, which made it easy to combine with my day-to-day working life. On days when I had to attend college, the company would release me from work, and the on-call duty was also organised so that I could complete my master tradesman training without any problems. OGE would have supported me financially as well as organisationally, but I actually received a grant from the state of Bavaria so I was able to afford to attend the master tradesman course.
Site spokesperson and training manager
I’m someone who likes to get involved in various things and not just do the bare minimum. For many years now, I have been active with the volunteer firefighters in my hometown, and I have also taken on two special tasks at OGE: As training manager, I take care of our apprentices, supporting them with all work-related issues, and I also sit on the IHK examination board.
I’m also the site spokesperson, which is the extended arm of the OGE works council. Speaking up and listening when problems arise – that’s the role I’ve taken on. I talk to my colleagues on the works council here and those on the works council in Essen about everything that comes up. I also attend conferences, for example in Emden, where we gain new knowledge and have the chance to all meet each other face-to-face.
Who fits well into the team
Aside from technical aspects, I think it’s very important to be open to others and communicative, to be helpful and reliable. In short, just someone who’s upbeat like we are. Then you’ll fit in fine.
At the cutting edge of the energy transition. Terje introduces us to his everyday life on the coast.
Protecting pipelines with electronics, gladly outdoors in nature. From hobby to profession — Till takes us with him.
Till, electronics technician for industrial engineering in the corrosion protection team
„I have always been interested in electronics. Now I’ve turned a hobby into a profession.“
First to the office, then out to the measuring points in the field
Let me take you on a typical working day. It starts at seven o’clock in the office and ends at a quarter past four. That’s a long time, but every other Friday we have a full day off. When I arrive at the office, I go through the jobs that need doing, which include maintenance and repair of the corrosion protection systems. I then map out a route with the sites I want to visit that day. At around eight o’clock, I go to the measuring points to do the troubleshooting and carry out any necessary repairs. For example, if a protection system has failed.
Despite GPS, it’s sometimes not so easy to find the measuring points. Some can be a bit overgrown, or sometimes access routes have changed. So if you like geocaching, you will have fun!
When I started in this job for the Corrosion Protection department, I received a lot of support from experienced colleagues. That always worked out very well because the team spirit is really great. You quickly get the chance to prove yourself and take on additional responsibilities. I now have a new apprentice working alongside me to whom I pass on what I have learned, and we often go out together.
Further education: Distance learning course for “Electrical Engineering Technician”
There are many further education opportunities at OGE. My next professional goal is a big one: to become a state-certified technician. The degree is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in a technical field. To achieve this goal, I plan to study at a private university by distance learning, with relatively few attendance days and a lot of self-study time. There are a lot of technical positions in my current department. After extensive training, you are given the responsibility for the cathodic protection (CP) systems of individual pipelines and pipeline sections. You are then the first point of contact for your colleagues, draw up evaluations and reports, and organise all of the maintenance and repair work. Since corrosion protection of our pipelines is required by law, CP technicians are very much involved in a lot of construction projects, so you always know what the company is up to at any point in time. For me, it’s a really exciting job.
I come from a family of tradesmen; my grandfather was already an electronics technician, which is a predecessor, so to speak, of my apprenticeship. So my interest in electronics began quite early, and I enjoyed building circuits at my grandfather’s house at the weekend even while I was in primary school. After graduating from high school, I wanted to learn the same craft – which basically meant turning my hobby into a profession.
I applied to several companies for an apprenticeship. OGE was on my shortlist because somebody I knew already worked there and had only good things to say about the company. He put me in touch with OGE through the company’s “Employees recruit employees” referral programme. The friendly interview and the career prospects I was offered made the organisation so attractive that I quickly decided to join OGE. Fortunately, the company chose to offer me a job.
Setting sail for the new phase in life
Even before I started my apprenticeship, all the new apprentices went on a trip to the Baltic Sea where we spent a week on a sailing ship, which was very exciting of course. It was a great start to our working lives and a good opportunity to get to know the other apprentices. OGE does this trip with the new apprentices every year – but unfortunately it was not possible during Corona.
Training workshop, vocational school and many other stints
Electronics technicians plan modifications and extensions to existing systems, install power lines, machines, drives and switchgear systems. They also program, configure and test technical systems. You learn all of this from scratch during your apprenticeship at OGE. In the first year, we spent most of our time in the company’s own training workshop equipped with new iPads – which we were even allowed to keep after the apprenticeship. We learned all about the basics of electronics, which was really good because when vocational school starts, the OGE apprentices have a head start. Not every company has such a training workshop.
