Meet Martha and Oscar, our two new junior analysts for the summer
Spillfree has expanded the team and hired Martha and Oscar as junior analysts for the summer. They contribute to the delivery team with analysis and follow-up of the fish’s eating behavior and feeding – with the aim of satiating the fish as much as possible to the least possible feed waste.
Who are you?
– My name is Martha Austad Opsal, I am 24 years old, and studying Aquaculture Engineering at NTNU in Trondheim.
– My name is Oscar Fjellheim, I am 22 years old and studying aquaculture engineering at NTNU here in Trondheim. I originally come from Tromsø, but have been living in Trondheim since the summer of 2020.
What is your typical day like?
– A typical day as “junior analysts” is that we fairly quickly start with the analyzes for the day when arriving the office. Throughout the day, we participate in various meetings and analyze fish eating behavior and feeding. We also work on some other projects, so that we not only sit with analysis for an entire day, Martha and Oscar point out.
What benefits do you see from working in Spillfree?
– As a summer employee in Spillfree, you are surrounded of talented people, with expertise in their subjects and experience from the industry. The summer job provides a completely unique competence within analysis and improvement of feeding processes, which is an important job. The pedagogical introduction to the analysis work has been very good for both motivation and quick training. We have done a good deal of analysis and taken part in several operator meetings with customers, which is very nice to be able to understand the whole of what we do, says Oscar.
– The fact that Spillfree has such a strong focus on the environment and sustainability, means that I really appreciate being a part of the team. And of course it is an incredibly good experience to carry on in my career, Martha concludes.
How is the relevance to the study program at your university?
– The aquaculture engineering study has an incredible number of focus areas. Mainly within the biological understanding of salmon, its environment and technological basis for present and future fish farms. I have co-students who work at hatcheries, fish farms and so on. These are all summer jobs that will be relevant and educational within our field of study. I personally think that the summer job in Spillfree offers a more holistic experience and a broader understanding of the field and the industry in general. Much of the knowledge from the study has already been complemented with practical understanding. For example, what are the correct feeding profiles for the right size of salmon, how to work up the best possible fish growth factor under good fish welfare conditions and interpretation of the salmon’s behavior by video analysis. I have also written reports that compare the analysis statistics from month to month for a given locality, says Oscar.
– This is incredibly relevant to the education we take. I have learned an incredible amount of new things that I will use in the future, at the same time as I have used previous experiences. I get a completely different insight and a different approach to the industry than what I am used to. The knowledge I bring with me from Spillfree is incredibly valuable on my feature endavours, Martha adds.
We are always looking for talented individuals to join our team
Sigrid Venås, Delivery Manager, says that the company is very satisfied with the summer job programme. It was important to us that we brought in someone with relevant education and background from the industry. The two Junior Analysts Martha and Oscar have been thrown into the job and impressed early on to show fast learning and the ability to familiarize themselves with how to achieve optimal feeding. They do an excellent job and we are happy to have them on board the team, Sigrid concludes.