• Question: What did you want to do when you left school?

    Asked by marshmallows20 to Enda, Jean, Kate, Kev, Tim on 15 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by achilds, hmcclung.
    • Photo: Jean Bourke

      Jean Bourke answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Be a scientist! I was very interested in science from about junior cert time. I wanted to help sick people. I thought about being a doctor but I didn’t want to deal with disgusting things. I actually put pharmacy down on my CAO application but I changed it at the last minute because I wanted to work on making medicines so I became a medicinal chemist. I’m really glad I did.

      I don’t make medicines now but I do work on understanding diseases and this is what can lead to new treatments. Love my job.

      You don’t need to rush into deciding what you want to do. Secondary school is a great time to see where your interests lie. Even after secondary school you don’t have to spend your time in one area. Actually science is an excellent area to go into if you want to move around a bit: one of my friends was a medicinal chemist, switched to microbiology in 3rd year (this is when you start to specialise in college) and is now a cell biologist working on eye cancer. Another one of my friends did biochemistry and is now a science teacher.

      Even if you do a science degree and then decide you don’t want to be a scientist a science degree is highly valued in many sectors so it’s not a waste at all.

    • Photo: Enda O'Connell

      Enda O'Connell answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Hi Marshmallows20

      I wanted to be a scientist since I was about 13 or 14. I actually failed my first ever Science exam in school. The teacher covered Physics in the first term, which I was never very good at, and I missed lots of classes as I was rehearsing in the school musical. It was 22 years ago but I still remember that I got 26%. After that I never dreamed I’d be a scientist.

      But, after Christmas we started studying Biology and Chemisty and I got really into science, and started watching science programs on TV (yes we had TV back then) and reading popular science books in my own time (“The Hot Zone” is one of my favourites about how the Ebola virus spread from animals to humans and then how scientists started working on it). I had a really good Science/Biology teacher from 2nd year until 6th and it was my best subject from then on.

      I went to a couple of Open Days and it was going to be between NUI Galway (then called UCG) and UCD. UCD shaded it, probably because of the location (NUI Galway was too close to home) and I studied Science there for 4 years, specialising in Microbiology for 3rd and 4th year. Then I started my PhD there in 2000 looking at how bacteria that live in the soil cause a disease like tuberculosis, but in young horses and people with weakened immune systems.

      In 2005 I got this job in NUI Galway, because of my degree and the training I received during my PhD. I really enjoy it, especially the variety, as I get to work on lots of different projects, with many interesting scientists.

      Have you decided what you want to do?

    • Photo: Tim Downing

      Tim Downing answered on 17 Nov 2012:

      Hi marshmallows20, achilds, hmcclung,

      Although I did think of doing architecture or veterinary, the business elements of these course put me off, so I opted for genetics in Trinity College, where we did general Biology, Chemistry and Maths and then more detailed genetics later. This gave me a good general background in genetics, and especially in my main interest, which is evolution and infection. My main interest is in evolution – and the main useful aspect of that is exploring how infection evolves. After doing a final year project on people with cystic fibrosis I needed to learn more computer skills to cope with future technology changes in gene sequencing. I then went on to do more postgrad work later.

      Tim

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