Tech Support "Languages"

zonad

Is anyone else as fed up as I am with these "languages" jobs? Seems there's tons of jobs here in Ireland if you speak Spanish, French, German or Swedish.

We see on the news "400 jobs announced at Stream in Dublin" but they fail to mention 90% of those jobs are "languages" roles.

It really frustrates me that speaking English, all of a sudden, isn't enough if you want to do technical support in this country. I hate doing job searches online only to get back language jobs.

With the technology available for telecommuting (VPN, VoIP, LogMeIn) why do they even have these people working here? They should get these people to telecommute. Recruit them back in their home country.

I used to get paid €50,000 a year to working in Desktop Support and now there's nothing but jobs for foreigners. No exaggeration, there are about 5 desktop support vacancies in Dublin right now.

Other jobs say they are desktop support but they are really infrastructure support or they are looking for someone to do light development (scripting, T-SQL). When did a Desktop Support person ever need to know Java for feck's sake?!

I've never been on the dole in my life but I'm thinking about giving up and signing on.

axer

zonad wrote: »

Is anyone else as fed up as I am with these "languages" jobs? Seems there's tons of jobs here in Ireland if you speak Spanish, French, German or Swedish.

Nope, believe it or not some people out there speak these languages. Even *shock* Irish people! You could actually just go out and learn to speak one of those languages. The world does not revolve around the english language. There are more people in Germany than in the UK and Ireland combined. Native english speakers are a minority in Europe and the world.

zonad wrote: »

We see on the news "400 jobs announced at Stream in Dublin" but they fail to mention 90% of those jobs are "languages" roles.

It really frustrates me that speaking English, all of a sudden, isn't enough if you want to do technical support in this country. I hate doing job searches online only to get back language jobs.

With the technology available for telecommuting (VPN, VoIP, LogMeIn) why do they even have these people working here? They should get these people to telecommute. Recruit them back in their home country.

Do you realise that it is good for this country to have them here? They will spend in the local economy. They will pay their taxes here. The company will pay their taxes here too. Its a win win for us.

zonad wrote: »

I used to get paid €50,000 a year to working in Desktop Support and now there's nothing but jobs for foreigners. No exaggeration, there are about 5 desktop support vacancies in Dublin right now.

Maybe that is why we are in the trouble we are in right now. €50k for desktop support is wrong.

zonad wrote: »

Other jobs say they are desktop support but they are really infrastructure support or they are looking for someone to do light development (scripting, T-SQL). When did a Desktop Support person ever need to know Java for feck's sake?!

Desktop support etc is a very competitive market right now so you have to be well versed

zonad wrote: »

I've never been on the dole in my life but I'm thinking about giving up and signing on.

If you are unemployed then sign on - even so that your stamps are paid at least. This idea that it is below people to sign on is rubbish.

KillerKity

I understand it's frustrating for you OP but get a grip. The world doesn't revolve around the english language and there are plenty of Irish people who have realised this and have become fluent in another european language.

Maybe it's time you upskilled?

WIZE

Hi OP

I work in this market and its because American Companies are tapping into the European and Nordic Markets for I.T

They find it is easier to setup in Ireland as it would be too expensive to set up in the UK

there is no point in setting up in Main Land Europe as America would like English as the prime language

you would be supprized but these Companies are able to fill these roles as many europeans come over and take theses jobs

Also if your Irish as I am with a second language you have a great chance of getting theses jobs

Ireland will become I.T Capital of Europe as EBAY PAYPAL HP IBMand many more bring all there I.T and support under one roof in Ireland

qwytre

You will have to skill up OP as desktop support is a dying area in the Irish IT industry. I don't what other area of IT you like but you should consider changing focus and learning new skills.

Ouchette

If employers want a 2nd language and you want a job, then I think you know what you've got to do.

Out of those languages, I'd go for Swedish. There can't be that many Swedish speakers in Ireland so you wouldn't have much competition. It's much simpler than French or German and it's so closely related to English that if you worked hard at it you'd be reasonably fluent in a year, and you'd even be able to claim to understand some Norwegian and Danish too.

You could probably even move there for a bit and keep claiming your dole, or even do a bit of bar work or something. Beats sitting at home complaining about the unfairness of it all.

MarkJD

I can relate greatly with the OP but realisticly the only option you might have is to learn a new language. If thats what you have to do thats what you have to do.

