I am a lead commissioning engineer who thrives on challenging and diverse work. I have worked in a number of different countries such as Russia (Caspian Sea, Sakhalin Islands), Iraq, Thailand and in UK.Commissioning Engineering is intense work: it involves starting up, configuring, testing, monitoring the pre-production phase, training personnel in all aspects of the new or updated equipment and finallly handing over. This is is a very expensive time for the company as the equipment is not being used in a commercial sense. Hence, time pressures are real and twelve hour days are common.Naturally, before the phase of actually hiring personnel, I am careful to do a careful analysis of man power requirements and time tables involved. So I am aware of what is involved. Outsiders may be surprised that a fair amount of my time is spent writing or modifying programs. This is because machinery has become much more sophisticated and needs to be configured to best align with the current requirements. In addition, the programs controlling these items of machinery need to be tested within reasonable limits.Other parts of my work include wearing the classical 'hard hat', donning overhauls and working outside. There is always some work to do outside. It may simply be checking the quality of maintenance being performed, or evaluating the site for potential safety problems. Once the equipment and machinery is in pre-production phase, I take care to brief the crew taking over in all aspects of working the equipment. You need to be thorough and ensure that crews are competent and can be reasonably be expected to handle normal working conditions. This is to reduce expensive call-outs. I have now done contracting work for a number of years and enjoy the sense of achievement that comes when everything in a project comes together. No two projects are ever quite the same, which makes the work interesting and stimulating.