Blog ala Vidar

Arvid has been working for Omega for several years. He’s located in Houston, but has been in Stavanger for many years in the Statoil team. I know he’s going to get married in about a year, but except that I don’t know much about what Arvid has doing. So..

How did you start in Omega? Do you remember your first day?
I’ve been friends with Arild Røksund since high school and it was he that opened the “Omega door” for me back in February 2004. I was thrown directly to the wolves in Statoil when I started with Omega, and remember I was more nervous about the HES exam you have to take before entering the Statoil office than any exams I ever had in College for some reason. After seven months in Statoil working on the Snøvit project I started in the Statoil PIMS Support team and spent two years there before I moved to Oslo working for Aker Solutions. I didn’t spend more than six months in Oslo before I traveled to Houston for a two week trip which ended up turning into seven months! I really liked the lifestyle over here and when Øyvind Vik offered me a permanent position in Houston with Omega Project Solutions I gladly accepted that, so here I am.

What’s your current position?
I work as a Lead Systems Engineer in Omega Project Solutions, (Omega’s Houston office). Since our project with Devon ended earlier this year I have been working on several minor projects for different clients, and is right now preparing for a three months trip to Malaysia where I will start up PIMS for the “Kebangagang” project, which should be cool as they will get the latest and greatest of both CR3 and Web3.

You were in Norway a couple of months ago to get to know the new framework. What’s your opinion? Anything particular you liked, or disliked?
In Houston there is a very high focus on web, and after working with web2 it’s a true joy to be working in the new framework. Though there always are a few bugs when you are working with something as new as R3 web, Peter and Ronny shall have all honors for solving any issues rapidly. The fact that we are using 3rd party components from Telerik and DevExpress also makes the job a lot easier, as you can search their pages for tips and tricks.

What are you doing except work in Houston?
As you mention I am getting married next year! The wedding will take place in Canada where my fiancé is from, and planning a wedding in one country from a different country, in addition to coordinate with my family in a third country, you get the picture, that take some time and energy.
Houston is a big city with a rich culture life, so there is always a concert or show to attend. In addition the weather over here is quite pleasant with temperatures between 35 and 43 degrees Celsius the whole summer, so just relaxing by the pool with a few cold beers is something I try to do as often as I can too.