I too am fed up at looking for jobs only to realise that they literally all are jobs for people fluent in german/dutch/sweedish/danish etc. Even standard IT support jobs want extensive knowledge and experience in SQL/JAVA/PHP/ORACLE etc these days.

I havent progressed or learned more so im either going back to college or getting into a new field. I for one know ill probably never work in Support again because its completely unrewarding and you get no respect. People get on asking for your help yet claim to know more than you or your methods or what you are saying is wrong worng.

Why bloody ring in the first place!

On note of the learning a new language does anyone know if the likes of Rosetta stone works? Id love to learn a new language but judging from my french skills from school (5 years and 0 skill) im left beleiving that the only way to learn a language is to go imerse yourself in that country

onemorechance

On Rosetta Stone, I have tried the Spanish and I think it works. I only did two modules but I found that I could remember most of it. About one hour per night should be good for learning. That being said, Spanish is meant to be one of the easier languages to learn, but I do think the Rosetta Stone method is good!

dory

MarkJD wrote: »

On note of the learning a new language does anyone know if the likes of Rosetta stone works? Id love to learn a new language but judging from my french skills from school (5 years and 0 skill) im left beleiving that the only way to learn a language is to go imerse yourself in that country

You should read some of the threads on the languages thread, or another forum called How to learn any language. There are lots of reviews of the different methods there.

In short; it's different for everyone. For me, I hated Rosetta Stone and I'm glad I didn't pay the crazy price for it. I enjoyed Pimsleur (was learning Russian though), and then immersion. Other people work through workbooks, and a few Skype conversations with natives, whatever works for you.

dory

onemorechance wrote: »

On Rosetta Stone, I have tried the Spanish and I think it works. I only did two modules but I found that I could remember most of it. About one hour per night should be good for learning. That being said, Spanish is meant to be one of the easier languages to learn, but I do think the Rosetta Stone method is good!

The thing with Spanish is it's easy to get to a comfortable conversation level, but if you need it for work you need a good knowledge f the grammar which is hard. Not impossible of course, but don't underestimate it!

eejoynt

zonad wrote: »

I've never been on the dole in my life but I'm thinking about giving up and signing on.

if you resign your job you are not eligible for job seekers benefit

onemorechance

I think that the OP is already unemployed but did not sign on! I think he was able to survive on the remains of his 50k salary, but maybe underestimated the difficulty of landing another job. It is a tough job market out there for everyone. It sucks bigtime!

galah

zonad wrote: »

Is anyone else as fed up as I am with these "languages" jobs? Seems there's tons of jobs here in Ireland if you speak Spanish, French, German or Swedish.

We see on the news "400 jobs announced at Stream in Dublin" but they fail to mention 90% of those jobs are "languages" roles.

It really frustrates me that speaking English, all of a sudden, isn't enough if you want to do technical support in this country. I hate doing job searches online only to get back language jobs.

With the technology available for telecommuting (VPN, VoIP, LogMeIn) why do they even have these people working here? They should get these people to telecommute. Recruit them back in their home country.

I used to get paid €50,000 a year to working in Desktop Support and now there's nothing but jobs for foreigners. No exaggeration, there are about 5 desktop support vacancies in Dublin right now.

Other jobs say they are desktop support but they are really infrastructure support or they are looking for someone to do light development (scripting, T-SQL). When did a Desktop Support person ever need to know Java for feck's sake?!

I've never been on the dole in my life but I'm thinking about giving up and signing on.

without getting too worked up about this (and I don't even work in a language tech support role), you do realise that 'these' people actually pay taxes in this country, spend their money here, contribute to society, and finance those on the dole and welfare as well? I really can't stand this 'foreigner' attitude...

Also, most of these tech support roles will be FOR the German or French or whatever market, so for a company it makes sense to set up a service center here. Ireland is lucky that it is still a rather cheap location, in terms of wage costs and tax incentives etc, so be glad that the companies are here and not in Germany or France.

And while I'm sorry that you don't have a job or can't find a job, don't blame the foreigners - they have jobs you can't do because of their language skills. Imagine they'd also take the jobs that would technically require native speakers...:P

Magenta

WIZE wrote: »

Ireland will become I.T Capital of Europe as EBAY PAYPAL HP IBMand many more bring all there I.T and support under one roof in Ireland

Don't forget Microsoft and Google!

