What do todays workers say about the subjects they chose when they did their Leaving Cert (or equivalent exam)?
By clicking on the job titles from the list of interviews below (approx 150), you will be able to read what each person answered to the question "What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?" You can sort the list by clicking on the column titles (Sort by Title / Sort by Employer).
To view descriptions of each Leaving Cert subject, click here.
Karl Stanley, Discover Science + Engineering
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
For my Leaving Cert. I took Maths - higher, Applied Maths - higher, Physics - higher, Chemistry - higher, Music - higher, English - higher, German - higher, Irish - ordinary As you can see my abilities and interests were more in the maths+science sphere than anything else.
I was very lucky that at the time Mt. Temple had very capable maths+science teachers, which certainly made things easier for me. To be honest, in school I didn't really think about 3rd level or careers or anything until I was in 6th year (by which stage I'd already picked my subjects). I just picked the subjects I enjoyed and felt I had a natural knack for.
For the career I'm in now I don't think I could have picked better school subjects. It might have helped me to know a bit more about business-related subjects, but I had no interest in accountancy or commerce at the time.
I am considering taking an evening course in the legal+financial aspects to running a business to make up for this. However, as a teenager I think I was better off studying subjects that I had a genuine interest in, otherwise I would have found it very hard to motivate myself to study.
