NEW HORIZONS
HOWICHANGEDMYCAREER Z KevinMcMahon
Education
Correspondent
Katherine Donnelly
on how a former
construction
worker found a new
life in a high tech
laboratory
Kevin McMahon
accepted a work
placement in
BioUetikon, a
company based in
Dublin City
University. (Left and
above) Kevin working
in the laboratory
A world away from
tiling swimming pools
At the height of Celtic Tiger
era, Kevin McMahon was
living the dream, putting his
construction skills to use
tiling swimming pools in
sunny Australia.
Work and money were in
plentiful supply during the
boom, and the Monaghan
man enjoyed six or seven
years great employment, both
at home and abroad.
An electronic and electrical
engineering graduate, he was
among the many thousands
lured by the bountiful
opportunities in the
construction industry in the
early noughties.
Kevin’s post-college job
with an electronics firm in Co
Antrim ended in
unemployment after a year,
when the company
transferred operations out of
Ireland. “So, I came to Dublin
and got a job with a friend in
construction. I worked as a
labourer and also trained as a
paver and tiler and I was
making good money”, said
Kevin, of Killanny,
Carrickmacross.
Like thousands of others,
he was caught by the travel
bug and spent three years in
South East Asia, South
America and Australia, where
his paving and tiling skills
were in much demand.
Kevin returned to Ireland
in May 2008, with no idea of
the economic devastation that
was about to hit: “Initially, I
got a bit of work, but then it
started to dry up and I ended
up on the dole”.
The 32-year-old had
confronted redundancy
before and he took another
positive career move. Kevin
sought advice from the State
training and employment
authority, FAS on how he
could use his engineering
degree as a stepping stone
back to work.
Lifeline
He was directed to Dundalk
Institute of Technology
(DKIT) for a one-year
conversion course leading to a
diploma in Bio
Pharmaceutical and Process
Engineering. It allowed him
top up his existing skills and
gain the necessary, scientific
technical and regulatory
expertise for work in the biopharmaceutical industry in
which Ireland is a key global
player.
Kevin said the DKIT
opportunity was a “lifeline”.
Despite eight or nine years
away from the books, he said
he quickly got back into a
study regime.
He described the difference
between his two third-level
qualifications as like the
Irish Independent Thursday 11 August 2011
difference between working
for Intel and Pfizer.
Last summer Kevin was
accepted for a work
placement in BioUetikon, a
Swiss-owned company based
at Dublin City University,
which manufactures proteins
and antibodies for the
pharmaceutical industry.
“My technology
background is helpful, and all
my experience in the building
industry has stood to me
because I am used to handling
equipment”.
After a three month work
placement, Kevin was kept on
and is continuing to work for
BioUetikon on a rollingcontract basis.
However, he is also keeping
a careful watch out for a
permanent position. It may be
a world away from tiling
swimming pools in the sun,
but he is happy in his
laboratory.
Such is his enthusiasm for
his new field, that he is
starting a Masters degree
programme in September, on
part-time basis, and hopes to
follow that with a PhD.
“It has been so worthwhile
going back to college. It
doesn’t mean that you stop
looking for work, but it is
something to do to take the
hopelessness out of the
situation”, he said.
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