#GradStories, Holly Loughman, R&D Engineer, Kingspan

What does a typical day look like in your job?

Kingspan is a global building materials company with offices all over Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand. My job changes day to day. I usually work from a desk during the week and I do a lot of project management activities. I also do design and testing in the workshop or in the lab.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

The most important skill for my role is to have interpersonal skills. You need to be able to develop relationships with other people such as clients and other engineers.

Working in engineering you learn a lot on the job. Your course really prepares you to tackle what comes at you through problem solving skills. The rest is learned on the job.

What do you love about your job?

I enjoy the variety. I get to change what I do on a day to day basis. A lot of the work is project based so my work changes according to what I'm doing at the time.

How did you get into your job?

I studied and undergraduate in UCD in mechanical engineering and then I did a masters in mechanical engineering. After that I applied online to Kingspan and there was an online assessment and an assessment centre.

What is the one skill first year students should develop if they are interested in this career?

All the projects you work on in college are a huge learning curve. They help you because you get to work with other people, you learn the technical skills. Getting involved in any extra curricular projects that come up in areas of interest would be my number one recommendation.