In the second year of the apprenticeship, you then gain more and more insights and practical experience. After all, it’s a job. At first, we worked on test racks where complex systems were simulated. For this purpose, we used simulation circuit boards. In addition, there was the field station period, during which we got to know the different sites, plants and company divisions in a very practical way. This work sometimes included assignments over several weeks at remote locations with hotel accommodation. In this way I was able to get to know many different areas of work at OGE.
At the end of my apprenticeship, I benefited from the works agreement at OGE, which says that if you do well in your exams you are offered a job. And if you get an A, you even get a permanent job. I really wanted to stay with the company, and here in Essen, and after my apprenticeship I started working for the corrosion protection team.
Cathodic protection with impressed current stations
This was an exciting new technical field for me which very few people know about. It was this specialisation I was particularly interested in. Our main job is to protect our buried pipelines from corrosion in order to ensure safe operation over several decades. For this purpose, about 700 CP systems are installed alongside our pipelines, and they ensure that a direct current flows in the direction of the pipeline. In order ensure effective cathodic protection, the CP systems are also monitored remotely, complete with regular measurements.
If you have a real interest in technical things, if you enjoy working with electronical gadgets in your spare time, then this is the right place for you. You should also enjoy being on the road as part of your job and be able to organise your own working day.
Combining work with private interests while engaging in a variety of activities. Johannes takes us with him to southern Bavaria.
Moulding the energy transition with your own hands. Carsten shows how that’s possible at OGE.
„At OGE you can help mould the energy transition with your own hands.“
My career aspirations were shaped by my grandfather who worked at Ruhrgas AG, and by my father who had his own welding shop. Both of them kindled my fascination for industry, so in 1993 I began my apprenticeship as an industrial mechanic at Ruhrgas. After a few years in the company, I joined the hot tapping and plugging crew.
Hot tapping and plugging is a method used worldwide to carry out repairs on pipelines without interrupting the flow. In most cases, the pipeline is tapped at full pressure and taken out of service between two sealing elements, while the flow is maintained via a bypass line.
This was my job for many years, during which I travelled to numerous large construction sites and gained lots of experience. I’ve always liked to think outside the box. While our company has changed its name several times – first in 2003, when it was renamed Ruhrgas Transport AG & Co. KG, and then E.ON Gastransport GmbH, and finally Open Grid Europe GmbH in 2010 – our team has stayed together for the most part. We have a great team spirit, which is really quite special.
In 2012, there were many major projects going on in parallel at OGE with increased staff requirements. At that time, I was given the opportunity by my superiors to switch to our technical projects and take over construction sites as a site manager together with experienced colleagues. Thanks to the support of my colleagues, I was able to swiftly familiarise myself with the daily work and my new area of responsibility and was able to grow bit by bit into the job assigned to me.
Full support from superiors and the team
If you do well in your job at OGE, you have the full support of your superiors and the team, and you are then entrusted with more responsibilities and get the opportunity to prove yourself. A supervisor once said to me: “If you do well in your day-to-day work, you will get the chance to show what you’re capable of.” With this support, I left North Rhine-Westphalia for a major project in Lower Bavaria.
I was put in charge as the supervisor for the construction of the 72-kilometre-long natural gas pipeline from Schandorf to Windberg. Since then, almost 500,000 cubic metres of natural gas per hour have been transported over this stretch of the Central European natural gas pipeline MEGAL alongside the existing pipeline.
Further training to become a construction manager
The role of construction manager requires special technical expertise and qualifications. I therefore attended the master craftsman school at the Construction Industry Training Centre in Kerpen. There are also OGE lecturers at this school, which is one of the few centres in Germany that specialise in high-pressure gas pipelines.
My everyday life? In one word: varied! I’m currently managing a project in the Palatinate. As at every construction site, there are rented office buildings on site, or we use portacabins for the purpose. I am in charge of planning and coordination of the construction site, and there are regular meetings to share information. Besides the work in the office, being on site is an important part of my daily routine. The work carried out has to be inspected and checked, and experience has shown that direct, solution-oriented exchange is also helpful.
Always in the thick of it
As site manager on site, you are in constant contact with the different disciplines, suppliers, service providers and your colleagues. Technical skills and mathematical knowledge are important in this job.