WIZE

So we have

IBM
HP
EBAY
PAYPAL
MICROSOFT
GOOGLE

Who have european HQ's in Ireland .

All theses companies could set up on Main Land Europe and run there business from the US

So there English speaking market is very small compared to the Conpanies they support all over Europe which is starting to expand

MysticalRain

50 grand a year for desktop support work? Most sys admins or programmers I knew didn't even earn that much during the boom times.

The only problems I have with language jobs is that the various job search websites don't have an option to exclude them in their searches. That and politicians opening call centers where 90% of the jobs go to non-nationals, and then trying to claim that it's a major benefit for the average Irish citizen.

pog it

Ouchette wrote: »

If employers want a 2nd language and you want a job, then I think you know what you've got to do.

Out of those languages, I'd go for Swedish. There can't be that many Swedish speakers in Ireland so you wouldn't have much competition. It's much simpler than French or German and it's so closely related to English that if you worked hard at it you'd be reasonably fluent in a year, and you'd even be able to claim to understand some Norwegian and Danish too.

You could probably even move there for a bit and keep claiming your dole, or even do a bit of bar work or something. Beats sitting at home complaining about the unfairness of it all.

Have you experience of learning Swedish ? I heard it was a tough language to learn, more so than French of German! ?? Would be grateful to hear how you found it.

axer

MysticalRain wrote: »

That and politicians opening call centers where 90% of the jobs go to non-nationals, and then trying to claim that it's a major benefit for the average Irish citizen.

It is a major benefit for the average Irish Citizen. These workers have to live somewhere, purchase their food somewhere etc etc. Creating jobs have knock on effects that create more jobs.

Gaz

WIZE wrote: »

So we have

IBM
HP
EBAY
PAYPAL
MICROSOFT
GOOGLE

And Citrix, Oracle and Yahoo ...

axer

Gaz wrote: »

And Citrix, Oracle and Yahoo ...

and Cisco

Raekwon

axer wrote: »

and Cisco

and Facebook

Ouchette

pog it wrote: »

Have you experience of learning Swedish ? I heard it was a tough language to learn, more so than French of German! ?? Would be grateful to hear how you found it.

Yes, I learnt it along with my main subjects at university and I loved it but I've forgotten a lot of it now. We all went from total beginners to a level of Swedish where we were able to work as tour guides, receptionists, etc in Sweden in about a year, studying it for about 6-8 hours a week.

The Swedish verbs are very simple so no learning endless declensions like in French. There are 2 genders but the vast majority of words belong to just one of them so they’re easy. The cases only exist in the way they do in English so you don’t need to learn tables of adjective endings and definite/indefinite articles like in German. The sentence structure is closer to English than either French or German are (it’s a lot like German but without sticking the 2nd verb at the end.) There’s nothing that’s hard to pronounce. Plurals are a bit more complicated than in English though and I found the accent tricky.

Here’s a quick example to show how easy the verbs are compared to English. The verb doesn’t change at all according to who’s doing it
I am – Jag är
You are – Du är
He is – Han är
She is- Hon är
We are – Vi är
You (pl.) are – Ni är
They are - De är

pog it

Ouchette wrote: »

Yes, I learnt it along with my main subjects at university and I loved it but I've forgotten a lot of it now. We all went from total beginners to a level of Swedish where we were able to work as tour guides, receptionists, etc in Sweden in about a year, studying it for about 6-8 hours a week.

The Swedish verbs are very simple so no learning endless declensions like in French. There are 2 genders but the vast majority of words belong to just one of them so they’re easy. The cases only exist in the way they do in English so you don’t need to learn tables of adjective endings and definite/indefinite articles like in German. The sentence structure is closer to English than either French or German are (it’s a lot like German but without sticking the 2nd verb at the end.) There’s nothing that’s hard to pronounce. Plurals are a bit more complicated than in English though and I found the accent tricky.

