“I wanted to be a pilot, or a sports person. I ended up being a software engineer!” UL Alumni Mayank talks to us about how furthering his education impacted his career
Mayank graduated from the University of Limerick in 2017 and moved to Dublin to work for the company Accenture. We caught up with him to see where he is now and to get his top tips for students ready to look for work.
Name: Mayank
University: University of Limerick
Course: Masters in Software Engineering
Hometown: Kolkata, India
Place I want to visit: I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan, so I want to go to see the Shire in New Zealand. Or, I’d like to go to Norway because it’s beautiful.
A day in the life...
“I wanted to be a lot of things when I was younger - a pilot, a sports person. I ended up being a software engineer!”
“My current role involves a lot of learning, and it’s quite busy at the moment. I started 2 months ago and my typical day begins at 9am. I have a few calls in the morning that last until around 11:30am, which is when I like to have my daily cup of coffee. After that, I go through my tasks and I’m usually done by 5:30pm. Sometimes I like to play cricket after work or go for a walk with friends.”
“I love my job because I get to build things. I find it exciting when you’re making something complex. Especially when you’re building something out of nothing, it’s very exciting.”
“The most difficult part is trying to keep up with technology. It evolves so fast! I started working in 2014 and tech is so different now in comparison. It can be hard to keep up to date - it’s challenging, but also exciting.”
“The best thing that I’ve worked on was my first project in Accenture. I was building something from scratch, which is so interesting to me. In IT there tends to be a lot of systems already in place, so you’re often building on top of the existing systems. But in that project we built from nothing. It was great!”
Looking back on his time at UL
“My degree has helped a lot towards my current role. I was working but I knew that I wasn’t learning as much as I should be, and I didn’t want to fall behind. I started looking into Masters courses and went for it. I knew what I wanted to get from my course, which I think is very important. I had that clarity in my mind and knew exactly what I wanted to work on and achieve.”
“I started working a few months after I started my Masters because I needed the money. I worked in a call centre, which was my hardest job to date. You really learn how to deal with challenging situations, though. My current job isn’t so outward facing, but I am glad that I got those communication skills.”
“The transition between studying and working was pretty smooth. When I moved to Dublin my start date at work had been pushed back slightly, so I had some time to relax.
I started in October and managed to adjust to the 9 to 5 lifestyle quite quickly. Living in Limerick was a lot more peaceful than Dublin. I try to go back to Limerick once or twice a year to see friends. I do miss it, but I’ve gotten used to the chaos of city life in Dublin!”
Next steps and words of advice
“These last few months have been a lot of learning. I hope to get even more settled in my new role and learn as much as I can. I’m moving from being a backend developer to a frontend developer, so I’m diversifying my skills. My current job is going to benefit my career in the long run, as I would like to work with both back and frontend development.
These types of developers are called ‘unicorns’, as they are so hard to come across!”
“It’s very important to be confident and believe in yourself when looking for a job. You might not find something straight away, but eventually something will come around. It is challenging, for international students especially. There is a lot of pressure when you move to another country and have spent a lot of money and time on something.”
“My previous company sponsored my visa. That left a lot more flexibility for me, so that’s definitely something international students should be aware of.”
“My advice to current students would be to make the most of their course, and know what they want to get from it. Be patient and stay strong!”