The man behind the tech at sea

Meet Tom, one of our very own Software Engineers. Tom has an impressive 7.5-year career working at Mr Smith on some of the most prestigious SuperYachts in the ocean, but what are the characteristics that make a great engineer?

Tell us about yourself and your journey before Mr Smith.

I’m Tom, 29 years old and living a small town near the German border. All my life I’ve been interested about IT and especially in software engineering. Fun fact: on every family birthday a couple of family member would either ask me to help fix their phone or update their website, typical right?

When it came to choosing what to study there were only a few logical options, I choose software engineering. During my time at college I had a number of internships in automotive software engineering and real-estate software engineering, these were both interesting and gave me a greater understanding of these industries and software development in general!

Why did you decide to get into the yachting industry and join Mr Smith?

After graduating my focus was to find work. After having multiple job interviews and being fortunate to have a number of offers on the table, a good friend of mine suggested looking at Mr. Smith. He painted a picture traveling, writing software for super yachts and the great internal vibes at the company. This of course piqued my interest instantly. I decided to take’ the bull by the horns’ and reach out to one of the owners, Tjeerd, who invited me to an informal chat.. in-effect the interview! We just clicked, I cancelled the offers and started working at Mr. Smith.

What were the challenges you found on your very first yacht installation?

As a software engineer who also handles hardware integration, I encountered a steep learning curve understanding the complexities unique to the yachting industry, fortunately I love a challenge, and I am pleased to say I adapted quickly!

On-site problem-solving, such as debugging and integrating new devices, demanded rapid decisions to keep systems onboard operational and the schedule running optimal. However, the biggest challenge was definitely working directly with the crew.

Communicating in a different language, adapting to different cultural approaches, and navigating a foreign country's regulations was a significant hurdle.

What makes a good Engineer / Programmer?

One of the most important skills I think is problem solving. How to make something work and how to make a bigger issue into bite sized chunks so that we can solve them more efficiently. Another is on communication and education, clearly describing and sharing technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences is vital, after all when I am not there, they need to manage the solution day to date (although we are in the background able to support them remotely should they need assistance).

Have you ever had any difficult installs?

I sure have. All costumers have different systems, requirement and expectation. Sometime specific combinations are harder to achieve. Though, we haven’t had one who we couldn’t handle!

What are some of the most useful technological features that you can bring to a refit/new build?

My wide-ranging technical background is a key strength. I have hands-on experience with bridge systems, domotics, electrical, Cisco IT, and low-level backend software. Though formal education varies across these areas, my practical understanding allows for informed system adjustments and enhancements.

How does the LAVIE software make a difference to both the crew and guest experience?

At Mr. Smith we like to use the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Meaning, don’t overcomplicate thinks when they don’t need to be. This makes the system both intuitive and logical to use. For example, guests want adjustments made to the home screen of the LAVIE iPad app, because of the onboard LAVIE management interface this can be done at ease, and this empowers the crew to swiftly update it themselves. Another, for instance, could be the crew have a guest who wants to play their own Spotify onboard, simple! Once again using the LAVIE interface the crew can connect to the boat’s Wi-Fi and use the Spotify app in any area on the yacht they desire.

How well do the LAVIE solutions integrate with other hardware onboard?

In my opinion very well! The whole LAVIE platform is designed to be interoperable. Another thing that works in our favour is that the same core software is used on all our clients’ yachts. The benefit of this is if a bug is discovered all our client have them and it’s in our best interest to revolve this as soon as possible. With our LAVIE solution the biggest benefit for our clients is that we aren’t reliant on third parties for its backbone, everything is developed in-house and for a customer that means fast fixes and easier integration to new technologies as they launch.

Mr Smith is always developing innovative products; do you get involved in these?

For sure, this is also one of the reasons I love working at Mr. Smith. The most recent example is our new NOVA remote. I was one of the leading engineers in developing the software of this remote. I got to put a lot of my own creativity into it too. I even got to test it at home to just get a feel of NOVA!

Because of this, I noticed some usability improvements which we also implemented. Even my (non-IT) girlfriend got to use it in everyday situations and gave input to just create a better finished remote-controlling experience.