Case Study - Mechanical Engineer

Name: Kathleen Hurley
Job: Manufacturing Engineer (www.bostonscientific.ie)

I studied mechanical and manufacturing engineering for four years in Cork Institute of Technology. I picked mechanical engineering as I had a keen interest in maths and physics in secondary school; also I knew that this course would give me an abundance of options when I did leave college, and the practical aspect of the course also appealed to me.

I certainly found it extremely challenging along the way. Once I got over the primary hurdle of completing first year I found the course a lot less stressful and I began to enjoy the content of it a lot more.

I was lucky enough to get an extremely motivating final year project. I had to design and manufacture a splint for a fractured fifth metacarpal, otherwise know as a ‘boxer’s fracture’. These fractures are usually caused by punching something hard like a wall or another persons head, hence the name ‘boxer’s fracture’! Unbelievably over 12,000 of these fractures occur every year in Ireland and the UK and funnily enough this figure rises significantly around Christmas time and weekends. As you can see, this project had a lot of scope for me, and in the end the device that I designed, which was christened Fingerfit, proved to be extremely successful (Kathleen won the Siemens Innovative Engineer of the Year Award 2007 for her groundbreaking design).

I have only been in the workforce for just over three months now, but so far so good. At the moment I am working for Boston Scientific and there is a lot of opportunity within the company itself. Currently I am working as a manufacturing engineer, but I would hope that in the future I may get the opportunity to work in the design aspect
of the corporation. I would most certainly encourage students to consider a career in engineering.