Engineering Wisdom: Gabriel Martins on technology leadership
In our first Craftset interview, Gabriel Martins, an expert in advanced process control, shares his career journey and unique leadership philosophies.
Gabriel Martins is no stranger to late-night and early-morning conference calls.
For the past four years, he and I have navigated the 12-hour time difference (11 hours during Daylight Savings) with regular conversations about challenges at work and continuous improvement.
When I visited Western Australia a few years ago, I observed Gabriel’s work first-hand. As a Controls Superintendent at Fortescue, Gabriel oversees the operations of highly-automated mining facilities spread across the desert landscape of Australia’s Outback.
From his office in Perth, Gabriel shares his insights on:
From Intern to Innovator: Gabriel's career journey into mining automation
Mastering the Basics: Why fundamentals matter more than cutting-edge tech
The Future of Mining: LiDAR, AI/ML, and the skills gap challenge
Leadership Lessons: Building trust and fostering talent
Career Wisdom: Gabriel's top tips for aspiring leaders
Building a Career
Gabriel began his career as an electrical-drafting intern, and quickly found his way to control systems engineering by following his curiosity and passions.
Moving from an electrical-engineering background into automation meant mastering new skills and ways of thinking. When I ask him about some of his early challenges and lessons, he points to a key experience: working in systems integration.
“Building systems from scratch… That’s when you fully understand how things actually work.
“There's a big difference between supporting something [that already exists] and building from the ground up. That's when you fully understand how things actually work.”
Another important skill: learning how to read and use documentation. Gabriel would spend days reading through technical documentation and manuals. He says, “99% of the time, if you're ringing support, chances are that you haven't done [all of] your research yet.”
An inflection point came when learning how to program Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Mine control is notoriously complex. “Sometimes people can be very proud of solving very, very complex problems with very complex solutions.” Gabriel developed a different philosophy. He found that investing time and effort up front to develop simple, elegant solutions up front yielded long-term benefits.
Remote Mine Control: Challenges and Opportunities
Gabriel’s career in mining began in Brazil, where he traveled throughout the Amazon to support mining operations at some of the most remote sites in the world. Eventually, new opportunities brought Gabriel and his family to Western Australia, where more than 30% of the world’s iron ore is produced.
Over the past two decades, Gabriel has witnessed and contributed to the transformation of remote mine site control to centralized mine control, enables by breakthroughs in advanced cellular, satellite , and fiber networks.
From a nondescript office tower in Perth, Gabriel oversees the operations of dozens of sites. This centralized control approach offers a number of benefits:
Economies of scale
Improved efficiency
Increased safety
More than anything else, Gabriel says the biggest advantage is what he calls the “knowledge supply chain.” Having a team of highly skilled operators in the same room is crucial for sharing expertise and real-time support. “Imagine if you could benchmark your mine sites and understand best practices just by taking 10 steps” to talk to your colleagues.
The Future: Two Big Trends in Automated Mining
The pace of innovation in automation is ever-increasing, especially in the Age of AI. What tech is Gabriel most excited about?
Going back to basics. Despite the allure of cutting-edge tools, Gabriel emphasizes the importance of mastering fundamentals:
Well-designed Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that don't overwhelm operators
Consistent alarm management approaches
High-quality operational data
"We still haven't cracked this as an industry," Gabriel notes, underscoring the ongoing challenge despite decades of innovation.
Breakthrough innovations. An example Gabriel cites here is the onset of inexpensive LiDAR scanners. “There’s a lot you can measure with fairly cheap LiDAR scanners that you couldn’t with traditional instrumentation.” And what about all those AI chat bots? Gabriel says the biggest near-term opportunity for AI/ML in mining is computer vision. “There isn't a control room in the world without a CCTV system… if you ask yourself, what's the role of the CCTV system? What are you asking your operators to look for that you couldn't automate with some AI algorithms?”
The catch? All this new technology means huge demand for new skill sets. With a fleet of LiDAR scanners, you need people who understand point clouds and know how to extract features in real time for bulk material handling. The same can be said for computer vision.
The Path to Leadership: A Natural Evolution
“Whatever work you’re doing, you have to put your heart and soul into it.”
Advancing your career has less to do with shrewd competition than it does The Golden Rule, according to Gabriel.
