“ …it needs to be said that graduating from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture is not easy"
Not discouraged by opinions of others, after high school I enrolled the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, and that's how it all started. It took me three times to pass may very first exam, it was really hard. Many people failed and fell for a year on the slide rule exam (only very few people today know what that is!) However, my college years passed quickly and all those who worked hard and regularly did not have hard time finding a job.
After graduation I was able to choose: stay at the faculty as teaching assistant, work at RIZ Company - I had their scholarship, or work for a design company. I decided in favour of designing and three years later I passed my professional exam. My next position (extending to present day) was at HEP Toplinarstvo (distribution and supply of heat energy) and that was the best real life school a mechanical engineer could wish for. At the time of Universiade in Zagreb 1987, a lot of work had to be done on the heating systems, so a Special Heating Systems Unit was established and I managed it. All projects were a race against time. One of them was the new building of the Faculty of Economics., where problems with the boiler room occurred. I was asked to help on that project and used the opportunity to gather valuable experience.
I also worked for the "Do It Yourself" magazine, I was among the first ones to work with floor heating and prepared a special edition of the magazine "Special Edition - All about heating". The magazine had a circulation of amazing 150,000 copies (!), and that special edition was sold in 20,000 copies. That's when I started to think about launching my own business. At the same time, I also collaborated with the magazine "Energy Engineering" and my esteemed colleague Ante Šimunović (who passed away in the meantime), a well-known expert and head inspector for pressure vessels. In 1993, we launched the magazine EGE together. The magazine has been published continuously for 26 years, providing a platform for the development of numerous other activities: professional meetings, specialized publications and a unique portal Energetika-net.com. The company ENERGETIKA MARKETING has a team of ten people in two countries (Croatia and Slovenia), numerous external consultants and business partners.
To conclude, I would like to point out that nothing comes without great efforts and hard work. Mechanical engineering requires continued professional development. After years of experience, a different mindset is developed, a new way of making decisions and approach to life in general, the so-called technical intelligence. Nowadays when I think back, I can still hear those words when I accepted my diploma: "There is nothing quite like that feeling when you have solved a problem and created something new… because any technical issue can be solved… but human problems are not so easily solved. So, stick to your profession because that is your mission!"
