With a population of employee’s equivalent to the town of Roscommon, Intel Ireland is home to a vibrant, diverse and dynamic collection of people.
Intel is a place that is full of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends and neighbours and over the next number of weeks, we will share stories of these people as part of our latest series of the People of Intel.
Dylan McBurney, 23
Process Engineer, Nikon
As an avid photographer, it was a funny coincidence that on my first day at Intel I was told I’d be working with the Nikon scanner machines. I joined straight out of college in October 2020, after doing a 5 year masters degree in mechanical engineering at Queens. At the same time, over the last couple of years my passion for photography has grown, and it’s something I do a lot in my spare time. Growing up, I’ve always loved technical stuff, but also had a creative streak and so photography brings it all together perfectly.
I’m currently the Irish champion in remote control car racing, and so I’d begun making Pro Go videos of the races, and then began making travel videos. It grew from there and in the summer of 2019 I bought my first camera – a Sony a6000.
Getting a drone from my parents as a graduation present changed everything and I’ve had great fun taking aerial shots of the Irish coast and tourist sites for websites and prints. I’ve travelled all over Ireland taking pictures and I’ve recently expanded into vlogs and am getting more confident in the creative side. Photography offers such a range of possibilities and opportunities.
Everything I’ve learned I’ve either self-taught or taken from YouTube. I’ve built a good following on Instagram with about 17,000 followers. My next project is in the Scottish Highlands where I’m being given a campervan for a week, and I’ll take shots in various locations.
Photography is so accessible today, and with a platform like Instagram you don’t need a fancy website or portfolio book – your best work is instantly published for everyone to see. I’ve always believed in working hard and going after what I want.
One of the reasons I love it so much is that pictures can connect people to memories. I posted some pictures I’d taken of Doe Castle in Donegal and someone messaged to say she grew up there and it really reminded her of spending time with her grandmother, and asked if she could buy the print. My logo slogan is ‘Memories, captured’ and when I get feedback that my pictures have connected with someone it makes me really proud.
Photography is so multi faceted. One day I can be immersed in a quite technical set up to get the right lighting for a product shot, and the next I can be thinking on my feet capturing moving people or landscape with changing weather.
I’m close to my family and I’m very aware how fortunate I’ve been with my life. Growing up, we lived in the US and Malaysia and my parents always instilled a strong work ethic in me. My dad had raced remote cars as a kid and I started when I was about 13 and we’d spend our Sundays attending races, here and abroad, and I’ve travelled all over Europe competing. There are about 50 racers in Ireland, but thousands compete in the UK and America. The cars are the size of a shoe box but it’s not just the racing finesse that makes you better, but the technical performance of the car, so I’m constantly working on improvements and developing the car’s capabilities. I’ve always found maths and physics really enjoyable, and the more technical the better. I love my job at Intel and have always had a passion for engineering so for the foreseeable future, my photography will work in parallel with my career.
So between work, photography, racing and sports I’m involved in, life is pretty busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m having fun and I work hard and who knows what I can achieve.
Read some more of the stories from of our People of Intel series.
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Media contact: Sarah Sexton | sarah.sexton@intel.com | + 353 1 606 8537