Here’s a quick example to show how easy the verbs are compared to English. The verb doesn’t change at all according to who’s doing it
I am – Jag är
You are – Du är
He is – Han är
She is- Hon är
We are – Vi är
You (pl.) are – Ni är
They are - De är

Ouchette, thank you so much! I know the Google Translate thing works better for Swedish than for other languages, say Irish for example, so I was wondering what did that say about Swedish in terms of difficulty.
Well you've convinced me now.

youcancallmeal

Even if you do manage to get into desktop support it is a bit of dead end. You will eventually need to branch out into some sort of specialization. Instead of learning another language I would recommend learning something else like a programming language or a network cert (CCNA). Those entry level ‘Foreign Language’ support jobs usually have a high turnover because there is little or no opportunity to move up the ladder. It would be a bit of waste if you spent a year learning Swedish and then work for 2 years doing phone support only to realise there is no promotion ladder. Basically what I’m trying to say is don’t put all your eggs in one basket

OP, it's incredibly narrow minded that you think these jobs are for 'foreigners'. I used to work in French, Spanish and German in a call centre, guess what, I'm Irish. So were the majority of my coworkers. You REALLY need to get out of the mentality that English is the only language that matters. Plenty of Irish people know other languages. My complaint would be that these jobs are badly paid when you take into consideration that you're expected to have skills AND two other languages, which take a lot of time and effort to learn. If you want this kind of job, learn a language. Plenty of other Irish people do it. I'm working on my 4th language to make myself more employable.

And even if the jobs were for foreigners, what's it to you? If they need tech support + Swedish and you don't have Swedish, it's not a job you ever would have had anyway. Not sure why you see it like that.

bongi69

Got myself Rosetta stone a few months back to learn Dutch.

There's quite a few jobs for Dutch speakers with the likes of Paypal etc. and since Afrikaans (which was drilled into us in school in South Africa similar to Irish here), is derived from Dutch, it's turning out to be pretty easy for me to learn Dutch.

It'll help me get a job, even if its not speaking that language, I can still bring it up in an interview along with the (useless) stuff I've done in Fás and show that I'm not just sitting on my arse on the dole.

I've given myself a year to find a job before I seriously look at moving to another country, and Holland has a high proportion of jobs that require someone to be fluent in English so its top of the list. So having conversational level Duthc would be helpful in that scenario.

Back on topic, OP I know what it feels like when you go on to a job site, hit search and a load of those jobs come up. But the way I see it, they're looking for a specific skill set just like any other job. If I see a job in Insurance, and they want someone with commercial lines experience, I don't bother applying bacause I don't have this experience. Carry on looking, and something will come up eventually/hopefully

the_syco

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Those entry level ‘Foreign Language’ support jobs usually have a high turnover because there is little or no opportunity to move up the ladder.

I've found that after they get their level of english up to "fluent", some of them go back to their home country with an extra skill under their belt. I know a few Polish lads that I worked with did this.

ToasterSparks

Out of interest, if someone was to learn another language as a CV booster, what would you recommend to learn? A European language that is.

ToasterSparks

ToasterSparks wrote: »

Out of interest, if someone was to learn another language as a CV booster, what would you recommend to learn? A European language that is.

It really depends on what you're planning to do with it. Something like French or German is always going to be useful in general, but then a lot of the tech support jobs are in 'niche' languages like Swedish or Dutch. When I worked in a call centre, the greatest demand was for the more common languages (I had Spanish/French and acted as a back-up for German) but I don't know if that's typical. What industry are you in? I think it could be a good idea to learn both a common and a niche language and that way you've both things covered, but it is a lot of time and effort! You also have to consider the culture and things like that, you're not going to learn a language if you have no interest in the country. Also if you tend to be better at Germanic or Romance languages - did you learn French or German at school?

ToasterSparks

I 'studied' French at school but apart from the subconscious vague knowledge of the language rattling around in the back of my head, I never really learned to speak it or write with any degree of confidence.

I'm a generic Business grad, so was asking out of curiosity really. Something that would be simple to pick up a basic knowledge of would be handy on the CV or for opportunities for travelling too. I'm assuming Gaeilge is pretty redundant (what with the fluent natives being so much better at it than me!)?

wetling

I feel cheated that someone ever got paid 50k for desktop support, I graduated in 09 with honours, and am insulted by companies looking for free web developers (sorry intern's) under the guise of work experience.

Desktop support, jesus christ, I hope you never find a job.

Oh and please don't sign on if you feel too good for it, no one will argue with you there.

ToasterSparks

ToasterSparks wrote: »

I 'studied' French at school but apart from the subconscious vague knowledge of the language rattling around in the back of my head, I never really learned to speak it or write with any degree of confidence.