Both organisational skills and structured work are required when it comes to monitoring progress on site and planning the next steps. Whilst it is important to have a well-thought-out plan, plans always have be adapted to the circumstances. Flexibility is important here, as is engaging with the team at every step of the way. Business administration knowhow will help with the planning process because the cost factor must also be included in the decision-making process.
If you enjoy dealing with many different people and can hold your own while ensuring a friendly atmosphere, you will enjoy the job of construction manager. Whilst we naturally also hire experienced construction managers and the career path usually begins with a civil engineering degree, my career path at OGE is still conceivable today: start as an apprentice and rise up the ranks.
If I were at the beginning of my professional life today, I would look for a job that is meaningful. And what could be more important for our society than the energy transition? Being part of it from the beginning, shaping the future with your own hands, contributing ideas, making the transition from fossil energy to green hydrogen – you can do all that at OGE.
Protecting pipelines with electronics, gladly outdoors in nature. From hobby to profession — Till takes us with him.
Maintaining an overview and keeping control of a 12,000-km pipeline network — around the clock. Isa tells you all about what’s involved.
“Making the right decisions even in stressful situations – that’s what I like.”
Natural sciences and refereeing have been my interests from a young age. And in a way, I can use my knowledge from both fields today in my work at OGE.
At home in the Ruhr region – privately and professionally
As a child of the Ruhr region, I already knew during my studies that I wanted to work here in this part of the country. This is where my friends and family live, and where I have been refereeing at weekends for many years.
My older brother had already done his bachelor’s degree while working at OGE and he told me a lot about the company. Of course, I also read up on OGE in advance – and then applied for the vacancy of control engineer.
A special kind of control engineer
It’s a very special job here in Dispatching. This is where gas flows are controlled and our large pipeline network is monitored – in other words, where our core business is organised. Today it’s natural gas, and in the future it will be hydrogen. As a control engineer, I am solely responsible, so to speak, for part of the network. I learned about my specific responsibilities as part of an extensive induction phase which usually takes 12 to 15 months. And that’s the way it has to be, to get to know the different areas of the pipeline network, the different demands on the network in summer and winter, the whole complexity that we deal with here around the clock.
Keeping the network in sight and under control – around the clock
Yes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we keep an eye on every metre of our network, and that means working in shifts from Monday to Sunday. We have about 40 staff on the shift rota, so it took a few months to get to know everyone. Especially in the early days, an experienced colleague supported me as a mentor, but at OGE I could and can ask basically anyone in Dispatching for advice. In a way, we are all mentors because we all support each other.
Control, monitor, communicate, document – and always: decide
At OGE, I control and monitor the pipeline network with my team. My morning shift starts at 6:20 a.m. and ends at 1:35 p.m. First, there is the handover from the night shift staff who tell me what’s been happening: possible faults or failures, the general condition of the network, ongoing maintenance or repair work. And then it’s mainly about taking the energy quantities to where they are needed at the exact right time.
During my shift, I also oversee the schedule of work. This includes, for example, maintenance work at compressor stations and metering points. On top of that, there are always requests from colleagues in the field who want tasks done quickly here and there, and that needs to be taken into consideration. I then decide when a particular job can be carried out depending on the transport situation, and I document everything.
My job is varied: every day I am confronted with different events that I have to deal with responsibly. As a control engineer, I have to make many decisions, sometimes under stress. But that’s exactly what I like – that’s where my experience as a referee perhaps comes in handy. There, too, I have to make decisions alone and in split seconds, and I also have to take responsibility for my decisions.
A team like a family
The most fulfilling thing about my job at OGE is working with my colleagues. We are like a family here in Dispatching; that’s not just a figure of speech, it’s really true. Especially during the night shifts, you grow together. Nights can be quite long, so you get to know each other in a completely different way and chat about personal things sometimes too.
We coordinate our duty rosters very well with each other. And if someone wants to swap shifts, we always try to make that possible. This way, I can combine work and family life with doctor’s appointments, shopping and other errands. And after having worked at the weekend or at night, I get enough time off to recover and spend time with my family.
Interaction and communication with my supervisor, the team leader, is very good. His door is always open if we need anything or have any other concerns.
Recommended for all those wanting to make a difference together
If you have a degree in mechanical engineering or a completed a similar engineering degree course and are looking for a varied, future-oriented job and really nice colleagues, I can only recommend OGE. Here, you can play an active role in supplying the country with energy and supporting the energy transition. And shift work has its benefits.
