How Cooley student Thomas McCarragher is shaping his business future at DkIT

Initially unsure if college was the right path for him, aspiring entrepreneur Thomas opted for a three-year degree.

“I was pretty sceptical about college at first — all I wanted to do was start my own business after school,” he said. “But I’m really glad I chose this course because it’s given me the knowledge and confidence to succeed in business.”

A general Business degree appealed to Thomas as it allowed him to build a broad knowledge base while keeping his future options open. The Bachelor of Business covers core areas such as economics, finance, management, marketing, and entrepreneurship, giving him the flexibility to pursue further study or move straight into business.

Thomas finds his degree gives him a good level of flexibility with approximately 20 hours of class time each week. He also appreciates the smaller classes which means he knows the lecturers really well and finds that they are very approachable. 

“The whole class bounces off the group energy, and everyone mingles in together,” he says.

Thomas has particularly enjoyed exploring the psychological impact of marketing and different social media strategies, which has made marketing his favourite area of study. He has also developed a strong interest in business law, especially the Irish legal system.

Balancing the Class Based Assessments and the exams, when they coincide can be a bit of a challenge but Thomas says that once you apply yourself, the workload is very manageable, 

“Have a little bit of discipline and set some time aside to get your work done and you’ll be fine-it’s just the act of getting it done.”

Skills that Thomas feels he has strengthened since beginning his course include management and communication. He was chosen as project manager for a recent charity event for the Irish Wheelchair Association, where his skills were put to the test. The “Run and Roll”, followed by a quiz were a huge success raising over €3000. 

Although being an entrepreneur is an aspiration Thomas has had for many years, the Entrepreneurship module in the first year of his course helped him to envision how some of these ideas might develop.

He is currently focusing on developing one of his ideas, an AI app, which acts as an agent to manage social media content and posting. The app is being designed to analyse a company’s products or services and provide suggested social media content and optimum posting times. 

“It’s still in development, but I’m hopeful it would help someone starting out or that doesn’t have a big budget to hire an agency,” according to Thomas. 

As a self-taught coder, Thomas has enjoyed the challenge, although it has caused some delays when resolving integration issues within the app.

“I’m learning to code as I go, so if a new issue comes up it takes a bit longer to solve,” he explained. “But it’s really satisfying when I figure it out.”

Thomas is hoping to use the app to trial his own entrepreneurial ideas and then engage with some other companies to test a prototype.

Another idea is quite literally brewing as Thomas has also got a coffee initiative in his mind inspired by some of the economics theories that he has studied during his course.

He hopes to have his own business in the future, whatever form that may take. For anyone considering a Business degree, Thomas advises:

“Be open to all possibilities. When you leave school, you think you know everything, but once you get to college you realise there’s so much more to learn. I was closed off to the idea at first, but meeting new people helped me grow a lot. Whether you want to start your own business or work in one, it’s a great course.”