I'm a generic Business grad, so was asking out of curiosity really. Something that would be simple to pick up a basic knowledge of would be handy on the CV or for opportunities for travelling too. I'm assuming Gaeilge is pretty redundant (what with the fluent natives being so much better at it than me!)?

Yeah, Irish is redundant for most jobs. As for what's easy, it really depends on the person. Some people find Nordic languages like Swedish are their thing and some people swear Spanish is really easy. Since you've already done a bit of French, it might be an idea to pick it up again, as you'd learn faster than you would with a new language and French generally is quite a useful language for business. Personally, Spanish has been the most useful for me, but I worked in the tourism industry for a while. It obviously has the advantage of being widely spoken and useful for travelling if you like South America. I would only advise learning a language if you have a genuine interest, if you're ONLY learning to get a job, it will be a really hard slog and you probably won't get that fluent.

Welease

ToasterSparks wrote: »

I 'studied' French at school but apart from the subconscious vague knowledge of the language rattling around in the back of my head, I never really learned to speak it or write with any degree of confidence.

I'm a generic Business grad, so was asking out of curiosity really. Something that would be simple to pick up a basic knowledge of would be handy on the CV or for opportunities for travelling too. I'm assuming Gaeilge is pretty redundant (what with the fluent natives being so much better at it than me!)?

Don't take this the wrong way, but having a generic qualification and looking for basic knowledge of a language won't get you much in a highly competitive job market.. Aim higher.. Much higher! (no offence meant, but they are are plenty of graduates (with languages and experience) unemployed atm.)

the_syco

zonad wrote: »

I used to get paid €50,000 a year to working in Desktop Support and now there's nothing but jobs for foreigners. No exaggeration, there are about 5 desktop support vacancies in Dublin right now.

I've seen a few people jump on him for saying that, but "deskside support" can range, depending on the company. I've seen three people being the "deskside support" for over 1500 people, the servers, and everything that comes with it. You can have 10 low paid workers, or 3 people who know their sh|t, and are prepared to do the overtime to get the computers set up for new clients at little notice.

OP: if you are as good as you say you are, don't bother applying for jobs that are on the net. Try remembering what companies your company had used as clients (or the other way around), saw how you did you work, and email them, with a nice cover letter.

Ginkgo

What level does an Irish person need in their working language(s) for tech support, customer services or indeed other roles? Is B2 of the common european framework sufficient? Is the threshold lower for more technical roles involving use of say sql queries etc? The below article states that Irish people with language skills are pipped at the post by foreigners because while they do have some level of fluency it is not sufficient. Is the article a true reflection of the state of play?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2010/0420/1224268692039.html

Leadership

The old Desktop Support has been dead 5 years, the skills and roles have been what we call "Shift left" i.e. moving the focus as close to full automation as possible removing the biggest cost drivers. So the old functions of Desktop Support are either Automated, Moved to the Service desk or centralised. What we have now is fairly low skilled "On Site" technicians who have enough skills to re-image, replace parts and do basic network trouble shooting. Even a PC re-image is done by the Service Desk using Zero touch technologies.

There are some old €50k job about with companies using old IT support structures but these are rapidy dissapearing as they improve and try to reduce costs. I am a old Deskside Support Tech and I knew what the future would be and I moved on. Most of my colleagues are now working in Software distribusion, Security, Solution Design and service management.

BTW - I work with a multinational who has language roles at the Global Servive Desk in Ireland. Trust me a native Irish person will have a very slim chance of getting one of these support roles. We are measured on Native language speakers and currently the big multinationals are at around 88% Native speakers supporting users. Incidently most of the 12% non native are mostly made up of Native like speakers from Europe for example Danish support agents providing support to Swedish users or French supporting Belgiums etc. Now all of these native speakers need supporting and these are are the higher paid roles like HR, Local IT, Finance etc and these roles are 85% Irish nationals.

Trust me a Rosseta Stone course will not land you one of these roles.

Ginkgo

Ginkgo wrote: »

What level does an Irish person need in their working language(s) for tech support, customer services or indeed other roles? Is B2 of the common european framework sufficient? Is the threshold lower for more technical roles involving use of say sql queries etc? The below article states that Irish people with language skills are pipped at the post by foreigners because while they do have some level of fluency it is not sufficient. Is the article a true reflection of the state of play?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2010/0420/1224268692039.html

I don't think B2 is sufficient. I'd be around that level in German and I struggled a lot, which is why I was only back-up for German. I have C1+ in French and C2 in Spanish, which I'd say is fairly typical. You don't have to be a native speaker, but you need to be able to speak fluently under pressure, you don't have time to look at dictionaries, etc.

