woman smiling taking selfie

Our class had access to the computer only for very short periods and punched cards were our way of communicating with the mainframe. Mobile phones and the internet have not been invented as yet. After the constant cycle of 6 exams every 11 weeks of year 1, there was a reward. Co-op in those days was after the first two semesters of year 2,  from April to December in our second year.

Pam's experience of UL is very different from today's students, but the opportunity to get off campus and test your academic learning in a working environment remains the same. She shares a trip down memory lane with us and some key insights for current and future co-op students.

Tell us a bit about yourself, what course did you study in UL, what has your career looked like to date?

My co-op adventure happened a long time ago, back in the mythical distant past of the 80s. In that era, UL was known as the National Institute for Higher Education (N.I.H.E.). Career options were limited in those times long, long ago. As I fainted at the sight of needles & hated blood, and the civil service or teaching did not appeal,  I was one of the fortunate first cohorts doing Industrial Chemistry. After N.I.H.E.,  I went to UCG to do a master's in Biotechnology and later I also did a masters in the UK in Biostatistics. My latest title was Global Vice President, Biostatistics & Medical Writing.

Tell us a bit about your co-op placement, what organisation did you work with and what year it took place?

During the first year of the Industrial Chemistry course, we attended many engineering modules. The tome K.A. Shroud “Engineering Mathematics”, weighing over a kilo and containing more than 1000 pages, was my constant companion, as I did not have the opportunity to do honours maths for the leaving certificate. Our class had access to the computer only for very short periods and punched cards were our way of communicating with the mainframe. Mobile phones and the internet have not been invented as yet. After the constant cycle of 6 exams every 11 weeks of year 1, there was a reward. Co-op in those days was after the first two semesters of year 2,  from April to December in our second year.

What impact did your co-op placement have on your future career?

Limerick saw a loss of manufacturing and other traditional jobs during the late 70s and early 80s. Thanks to the foreign direct investment even back then, there were some US-based, export-oriented firms which set up in Limerick, including Analog Devices, Wang & Verbatim. Verbatim was a floppy disk manufacturer (computer storage) whose headquarters were in Sunnyvale California. Verbatim opened in Raheen, Limerick in 1979 and looked to N.I.H.E. to provide them with graduates.  In 1982 they offered one co-op placement in America. There was a lot of competition within my class for this amazing opportunity in Sunnyvale and I was fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient. On a practical level, this meant organising the flight to California and finding somewhere to live – accelerating my learning of very important life skills.

What piece of advice would you give to students going on co-op now?

This co-op experience helped my career in many ways. Firstly, the experience of working in the U.S., in a very different culture, helped me to learn how to adapt, how to be flexible, and skills essential in the workplace. It also taught me to be more empathetic, as having lived the stress of being far away from home and having to cope, taught me to be sympathetic to anyone else in a similar position. Empathy and understanding are very important values in optimising employee engagement. In the various leadership roles which I fulfilled during my career, these characteristics stood me in good stead. Paramount to working in the laboratory in Verbatim were teamwork and communication skills  - for example, handing over at the end of a shift using clear and detailed documentation of progress. Also, the importance of following procedures was a skill that stayed with me throughout my working life. The work itself in the laboratory in Verbatim added to my technical skills, but after experiencing it, I felt this was not the type of work I wanted to pursue post-graduation.

To summarise, co-op conferred me with huge practical workplace knowledge that would benefit any would-be graduate. With co-op, I had the opportunity to learn important professional & leadership skills. I was particularly fortunate to have the opportunity to work in the U.S. from which I benefited during the rest of my working career. My advice to any co-op student would be to be open and receptive to what your co-op has to offer – your first experience of working in a professional environment will allow you to gain technical skills but more importantly, you will absorb the culture of working life and understand workplace norms.