Siobhan O'Shea, Engineer, Clifton Scannell Associates

Job title Engineer
Employer Clifton Scannell Associates

I have been working in the industry
for just over three years. I graduated
in September 2012 and started
work in CSEA, a multidisciplinary
engineering consulting firm,
immediately afterwards. I spent a
three-month placement in CSEA during
the summer prior to my final year in
college. After I graduated I was lucky
enough to be offered a graduate
position within the company.

Choosing my career

There is a great amount of variety
that comes with working as part of a
multidisciplinary consultancy. One
day you can be designing a drainage
system using computer software and
the next day you can be on-site lifting
manholes. As to what attracted me to
work in this profession: I wasn’t sure
of what I wanted to do when filing
out my CAO form but I had always
had an interest in maths, science and
the business subjects in school. As I
wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in
college a course that would offer me
variety was appealing. Engineering
was the perfect choice.

I studied omnibus engineering in UCD Dublin.
This is a common first year which
allows students to get a taste of the
variety of the engineering courses
available. After my first year I chose to
specialise in civil engineering which is
concerned with the design,
construction and maintenance of the
physical and natural built
environment. It is not just bridges and
road design. Other options available
were mechanical, chemical, electrical
or engineering. Since I graduated new
courses have been made available
including energy systems and
biosystems engineering.

A number of friends from college have gone on to
pursue careers in IT, accounting and
business as well as a number who
stayed within the industry after
graduating. I enjoy the variety of the
work. No two days are the same and
every project is different. Engineering
is a field which is constantly changing
and so you have to be able to adapt to
new ways of thinking. It is great to get
to work as part of a team and see
projects develop from paper to reality.
I would highly recommend this
career choice. The variety of
opportunities and employers looking to
hire engineers is vast. Even if you are
not sure that you want to pursue a
career within the field, an engineering
degree is a great first stepping stone.