ToasterSparks

Welease wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way, but having a generic qualification and looking for basic knowledge of a language won't get you much in a highly competitive job market.. Aim higher.. Much higher! (no offence meant, but they are are plenty of graduates (with languages and experience) unemployed atm.)

I know what you mean, and I have a Masters too, but I just recognise how common my qualification is. I'm trying as hard as I can, but it's tough! Anything I could be doing in the jobless interim that would be of benefit can't be a bad thing.

seawolf145

Ouchette wrote: »

If employers want a 2nd language and you want a job, then I think you know what you've got to do.

Out of those languages, I'd go for Swedish. There can't be that many Swedish speakers in Ireland so you wouldn't have much competition. It's much simpler than French or German and it's so closely related to English that if you worked hard at it you'd be reasonably fluent in a year, and you'd even be able to claim to understand some Norwegian and Danish too.

You could probably even move there for a bit and keep claiming your dole, or even do a bit of bar work or something. Beats sitting at home complaining about the unfairness of it all.

Wrong a Norwegian understands swedish and danish,A swede doesnt understand Norwegian or Danish.

shoegirl

zonad wrote: »

It really frustrates me that speaking English, all of a sudden, isn't enough if you want to do technical support in this country. I hate doing job searches online only to get back language jobs.

With the technology available for telecommuting (VPN, VoIP, LogMeIn) why do they even have these people working here? They should get these people to telecommute. Recruit them back in their home country.

I used to get paid €50,000 a year to working in Desktop Support and now there's nothing but jobs for foreigners. No exaggeration, there are about 5 desktop support vacancies in Dublin right now.

Other jobs say they are desktop support but they are really infrastructure support or they are looking for someone to do light development (scripting, T-SQL). When did a Desktop Support person ever need to know Java for feck's sake?!

I've never been on the dole in my life but I'm thinking about giving up and signing on.

50k for desktop? Would love to know where that was as the best pay I ever heard for for desktop was around 30k a year for permie. I have to say I moved out of that field into infrastructure and delivery/service management 5 years ago. I can't see anybody getting that kinda money for desktop nowadays, not without extensive specialist skills.

I had a good chat with a senior manager at one of the companies mentioned above and one thing he pointed out was that its the languages that has kept these centres in ireland. As another poster correctly posted earlier, these centres do also have some work for english speakers and lots of support roles that make up a good percentage. There are by the way, a few companies that use different models - i.e. they answer calls in native language with non technical or limited tech staff and then pass to a translator and more senior staff. At least 2 are doing this.

The places that ONLY hired english speakers are mostly gone - bar Dell in Cherrywood, thanks to the mess that was made in Bangalore some years ago. Its fair to say that the multilingual centres are here because they cannot be offshored, attractive as it might seem.

You should move away from desktop and into infrastructure - Citrix, Hyper V or vmware, server technologies. Lots of demand for linux out there right now. And Cisco of course - always a good move. Software distribution systems are also good to investigate.

MysticalRain

the_syco wrote: »

I've seen a few people jump on him for saying that, but "deskside support" can range, depending on the company. I've seen three people being the "deskside support" for over 1500 people, the servers, and everything that comes with it. You can have 10 low paid workers, or 3 people who know their sh|t, and are prepared to do the overtime to get the computers set up for new clients at little notice.

It's not "deskside support" if someone is expected to look after servers and do other roles above and beyond that level. That's more of an IT Admin type of role which a salary of 40-50K would be appropriate for.

shoegirl

MysticalRain wrote: »

It's not "deskside support" if someone is expected to look after servers and do other roles above and beyond that level. That's more of an IT Admin type of role which a salary of 40-50K would be appropriate for.

Exactly, but it would be very difficult nowadays to get a got administering servers/infrastructure without skills in servers and strong networking knowledge.

I've seen people get the foot in the door into that area 4 or 5 years ago, get laid off and then find themselves unable to find another job because they've almost no understanding of networks and only have maybe 2000 server or at best 2003 while employers now want 2008, Hyper-V and often a CCNA or VCP (or both) as well.

