Transition Times: Trying out a career helps you find out if it's right for you. This week: engineering
What do Newgrange, the Golden Gate Bridge, a heart pacemaker, a Boeing 747 and the Panama Canal have in common? They are all feats of engineering - one of those jobs that everyone is familiar with but few could accurately describe.
The discipline is so varied that a brief job description often proves impossible. Broadly speaking, engineering is concerned with finding solutions for practical problems. Clean water, light and heat, worldwide transport, communication systems and technological advances in music are all a result of the work of engineers. Options are diverse and range from creating tiny devices for use in microsurgery to designing bridges and managing large-scale infrastructure projects.
This is why students interested in engineering should try to get work experience. The most important task is to research it beforehand, as there is little point in gaining experience with a civil engineer if you're interested in biomedicine.
The good news is that the Government and industry are interested in attracting bright students into engineering, and therefore quite a bit of information is available if you look for it. The Science, Technology and Engineering Programme for Schools (Steps) is one source. Its website, www.steps.ie, provides details about areas of engineering, from aeronautical to mechanical, as well as about the courses that are available.
Whether you get work experience or not will depend on your persistence and luck. Aoife O'Mahony of Engineers Ireland - formerly known as the Institute of Engineers of Ireland - is optimistic about a transition-year student's chances. "I think if students present themselves well, and professionally, companies would be reasonably open to accommodating someone. Of course, it depends on the person you talk to and the nature of the company."
Organisations that employ engineers in Ireland include Intel, Airtricity, Irish Rail, Siemens, Boston Scientific and Hewlett-Packard, as well as local authorities.
Contacts may, as is so often the case, prove to be the key factor in getting satisfactory work experience, but it is worth sending companies a CV and a letter, then following up with a polite phone call. Emphasise your maths, physics, chemistry and problem-solving abilities or analytical skills, as well as examples of your interest in your chosen area.
If you are unsure which area might appeal to you, Steps is hosting seminars on engineering as a career at Dundalk Institute of Technology (tomorrow), Engineers Ireland (November 16th)and Limerick Institute of Technology (December 20th). More dates will be added to the website, where you can also book a place.
For more information, e-mail Aoife O'Mahony on aoifeom@iei.ie
