Meet Jens

”Working with load-bearing structures is nerve-wracking and thrilling at the same time. It’s a massive responsibility because it’s a matter of life and death if your construction isn’t solid. But that’s also where my love for steel stems from: Every building around us is founded on the existence of steel. We reinforce our concrete with steel, we structure our buildings around steel, and steel can be cut and assembled in ways that no other material can. 

That’s interesting in itself, but what makes steel truly exciting is that it allows your creativity to run wild. As a student assistant and now graduate engineer, I’ve been deliberately exposed to many different projects with a lot of experienced colleagues. Seeing how they problem-solve with steel by letting their creative minds loose on problems is really inspiring. 

As a young engineer, you do a lot of calculations to solve problems. And a key learning is that just because you can calculate or design something doesn’t mean it’s buildable in real life. Working at COWI while studying has given me a far better understanding of what is feasible and what isn’t, which is something that I couldn’t get from university alone. Getting your hands dirty and learning from people around you are the whole point of having a student job, and not turning down any of the tasks that come your way is the best way of building the experience that’ll help you think up buildable solutions yourself.”