This week is STEPs Engineers Week.
The initiative, run by Engineers Ireland, encourages students to consider a career in engineering.
Éanna Farrell, a past pupil of St Declan's Community College in Kilmacthomas, is a Renewables Engineer with Energia and outlined his role to WLR.
"I'm working as a solar project manager. I'm making use of my engineering degree to deliver what will ultimately be solar farms that are connected to the national electricity grid," he explained.
"These solar farms are large in size. We're currently working on a pipeline of solar farms that will be able to produce power for about 175,000 homes when they're all up and running."
Éanna says advice received at school helped shape his career path.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do until quite late in sixth year. My careers guidance counsellor put me on the road to a course which aligned with all my interests in CIT, now MTU, in Sustainable Energy Technology. It ticked all the boxes."
Éanna Farrell, a past pupil of St. Declan's Community College, Kilmacthomas. Photo: Conor Healy / Coalesce
Éanna believes it's a career he was going to gravitate towards "whether I knew it or not".
"I like figuring out how things work - engineers look to put numbers on the working world. You're trying to make the world a better place, you're trying to improve things."
He adds: "When I did my Leaving Cert in 2008, climate change seemed to be a big news story. Jobs in renewable energy seemed like a sure bet."
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