Have you undertaken, or do you plan to undertake any further training as part of your job?
One of the best things I like about my job is that every day I learn something new. As engineers we are continuously having our skill set ‘upgraded’, so ongoing training is almost a requirement. When I was employed by a multi-national corporation we had many engineers world wide who were experts in various fields, and we used in-house training sessions to improve our knowledge. Over the years I have also attended numerous international seminars, and industry gatherings. Each project that we work on always involves a research stage where we have to acquire a new piece of knowledge as we continue to develop cutting edge products.
What is your education to date?
I graduated from the Cork Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Engineering. In todays terminology, it is a Level 8 degree.
What aspects of your education have proven most important for your job?
I suppose my understanding of Maths and Physics have proved to be the most important. I use the knowledge that I have gained in these subjects on a daily basis. However as your career progresses you will inevitably be faced with the issues of budgets, project management, people management, and a whole lot of common sense! As an engineer you will also be expected to bring on younger engineers, by teaching and mentoring them. So many of the other subjects I have studied over the years have also proved to be invaluable to me.
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
When in I was in school I didn’t really have a definite career plan. However I did prefer the Science subjects in general over languages or Business type subjects. Along with the obligatory subjects, I continued with Physics, Chemistry and Honours Maths for my leaving certificate, not so much as a conscious career choice but because I liked them. However as it turned out these all helped me during my course, and they tied in with my career choice.