“When I was interacting with someone else's work that was really well done, I had appreciation for what that person had done before me—even not knowing who that [person] was or never meeting the person. I always wanted the next person to have the same feeling about the work that I was doing.” Consistently demonstrating this philosophy in your work leads to natural recognition, says Gabriel.
But beware a common misperception: don’t wait to get noticed.
“People say, ‘let the work speak for itself.’ I don't think that's totally true.” If you’re genuinely proud of your work, you shouldn’t be hiding it. Look for opportunities to showcase your accomplishments—it could be as simple as giving an update to your manager or sharing a recent win on an internal social media page or weekly team meeting. Celebrating your successes while finding ways to connect your work to your company’s goals and values will send a powerful signal to your colleagues.
Building Teams: Mining for “Engineering Wisdom”
If you’ve ever hired someone, or had to suffer the consequences of a bad hire, you know how difficult it is to get a sense of a person’s character based on a résumé.
“Mileage does not always translate to wisdom. What I look for is engineering wisdom, and what I mean by that is the right attitude. If you can bring someone in with the right attitude, you’re 90% of the way there.”
“If you can bring someone in with the right attitude, you’re 90% of the way there.”
What is the right attitude in engineering? Look for it in how a candidate approaches their work. Are they curious about their field? Do they push hard for the best solution? How have they overcome challenges in the past? Do their ethics align with those of your team and company?
Of course, anyone can say they have the best ethics and the most curiosity in a one-hour interview. When hiring, Gabriel leans heavily on reference interviews to get a sense of a candidate’s engineering wisdom.
Once you have the right people onboard, a leader’s next challenge is keeping your best people. Gabriel says empathy is the crucial skill leaders need to develop when it comes to developing top talent. “A good leader should always ask really, really good questions. If you're the kind of leader that has all the answers, chances are that you're not getting everything that you could be getting from your team.” Look for win-win opportunities because your team’s success is ultimately your own success.
Final Thoughts: Advice for Aspiring Leaders
Gabriel Martins offers three key pieces of advice for aspiring leaders in industrial careers:
Build an online presence. Drawing inspiration from the worlds of IT and software, Gabriel recommends building an online portfolio for your work. It’s common practice for software engineers to develop a portfolio of work over their career—websites, apps, contributions to open-source software projects—all publicly available on GitHub.
“Engineers should try to have an online portfolio” that showcases their skills and craftsmanship. Build a SCADA application using Ignition that shows how you approach colors and contrast, alarm management, and how to mitigate cognitive overload. Write on LinkedIn or start a blog, where you can write about the concepts you’re learning and how you’re putting them into practice.
Always be mindful of your reputation. “Leaders should be really, really aware of how they are perceived in their normal day-to-day of their own jobs.” Your reputation is everything, and it’s something many people underestimate when it comes to advancing in your career.
“Everyday is your interview.”
“[Approach] your job always thinking ‘Hey, [today] is my interview.’ Everyday is your interview—how people perceive you, how your peers work with you, how your current boss interacts with you.” When the time comes for your next job interview, your reputation will be the deciding factor during your reference checks.
Develop your communication skills. While technical skills are essential for an engineering career, Gabriel stresses the importance of "soft skills" like speaking and presenting.
This is a skill Gabriel is building in his own career. For anyone wanting to improve their own communication skills, Gabriel says learn from some of the best in the business—corporate consultants. “There's so much to be learned. You know? One thing that has served me extremely well when I was doing presentations… [is] taking the McKinsey approach.” Think about the key message(s) you want your audience to leave with, and nail those in your slides. Everything else is noise.
Key Takeaways
Create a technical portfolio: Build an online showcase of your work to demonstrate your skills and approach.
Treat every day as an interview. Practice showing up every day as the leader you want to be. Always be mindful of your reputation.
Build your Engineering Wisdom. Cultivate empathy, curiosity, and resourcefulness to stand out.
Live and work by the Golden Rule: Create work that the next person will appreciate.
Build your “soft skills.” Get comfortable presenting your ideas and celebrating your successes around other people. Practice clear and concise communication.
Gabriel Martins is a Process Control Superintendent at Fortescue. Prior to Fortescue, he spent 9 years at BHP in numerous leadership roles. For more from Gabriel, follow him on LinkedIn.
Thank you, Gabriel!
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Sincerely,
Sam