“When I came to work here, a technical education wasn’t necessary,” says Jan. “If you had a pre-vocational secondary education or senior general secondary education (MAVO or HAVO) diploma, you were trained internally. I began at the MTS (Secondary Technical School), but it wasn’t really my thing apart from drawing. So, when I saw a vacancy at an engineering company, I immediately applied, and that’s how I ended up at Engineering and Architects firm, H. Veth. Only later did the company change its name to Iv-Groep. Drawing was always what I liked doing the most. So, after about 30 years of producing workshop drawings, I switched to the design department. Then, because I wanted to know more about strength analysis calculations, I enrolled in a part-time construction course in steel, concrete and wood. My father was in the technical world; he did metalwork,” explains Ron. “He did everything himself at home. Repairs, figuring out how to put something together, that sort of thing. I just got into it from an early age. For me, it began with small things like repairing tires, but by the time I was sixteen, I was taking entire mopeds apart and overhauling them. I still do this to this day, though now it’s motorcycles. I deliberately chose mechanical engineering at the MTS and followed an additional training in Motor Vehicle Technology. I really liked drawing at the MTS. Just as Jan, I began at Iv in the detailing (workshop drawings) department and then ended up in design.”