Engineering a rewarding and varied job that has real-world applications

Darach McGrath – Director of Engineering at Cook Medical, a multinational company based in Limerick that designs and manufactures a broad range of minimally invasive medical devices including stents, catheters and biopsy needles.

I’m responsible for Cook Medical’s engineering activities in Ireland, specifically New Product R&D and manufacturing process engineering.

I went to St Joseph’s CBS in Nenagh, Co Tipperary and studied all the usual subjects such as maths and physics; however, I elected to study and particularly enjoyed practical subjects like technical drawing, construction and agricultural science.

These were the subjects that caught my interest and made me think about what I would like to do after school.

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As happens to a number of people I didn’t get my first choice which was industrial design at University of Limerick.

However, I accepted a diploma course at IT Carlow, to study industrial design.

The teaching style of continuous assessment and projects really worked well for me.

After a year, I transferred to University of Limerick to study industrial design at degree level. As it was a joint course between UL and NCAD in Dublin, I spent one year in UL and the rest at the NCAD.

At college, I took part in a co-op programme that gave me hands-on experience of the medical device industry, working with an Irish company.

After graduation, I was employed full-time by that same company, and that kick-started my career. In 2004, I started work at Cook Medical as an R&D engineer and my career has progressed within the company to the position I’m in today.

If I were picking my CAO choices again, I’d make sure to put down my first preference as number one.

Many people make the mistake of putting down courses they think they can get or know little about instead of what they really want.

Nowadays companies and industries are getting more involved in showing students what opportunities are out there in different areas.

For example in Cook Medical we host or visit schools to talk to students and teachers about where a degree in Stem can take you.

It is not just white coats and test tubes! It covers everything from designing life-saving devices, to collaborating with doctors to help patients.

There is a preconception that engineering as a degree is more suitable for men – this is not true.

Many of Cook Medical’s highest achieving engineers are women. For girls sitting the Leaving Cert next year, consider engineering. It’s a rewarding and varied job that has real-world applications.

In my experience, achieving your goal sometimes means taking different or slightly longer avenue to get to where you want to go. However, if you know what you want to achieve and are willing to work hard, anything is possible. Your career isn’t defined by what you do at degree level; education is a life long journey.