Today, Amit Patel, Senior Validation Engineer at SL Controls, works with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies from our office in Maynooth, Dublin.
His journey to a career at SL Controls is slightly more unusual, however, than those employees who were born, studied, and/or previously worked here in Ireland. This gives Amit a unique perspective and interesting insights for any non-Irish engineers who are considering moving here to progress their careers.
Early Career
Amit is from Gujarat in India. He qualified with an MSE in Biotechnology at Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya (KSV University) before starting his career locally in Gujarat.
However, he began travelling for work early in his career, getting a job with an Indian company as a Computer System Validation Engineer working on projects across India as well as in Germany, South Africa, and Bangladesh.
Computer System Validation in Hong Kong
In 2013, Amit decided to move to Hong Kong to take up a position with Bright Future before moving to a different company, Fortune Pharma. In both of those companies, he worked as a Computer System Validation Engineer.
After five-and-half-years in Hong Kong, Amit returned to India where he took on a six-month computer system validation contract as a self-employed consultant.
As with other roles and projects Amit worked on over the years, this was successful. It was also during this period of time that Amit learned about the opportunities that existed in Ireland working for SL Controls.
The SL Controls Opportunity
Amit was searching for engineering opportunities outside India in his area of expertise. He said: “Europe was my first preference, which is why I ended up searching for potential opportunities in Ireland.
“I found the SL Controls website during this search. After learning more about the work the company does and the types of clients it works with, I thought it would be a good fit. I then found out more about the job opportunities that existed at SL Controls, and I decided to apply.”
Amit then went through the SL Controls’ recruitment process, although it was a little more unusual than normal because of the distances involved in the initial conversations.
Amit said: “The interview process was remote, but it worked very effectively. I was able to present my skills and abilities, and I could ask questions and find out everything I needed to know.”
Moving to Ireland
Amit was successful in his application and began working for SL Controls on a computer systems validation project remotely from India.
This was for an initial three-month period during which the process of acquiring a visa was started. Amit moved to Ireland with his wife and young son in February 2019.
“I spent my first month in the Sligo office but I now work in the Maynooth office,” said Amit. “I have a lot of experience working in different countries so that wasn’t an issue, and my wife has experience moving with me.
“I suppose the weather here in Ireland was one of the biggest changes to get used to, but everything is settled now. My child is at school and there is a strong Indian community here in Ireland, so it’s been great so far.
“It’s great working for SL Controls too. The nature of the work and the clients are all very interesting, and the culture in the company is very good. Everyone has been very supportive of me in the move from India, both personally and professionally. So, I would have no hesitation recommending SL Controls to other engineers from anywhere in the world with the right skills and experience.”
If you are interested in finding out more about the opportunities that exist at SL Controls, visit our careers page now.
