Hearing the call of gadgets

As a product engineering manager with Hewlett-Packard in Leixlip, Finola Howe is very happy with her choice of career. "I chose engineering," she says, "because I was interested in how gadgets and things worked. I knew I was not interested in any `girly-type' jobs - much more so in the nuts and bolts aspect of things - and this moved me in the direction of mechanical engineering.

"As a result, I decided to study for a certificate in mechanical engineering in Sligo RTC. After that I went to the University of Ulster in Jordanstown and did a degree in engineering specialising in mechanical engineering. I also have a diploma in industrial studies."

During her degree course, Howe spent a year working for Shorts in Belfast and worked for the same company for around five months after graduation before joining Hewlett-Packard where she has worked for the past two-and-a-half years.

"In my current job," she says, "you're never bored. The leading-edge technology you encounter is very interesting and you're dealing with people from all over the world.

"When various technical problems arise, it's my job to assess what sort of team I need to assemble to solve the problem. In many cases, this involves getting together cross-functional teams. We would then test theories to correct the problem - this is the technical side of the job - but my main concern would be quality to the customer."

As a manager, Howe says she has to deal with people in her group to see how they can meet her needs and their own individual needs. Her job also involves planning ahead what she wants her group to do over the next five years. But she says the planning aspect of her job is difficult as technology is changing so quickly.

"You need to be continuously flexible to get the technology aspects of the job right," she says. "As technology changes, so you need people who can cope and are trained to deal with these changes."

Howe would recommend the educational route she took. "If you go straight to university," she says, "you don't get the hands-on approach offered by a certificate course. The certificate course I did was very vocationally oriented and you got to spend a lot of time doing practical projects. This meant that, when I was in university, I was able to relate engineering maps to equipment. This also stood to me when I was going for a job."

She says Hewlett-Packard is a company that "develops the technical and human aspects" of its employees and offers lots of opportunities for on-going training.

Howe also maintains that job prospects in the industry are very good at the moment. "A lot of engineering companies are recruiting," she says. Someone involved in engineering management could usually expect to start at the £30,000-£40,000 range.