Alumni Stories - Eoghan McCormack

"I think the best experiences that helped my career when attending at NCAD are the ones that involved peer-to-peer collaboration. Collaborative projects prepare you for the real world better than individual projects. In industry you are more frequently going to be working as part of a team."

Name: Eoghan McCormack

Current Career: Senior Industrial Design Engineer

Graduation Year: 2019

Discipline: Medical Device Design

Location: Cork

 

What career path did you want to follow as a child?

Other than dreams of being a professional footballer or wrestler like a lot of young boys, I probably saw myself doing something in the realms of teaching like my parents. My mother is a secondary school and further education teacher. My father was a lecturer in economics. They definitely influenced me and of course I was interested in their long holidays!

I was always attracted to art and sketching as a child. I was also exposed to computers from a very early age. By the time I was in secondary school, technical graphics (later known as DCG) was my favourite subject. I excelled at it. Rather than applying for a general arts degree and becoming a teacher, I decided to take a punt and study Product Design. I loved modelling 3D objects in CAD and using creative software like Photoshop in my spare time. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?

I chose the MSc Medical Device Design course at NCAD because I was interested in applying my skills as a Product Designer to projects involving healthcare. It provides real intrinsic values and satisfies my motivation to design devices and services that aid people’s health and well-being.

I was highly impressed when I visited NCAD and saw the professional standard of studio and workshop facilities. The class size was limited to about ten students at the time which was a massive benefit too. We all received ample amounts of one-on-one lecture feedback. This type of critical feedback was essential to my development as a designer. I am very grateful for all the time the lecturers and workshop technicians gave me.

How did you develop your career towards your current job or practice?

From an early age I loved sketching, gaming, and learning new creative software like Photoshop in my spare time. I then learned the fundamental skills of product design in my undergraduate degree, like design research, design sketching, model-making, CAD, presentation skills etc. During my twelve month intensive master’s degree at NCAD, I completed five real world industry projects with various medical device companies. This enabled me to apply and develop my medical device design and human factors engineering knowledge.

The most important project for me in NCAD was my thesis, where I worked with Stryker on a project brief involving femoral hip stem revisions. As a result of my final thesis presentation to Stryker in 2019, I was offered a role as an Industrial Design Engineer. I have my project liaison, who is now my boss Adrian O’Heney (Senior Staff Industrial Designer), to thank for mentoring me through the project with such success.

Since then, I have been working on many satisfying projects involving medical devices in neurosurgical, ENT and orthopedic procedures. By demonstrating eagerness and passion for the work, I have managed to receive consecutive distinguished annual reviews and a promotion to Senior Industrial Design Engineer.

In summary, each step of my education has lead me to my current job. From sketching and doodling on all my textbooks, to my first time using CAD software in secondary school, to learning about design thinking methodologies in my college studio, to making prototype models in the workshop, as well as interviewing surgeon-users in the Mater hospital for my master’s thesis.  All of these experiences have helped me to build a comprehensive skillset that I use in my job every day. 

What is the one experience during your time at NCAD that has informed you most in your career and work to date?

It is a challenge to pick just one meaningful experience because there are many. I think the best experiences that helped my career when attending at NCAD are the ones that involved peer-to-peer collaboration. Collaborative projects prepare you for the real world better than individual projects. In industry you are more frequently going to be working as part of a team.

You learn to develop your skillsets in the collaborative projects, including how to communicate appropriately and effectively, and to manage time and delegate responsibilities. You learn from your fellow students, as you do from your colleagues in industry. You learn when to listen and when to ask questions. You learn how to navigate through adversity and to problem solve as a team. You grow relationships. These experiences provided me with a solid foundation on how to behave professionally in a working environment.

If you were chatting with current NCAD students today what is the one piece of advice you would offer?

Try to network with students at NCAD. Not only do you make friends, but you learn different perspectives from people studying other disciplines. A fine art student may have a completely different point of view than an interaction design student – either way it’s good to listen! Whether it helps solve an issue with your project, or whether it just results in an interesting conversation, get chatting to people. This will make the NCAD experience that bit more rewarding. 

What new opportunities have developed for you as a result of changes in work practice during the Covid pandemic?

The unexpected development for me was working from home. The pandemic provided designers like myself with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to work remotely, effectively. Now that restrictions have lifted, I am working under a hybrid model where I work three days remotely and two days in-office a week.

This is ideal for me, I get to be hands-on with prototypes and face-to-face with colleagues in the office. I am able to get the software-based work done more efficiently at home. Remote working allows me to focus better on individual tasks with less distraction. While in-office working allows me to brainstorm and communicate more effectively with colleagues.