Moulding the energy transition with your own hands. Carsten shows how that’s possible at OGE.
From gas turbine to reporting centre with up to 19,000 messages per month:
Daniel, Maintenance Engineer, Reporting Centre
“19,000 reports a month. One because of Billy Idol.”
I have moved quite a few times for OGE and its predecessor companies in the last 22 years. I trained as an industrial mechanic at Ruhrgas AG in Essen, the town where my family worked in mining for generations. I then relocated to Gernsheim and from there to Sandhausen and subsequently to Düsseldorf. I completed my master technician training and moved to Cologne where I took over as deputy team leader. After all those years I realised: you can move away from the Ruhr area, but you cannot get the Ruhr area out of your system. I just wanted return to Essen, to my home region. To develop further and learn something new. That’s when I got the opportunity to transfer to OGE’s Reporting Centre (ZMS). From gas pipelines to responding to telephone calls.
What happens at the Reporting Centre?
The Reporting Centre is responsible for OGE’s entire pipeline network: around 13,000 kilometres of energy infrastructure, which includes not only pipelines, but also all compressor stations and storage sites, hubs, metering points, communications technology, site security systems and telemetry cables. In the past I used to work on the pipelines myself, but now I receive the same requests I used to submit to the ZMS from colleagues in the field.
We must never lose sight of what’s happening in our network – not even for a minute. That’s why the Reporting Centre is manned 24/7, and that means working shifts: early, late, and nights. A typical early shift starts at 6:15 a.m. when we take over from the night shift with a short handover meeting. What happened during the night? What jobs are currently being carried out in the field? What is scheduled to happen today?
It usually only takes a few minutes before the phone rings for the first time. Up to 80 % of these calls are from staff registering for access to, or reporting back to confirm completion of their work on, pipelines or M&R stations. People also report faults and failures, and we have specific plans for investigating and dealing with them. There is a reporting chain with clear rules as to who needs to be informed about what and by whom. It applies across the company, from the technical departments all the way up to the board of management, and involves Communications, IT, Environmental Engineering and Materials, specific engineers and, if necessary, also the fire brigade, citizens’ hotlines and others. In the event of a partial failure of an energy network, for example, we check with the relevant utility whether the root cause is their responsibility. If necessary, we then send them our 24/7 service crew.
Every call and every step of the work we do is documented
We do our job in such a way that our customers and the public can rely 100 % on our pipeline network at all times. At peak times, we receive up to 19,000 reports a month from the systems we look after. We document every single call and every step.
What we don’t document is calls that reach us via our emergency number like this one: “The word you’re looking for is Billy Idol,” the caller said. She actually wanted to take part in a competition on Radio Brandenburg but had simply dialled the wrong number!
As a foreman in maintenance at OGE, I was already familiar with many of the responsibilities of the Reporting Centre, but some systems such as the comms system were also new to me. I was taught the processes in detail in a shortened training course, and for the first four months I had a mentor with whom I did my shared shifts. However, it is important to do shifts with all your colleagues so that you get to know each other well. In these two-person shifts, we need to work hand in glove because of the sheer number of calls we receive. The nice thing here is that we all support and complement each other extremely well.
First of all, OGE offers secure jobs. In addition, we are innovative and want to keep honing our skills and capabilities. What’s also typical here are the many perks: for example, the health budget for medical services that are not covered by the statutory health insurance. Or a working time account where you can accumulate overtime to save up for a sabbatical or early retirement. And things like a company pension, health care offers, a season ticket for public transport, or gym membership at a reduced rate.
In summary: Once you have arrived at this company, you don’t want to leave.
How do you successfully reconcile work and private life?
We have certain responsibilities, known as office shifts, which we can easily do from home. The colleagues who manage our shift rotas think a year ahead to decide who can do which shift. Our own holiday plans are taken into account, but you can also swap shifts if something comes up in your private life.
What you should bring to the job
You should have a basic technical understanding and be able to see the big picture: If a component fails at one point in the network, what does that mean for the connected systems? What then needs to be done and in which order? Active reflection and thinking ahead, proceeding logically, being quick-thinking – that’s what counts here. The shift work and the high volume of calls mean that you have to be able to cope with stress situations. And it’s important to be a team player. That makes it so much easier to handle phone calls, analyse, make decisions and document everything neatly.
