Merck’s Sean Paterson discusses his rewarding work in process engineering and his struggles with the Cork accent. After graduating from Heriot Watt University with a degree in chemical engineering in 2016, Sean Paterson said he struggled to find a graduate job due to a widespread hiring freeze due to the uncertainty after Brexit. Paterson, who is originally from East Lothian in Scotland, was living in Edinburgh at the time, and said there was “huge competition” for the few roles that were available.
Surrounded by uncertainty, a silver lining appeared for Paterson when he spoke to one of his friends who was working in Ireland, who told him about the growing medical device and API industry in Cork, which had a need for engineers. “With Ireland having such a high quality of life, culture and still being in the EU, having never lived more than an hour from my hometown, I thought it would be a needed and welcomed change!” he said. Paterson applied for four roles in Ireland and got three interviews, before accepting an offer for a process engineer role with Merck Millipore and moving to Cork in January of 2017.
Presently, I am a senior technology engineer in the Merck Global Engineering and Technology team. I am responsible for scouting, piloting and implementing new manufacturing technology on existing and future membrane production lines across Europe and the US. Additionally, I facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer between sites.
Previous to this role, I work.