"As a little girl, I was already determined that I wanted to do something with engineering", says Juliette, who grew up with two brothers on the farm of her parents. "My father was often doing carpentry and odd jobs and my mother often built huts with us. I always wanted to know how things worked and if they could be fixed. When I went to college that all became much more in-depth. After studying Aerospace Engineering in Delft, I accidentally ended up at Shell. I now have a job that I didn't even know existed. The funny thing is, on the farm I was wearing red overalls, and in Pernis I'm wearing them again."

Difficult to grasp

"My job is Materials and Corrosion Engineer. I deal with the application of metal in the refinery, including pipe replacements. On one of my first days on the job, I could barely grasp what needed to be done, that's how complex the piping system was. It wasn't until a Shell colleague told me, "You're smart enough, you'll get there", which gave me a lot of confidence. After all, as a single individual you cannot know everything. It is always a combination of specialist disciplines. Moreover, I'm at my best when I'm continuously challenged. Ideally, they knock on my door on a daily basis and throw me in at the deep end."

My future

"The satisfaction I get from my job is something I hope to be able to take with me into the future. And I believe I still have a great role to play there at Shell. That's why I'm not thinking about retirement as yet. It's still such a long time away. Still, the updates I receive regularly give me a certain feeling of confidence. The other day I even looked at what the new pension law will mean for my situation. And guess what? At SNPS, things are already proceeding according to the new pension principle. So there's no need for me to worry."