Maintaining an overview and keeping control of a 12,000-km pipeline network — around the clock. Isa tells you all about what’s involved.
From Russia to the EU. From a mathematics graduate to a scheduling expert. Resida tells us how she did it.
Resida, Control Engineer in the Scheduling Department
“I make sure that our customers’ gas is transported to the right place at the right time.”
Moving to Germany from a country outside the EU, studying and working here – that’s obviously a special story for many. Mine was reported in a number of newspapers and on Deutsch­land­funk. I grew up in Russia, in Ulyanovsk, a big city on the Volga almost 1,000 km east of Moscow. I studied mechanics and mathematics there, graduated with a diploma and was gaining my first professional experience when I met my future husband. He had moved to Essen as a late repatriate and was visiting Ulyanovsk. It quickly became clear to us that I would also move to Germany. Before that, however, I wanted to complete a large project that I was responsible for as a mathematician and programmer in a company on behalf of the Russian Ministry of Health.
With good references and recommendations from my university and my employer and a rudimentary knowledge of German, I came to Essen in 2011.
From the beginning, I wanted to go back to university, and of course to learn the language, so that I could build up something here permanently. During my integration and language course, I learned about “Pro Salamander”. This is a programme to strengthen foreign academics, which is linked to a scholarship from the Mercator Foundation at the University of Duisburg-Essen. My degree in Russia and intensive German language-learning finally enabled me to enter the master’s programme in mechanical engineering.
Master’s degree, baby, and OGE
After three years, I received my master’s degree and applied for a job with OGE after my maternity break. My goal was to become an engineer and working mother in Germany, and that’s what I achieved at OGE.
When I applied, OGE was looking for someone with an engineering degree in Dispatching. My qualifications fitted, and I also liked the company’s location in Essen, where I live.
I was warmly welcomed into the team and had a mentor right from the start who explained everything to me, from the coffee kitchen to the actual job itself. I also received a lot of linguistic help, so I soon found it easy to make small talk with colleagues.
My induction phase of about one year in the Scheduling department as a control engineer was based on an extensive training plan. At first, I only did day shifts, but later I worked alternating shifts with early, day and night shifts.
Work-life balance in shift work
Shift work can be planned very well in our great team, so I can adapt the shifts to my family life. For example, before the midday shift, I can also look after our child in the morning while my husband is at work. I also work from home at certain times. If need be, I can swap shifts – so we all support each other here in the team.
Our job is essentially to ensure that our customers’ gas is transported to the right place at the right time. In close coordination with our neighbouring German and European network operators, we coordinate and optimise the gas flows in Germany and Europe. We try to handle the transport as efficiently and with as few emissions as possible and to always meet our customers’ transport needs, even during maintenance or disruptions in the pipeline network. And we do this in the warm summer as well as at peak load times in winter.
At first glance, our pipeline network appears to be a static infrastructure, but it is always in motion. Where is the system operated at which pressure? At which points do we have maintenance, disruptions, changed transport requirements or other influences to which we have to react? Especially during the night shifts, there is a lot to coordinate so time then passes very quickly. During the day, we optimise the current plans and make sure that the gas flows are even. If a network area has too much or too little gas, we act quickly to eliminate bottlenecks where necessary. Most of the time there are two of us on a shift. In addition, we are supported by Operations Planning and the on-call service teams as needed.
The most important thing besides professional qualifications is the ability to work in a team. You just can’t do the job on your own; everything is coordinated with your shift colleagues. You should also be able to adapt flexibly to new situations. Actually, no two shifts are ever the same. Thirdly, you have to enjoy communicating. We talk on the phone a lot with very different people, including from other countries. Especially during the time when gas flows switched from Russian supplies to Northern European sources, for example, we had a lot of contact with Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.
We have training courses all the time – some are compulsory, others you can choose voluntarily. Most recently, I did a conflict management course. Our processes are not static, they are always changing. That’s why we have ongoing training.
Why OGE is a good choice
If you enjoy working in a friendly and diverse team, communicating with different people from different countries as well as acting on your own responsibility and making many decisions in a short time – I can only recommend Dispatching at OGE!
From gas turbine to reporting centre with up to 19,000 messages per month:
How do you plan the route to the energy future and show talent in com­mu­ni­ca­tions at the same time?
“From plotting a direct pipeline link as the crow flies to planning the final route – that’s what I do.”
