A class act on site

"I do not and never have, worn a lumberjack shirt, big woolly jumper and a pair of hiking boots," says Margie McCarthy, thus dispelling the myths about engineers and engineering students.

She is a civil and environmental engineer working with JB Barry and Partners: "My reasons for getting into engineering were all to do with the things that guidance counsellors advise you shouldn't let influence your career choice," she says, "Namely a load of friends were studying engineering at UCC and I wanted to go there to be with them, plus my family is full of engineers of all varieties, so it seemed like the thing to do."

In her first year of college McCarthy began to wonder if she had made a terrible mistake. "My first love is acting and I found first year very technical and maths-orientated, with very little chance to show any creativity. But I stuck it out and as time went on I was doing design projects and I really began to enjoy it - engineers are very down-to-earth and great craic."

One of the design projects in which Margie McCarthy was involved, was while on work placement with Horgan Lynch Consulting Engineers: "Myself and another student worked on a conservation project on some 18th century buildings. We were involved in all aspects of the process, from finding out about legislation relating to building renovations to the technical side of finding the right materials to use on such an old building," she says.

To do engineering you should have an aptitude for maths, according to McCarthy, but you needn't necessarily be top of the class. She also advises that you will find engineering enjoyable if you are good at logical problem solving. "You have to keep up with the work throughout college and don't expect it to be easy, but once you are out in the workplace there is a great variety of opportunities," she explains, "This isn't a job which, in my experience, involves a lot of stress or emergencies. You may have to make quick decisions and be able to justify them if you get a call from site but it's a supportive environment - you can always rely on colleagues for advice."

McCarthy worked for Aer Rianta in a civil engineering capacity at Dublin Airport on leaving college. One memorable experience was when work on site caused a strip of landing lights down the side of a runway to go out. Everything was quickly resolved without incident, but the responsive decision-making required is exactly the element of her work which she feels gives her such confidence in her job.

"No day is typical - I may be on site, in the office, meeting clients or contractors or using computer design packages," says McCarthy, "Each of my projects takes around two months to complete; when you're finished there is a real sense of achievement from having worked with a team to solve problems and put solutions into practice."

In her current position of environmental engineering she is working on projects involving connecting a small Donegal town to the public water supply, working out solutions for waste water treatment and constructing models of sewer networks. "Projects like that may not sound very enticing," she laughs, "But I promise the problem solving aspect is fascinating."

With her involvement in the Parnassus Theatre Company to satisfy her thespian ambitions, Margie McCarthy is very happy that she didn't let a rocky first year put her off engineering.