Keith O’Looney, Head of New Business Sales, Thinscale – My experience of taking up an internship at the Media Cube

I had never had any involvement with the Media Cube prior to this and didn’t really know much about what went on in the “Blue box”. Little did I know that that this short placement would play such a significant role in shaping my career path. I was called for interview by a small startup ThinScale. They develop security software which enables secure remote working. Brendan Kiely, one of the founders and CEO interviewed me for the role and I was delighted to be offered the placement. 

Working in an environment that was fast paced and cutting edge gave me a taste of where I wanted to go. When I joined in 2015 there were 4 employees at Thinscale including the founders. It was a small operation and there was a need to be flexible and adaptable. This gave me a great insight into how important it is to listen to your customers in order to be successful. Being able to make suggestions for improvement to the management team and to have your ideas listened to and implemented was very exciting. Working with Thinscale at the Media Cube enabled me to come into contact with other start-up companies and hear about their innovative software businesses. It opened a door into a world I was always extremely interested in yet hadn’t found a route into before.

I am now Head of New Business Sales for Thinscale, mainly based in Boston, where I helped establish the company’s US presence. We now have almost 50 employees and are continuing to grow incredibly quickly. Looking back now, I cannot emphasize the importance of that first short internship placement.

I would encourage any student to consider exploring an internship or direct recruitment opportunities with some of the companies at the Media Cube. There is such a range of exciting, interesting, innovative start-ups on the IADT campus. There is likely to be one that will interest you.