Broadening our horizons over and over again in our studies and careers but also literally: that’s what inspires me – and it works particularly well in my field. Today I work as a route planning engineer at OGE, where I deal with geography in the broadest sense on the project side. For me, this closes a circle that began with my fondness for geography lessons at school and continued with my studies in urban and regional planning.
While I was initially interested in small and larger urban spaces, I also found global urban structures exciting as my studies progressed. So when I got the chance to spend some time abroad in South Korea as part of my master’s programme at TU Dortmund, I didn’t hesitate.
I really wanted to get to know the urban Asian region, with its metropolitan areas and its very own way of thinking: In South Korea, as in Japan which I had visited previously, people think in a more future-oriented and pragmatic way. Building something new and saying goodbye to the old has a positive connotation there.
My experiences from that time kindled my interest in future-oriented spatial planning. My horizon had broadened, and I wanted to work on large-scale planning of infrastructures for renewable energies, sector coupling and hydrogen.
That’s why I wanted to get insights into a company that does exactly that. I did some research on the Internet and came across OGE and a project on “Power to X”. I then applied on my own initiative with an exposé. The great thing was that my speculative application not only aroused OGE’s interest, but they then discussed with me how the position of a working student could be specifically designed around everybody’s needs.
Time for the master’s thesis
I was then welcomed into the “Technical Projects Management” department with a correspondingly open mind. There I had all the time I needed to write my master’s thesis. A colleague supported me professionally, and it all went so well that I quickly accepted when I was offered a full-time position after graduation. Although I already knew the department and the internal processes, the actual job was a new world for me. I was familiar with many things, but there was much I didn’t know.
Feasibility studies, existing projects, newbuilds
During an extensive familiarisation period, I now got to know the three essential areas in pipeline route planning from the practical side: We do feasibility studies, i.e. we check whether it is possible to build a new pipeline in a certain area and what the potential challenges are. From the planning perspective, we oversee existing projects. This includes work on existing pipelines, for which I have to obtain permits from authorities beforehand and then support the project management at OGE.
Our newbuild projects are large in scale and take a long time to complete. Here I start by plotting a digital ideal line for the route. Then I take a closer look at how best to get from A to B. In doing so, I have to pay attention to many things, including sharing a single corridor with existing infrastructure such as power lines, railway lines or motorways where possible, or bypassing protected areas. The next step then is to check on site whether the planned route is actually feasible. Sometimes we discover new structures we didn’t see on older aerial photographs or digital maps.
Good planning also requires good communication
The question is always: how can we complete a new pipeline route in a way that ensures everything above ground looks the same as before the project? We discuss these things and share our ideas with our nature conservation, design and construction management departments. Of course, our plans must then be approved by the authorities. Communication with the authorities, and sometimes also with the landowners, is something we do ourselves. I also go along to meetings with landowners and the so-called “dialogue markets”, where we talk to local residents.
What we observe in this process again and again is that everyone wants modern infrastructure, everyone needs it, but no one is willing to accept the inconveniences that come with it. It’s a good thing that we at OGE deal with infrastructure that is largely underground and hence “invisible” to the public.
Typical for the job: there is no such thing as a typical working day
I don’t really have a “typical working day”. Sometimes I spend more time in the office, or I work from home, and sometimes I have to travel for some of my appointments. For example, I’m on site more often in the run-up to planning approval and when I attend meetings with local residents. But I am also needed as a route planner during the construction phase. After all, plans can always change and then need to be re-approved.
Independent thinking, pleasure in communication, and indoor and outdoor working
I consider it a privilege to have a job that doesn’t tie me to a desk but where I can also spend time on the road and be outside when I want to. If you like that kind of thing, you’re in the right place. You should also be able to communicate well with different people and have a good spatial sense. Although there is always support from colleagues when needed, you should be able to think and act independently and organise yourself well.
Learn and experience new things every day
There is enormous expertise here at OGE. I keep learning so many new things that enrich my everyday life. Everyone here is open, passionate about their work and keen to pass on knowledge. That’s really special. I can apply my knowledge in a very varied way, because as a route planner I am not working in the limited space of a municipality, but across the entire region.
From Russia to the EU. From a mathematics graduate to a scheduling expert. Resida tells us how she did it.
From Essen to Rimpar. From mechanic to master. From natural gas to hydrogen. With Andreas, we walk through open doors.