Hate to tell you Cillian my son went back as mature student a few yrs ago to do softwear engineering cant get a job no experience cant get experience no job. was told by welfare office to give up his p/t job & sign on dole and if he was in receipt of money he could sign with scam bridge sorry jobs bridge in approx 1 yr then might get experience. he even volunteered to do work in a soft wear company was told they couldn’t have him on the premises in case he got injured & he wouldn’t be covered by insurance,

I’ve also heard stories I’d people going back doing computing courses such as ICT graduate conversion courses but same story, they can’t get in the door as they have no experience!

Software development ain’t easy pal

look, a graduate of accounting, sales or management would need to be fairly fluent in french, german or spanish to get these roles, the majority of these will be native speakers coming in here with accounting skills etc.

A couple of my colleagues did conversion courses and started with us on a “Scambridge” internship and then became paid full-time software engineers. “Scambridge” as you call it, may be new in this country, but every other country in Europe pretty much expects you to do an internship after college. If your son is not willing to take an internship, he could spend some time working on an open-source project, that could be another way in.

I did an internship as part of my degree, it sucked, but now I’m four years in the business and doing very well. You have to get your foot in the door.

Well said Michael. 6 months working on an open-source project, or starting a business that provides any sort of app will make you stand out from the crowd and show you are up-to-speed with the latest technologies. Networking (i.e. with people) is also essential, and a clear, well-written CV is important. You don’t have to have made any money on previous ventures (open source work or app creation) but simply having a CV that is suited to the job and shows you have the latest skills, should at least get you an interview. Don’t forget to follow-up CV submissions with a phone call!

But but but… They’ve got a European language, they learn Irish in school instead of a foreign one like French or Spanish…

and even if they learn other languages OU812, they’ll still need to spend quite some time in those countries to become fluent for business.

I hear what you’re saying Michael Connors, but stacking shelves and changing tyres is not software engineering or even 6 months valid. It is great for young graduates but unemployed experienced workers are having great difficulty with this as they have the skills and experience but are thrown this? Does not make sense. That side of it is displacing real jobs.

Oh boo hoo, you had to learn your beautiful native language, you poor thing!

@Paudi Onail Admittedly there are plenty on joke internships out there. It is perfectly reasonable to do expect someone to do an internship or get some open source experience for a software engineering job though.

I agree with you on natural languages. After spending some considerable time in France and exposed to French, I could still not operate professionally in French. Luckily the next generation will have excellent knowledge of a second or even third European language from speaking them at home with their parents.

Happy Birthday Keith! Bet you thought I’d forgotten?

That’s a self fulfilling prophecy. The hub factor is more than having other tech companies down the street, its access to direct flights, tax deals, high spec office space etc. Many of the 100 hires for this will not be from Dublin, they will move to get a job, not necessarily move to Dublin. As long as we think Dublin is the only option, then it will be.

It’s better to have one decent primate city than several s****y ones. As much as I abhor uppity Dubs with their pseudo-Irish accents that seem to think Dublin is a metropolis with some sort of global significance – when it is in fact just a small city in a backwater country, it’s better to concentrate everything like jobs, infrastructure etc in one area.

In my opinion, we should disassemble all of the smaller cities like Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick. Then we should move them and join them onto Dublin. It would be better economically and it would make everything more efficient and then in the future our beautiful countryside wouldn’t be reduced to a sprawling mess of large towns and small cities trying to merge with one another.

Look at England! They no longer have a countryside!

That could cause havoc for the GAA fixtures :-)

We should do a Hunger Games on it, split the country up into districts and have the children fight to the death to win investment for their district.

And sell that to Sky too I presume

Ive never heard a Dubliner go on about a metropolis. Always comes from people from outside the city. Wonder why that is…. As for Irish cities, Dublin is what you call a “metropolis” compared to all the rest. Dublin is a world leader when it comes to the tech business, up there with all the big boys. If Dublin is doing well the country will benefit. Better Dublin than London or Sydney eh!!

Of course nobody explicitly says that, but it’s the “you’re a bogger” attitude. Yes, it’s big in relative terms but in absolute terms it’s puny.

It’s all very petty, you’re a bogger, sheep shagger, you jackeen, west brit, “Dubs with their pseudo-Irish accents that seem to think Dublin is a metropolis with some sort of global significance. when it is in fact just a small city in a backwater country”. It’s all very childish. Against one other. If Dublin is doing well the country will.