Native of the Atyrau region, Ondagan has always been interested in ships that he watched sailing along the Ural River and he grew up dreaming about them. When he was an adolescent he finished a chemical school. By serving in the Army, he had carried out his civil duty. After returning home, he took a job at a ship repair plant. He began his career as a turner, at the same time he graduated from an industrial school in Astrakhan. With his secondary he continued to work at the ship repair plant. His work had been noticed and Ondagan was appointed as foreman. The changes in society, the economic crisis in the beginning of the 1990s in the independent Kazakhstan had a negative impact on the plant. And at this period, he decided to get a job at the AOR.

“It happened in 1992. I had worked for 22 at the ship repair plant. I was about 40 years old. It certainly was not easy to change careers that were so different. But once I decided I couldn’t undo my decision. The fact that I had worked in the same place more than 20 years, was my advantage and I was easily hired by the refinery. I started as the drilling operator at the delayed coker. Later, transferred to the reactor unit. I’m a mechanic by profession. The work wasn’t hard for me. But I had to learn new skills. I realized that it’s never too late to learn and be trained working there. My mentors Rustem Bisaliyev Oleg Gushchin, Altai Mendigaliyev, Askar Uteshov, head of the installation Andrei Shvayder and foreman Yuri Shkodinder taught me a lot. They showed all the tricks on the spot. Until the time I had learned well my duties, I helped them with everything. This is how I learned to work with oil refining. Since 1996, I had been working as an operator in a cleaning building block. And there I had worked for 20 years. I always tried to perform any task conscientiously. Several times I was awarded by diplomas for my work. I am eternally grateful to the AOR. When the children grew, the management gave me a loan. With their support, I bought a nice house. Most importantly, I do not regret that I came to work at the refinery.

Ondagan Aralbayev had worked at the refinery for 25 years. This year he will retire. A quarter century of his work at the AOR he had always been a man of labor and had contributed a lot to AOR. Now his legacy will be continued by his successors.