Balaguru Palanivel
Staff Software Testing Engineer at the BD Research Center in Ireland (RCI)
Limerick
We are the engineers of possible: Engineer with a Passion for ‘Friends’
On any given Monday or Thursday evening after work, you can often find Balaguru Palanivel playing badminton – a sport he loves. He might also be soaking in another episode of one of his all-time favorite TV series, “Friends” with his wife. But Saturdays are saved for taking his son to soccer practice.
As a Staff Software Testing Engineer at the BD Research Center in Ireland (RCI), Balaguru is grateful for the work-life balance afforded to him by working at BD. “I’ve been with BD for nearly seven years now and I’ve appreciated the ability to spend time with my family and being able to stay active and play badminton during the week. But one of my favorite things to do is watch the TV show ‘Friends’…. I think I’ve re-watched it, probably, five times now,” said Balaguru.
Helping advance the world of healthTM
Balaguru’s day-to-day contribution to BD is testing the company’s FACSLyricTM Clinical Flow Cytometry System. “I test the application for the system to make sure the instrument is working properly for the healthcare professionals who will use it. This is amazing technology that allows clinicians to help diagnose different diseases. It’s critical that I test the reliability of the system to ensure it’s working optimally. We must release quality products into market,” he explained.
Prior to moving to Limerick, Ireland in April 2016, Balaguru was a Test Engineer in his hometown of Bangalore, India, where he worked for a IT consulting company for nearly six years.
“I am one of the first associates to work in the RCI. I remember when I was working for another company and seeing that BD was establishing a research center and they needed software testing engineers to support their growth, so I joined the company. It’s been a wonderful merging of my degree in biotechnology and testing,” said Balaguru. “I never intended to become a software testing engineer, but one of my mentors kept encouraging me to try it. I fell in love with the work.”
Keys to Success at BD
When asked what traits are important to be successful and thrive at BD, Balaguru called out hard work and patience.
“It’s crucial that you remain persistent. You need to have patience to see something through that you are working on. I guess this is also a personal mantra of mine – finish what you start and that which you committed to doing,” he said.
BD Remains a Place filled with Possibilities
When he reflects on a handful of reasons why he stays with BD, the first is our Purpose. The second is the culture and level of diversity and the third reason is the work can be challenging, but is certainly meaningful.
“I think we have something like more than 30 different countries represented by those working within the RCI, which is impressive and one of my favorite things about BD. I work with electrical, mechanical engineers, scientists and so many others – it’s wonderful to see and hear so many different perspectives during the day,” said Balaguru. “Another really motivating factor for me is the everyday challenges that can surface at work. I enjoy overcoming a challenge that we encounter. I like to ‘break things’ at times so that I can think even more critically about how they work and then how to make them work more efficiently and better. It’s a very satisfying role overall.”