There is, however, some degree of demand at the moment, for people with roughly that skillset. And I know because I've spoken f2f to 8 companies in 6 weeks, starting a new role this week, on a salary very significantly above the ballpark salary mentioned. I worked very hard part time on improving my skills, technical certifications (many of them outside my immediate field) and also completing a business degree part time.

MysticalRain

shoegirl wrote: »

Exactly, but it would be very difficult nowadays to get a got administering servers/infrastructure without skills in servers and strong networking knowledge.

I've seen people get the foot in the door into that area 4 or 5 years ago, get laid off and then find themselves unable to find another job because they've almost no understanding of networks and only have maybe 2000 server or at best 2003 while employers now want 2008, Hyper-V and often a CCNA or VCP (or both) as well.

There is, however, some degree of demand at the moment, for people with roughly that skillset. And I know because I've spoken f2f to 8 companies in 6 weeks, starting a new role this week, on a salary very significantly above the ballpark salary mentioned. I worked very hard part time on improving my skills, technical certifications (many of them outside my immediate field) and also completing a business degree part time.

I think it's becoming increasingly difficult for anybody to get a job in this industry the way employers are carrying on these days. I'm not sure why anybody would bother really when there is easier money to be made elsewhere. God help the current generation who just graduated from college. The best advice I could give people would be to start their own business and work for themselves.

dan_d

I am not qualified in IT, but I am currently unemployed, and have tried to go and do a course in the Alliance Francaise in Dublin.

Unfortunately it didn't work out for a number of reasons, however I'll be returning to them in Sept, when their new term begins. I think I'm also going to pick Spanish up - I started a few years ago for 2 terms, then stopped due to work commitments. My french is quite good - I understand very well, but my speaking is a bit rusty, and I wanted to brush up on it.I'm a total beginner at Spanish, but same as any other language - I'll just learn it. Tried German for the JC, and I just didn't like it!!

It's so hard to find work out there, but equally, the Irish attitude of "sure it's our country, I should be entitled to a job" is a crap one. Go out and upskill. I know that doesn't guarantee you anything, but at least it shows you're proactive and it may open a lot more opportunities aswell.

Mysticalrain - I've come to the same conclusion as you. The problem is trying to figure out what kind of a business to start!

mike kelly

A lot of these languages jobs are for native speakers only, ie no irish need apply. OP, yes learn a new language but java or .net, not Swedish or German. Computer language are much easier to learn than natural languages and offer far more opportunities.

jd83

The only thing that annoys me about these jobs is the job sites. You search for a tech support there is no option to exclude language jobs. When i was unemployed i was registered for email job updates and everytime it would be all language jobs.


Apart from that i dont care. The people working in these jobs come here pay tax and contribute to society.

Blackdragon

jd83 wrote: »

The only thing that annoys me about these jobs is the job sites. You search for a tech support there is no option to exclude language jobs. When i was unemployed i was registered for email job updates and everytime it would be all language jobs.


Apart from that i dont care. The people working in these jobs come here pay tax and contribute to society.

I completly agree, I hate going through page after page of launguage jobs, really wish I could filter the language requirement.

shoegirl

MysticalRain wrote: »

The best advice I could give people would be to start their own business and work for themselves.

Maybe not for everybody. You lose a lot of welfare entitlements should things not work out and many people have no capital or savings to keep themselves afloat in the early days.

Students at least have WPP1 and the option of emigration which in fairness is a closed door to many people who are over 30 or not skilled enough for very stringent and expensive application processes.
The people who really need to be upskilling are people already in jobs who might be at risk in future. I saw my own situation coming nearly 2 years ago and accelerated my study as much as possible given the strong risk. It really paid off for me, even though it was expensive (though tax deductable) and time consuming.

MysticalRain

shoegirl wrote: »

Maybe not for everybody. You lose a lot of welfare entitlements should things not work out and many people have no capital or savings to keep themselves afloat in the early days.

Students at least have WPP1 and the option of emigration which in fairness is a closed door to many people who are over 30 or not skilled enough for very stringent and expensive application processes.
The people who really need to be upskilling are people already in jobs who might be at risk in future. I saw my own situation coming nearly 2 years ago and accelerated my study as much as possible given the strong risk. It really paid off for me, even though it was expensive (though tax deductable) and time consuming.

I won't be giving up the day job just yet. Running a business on the side is just a parallel strategy to my day job. For the moment anyway. I do plenty of upskilling outside of work. Just not the expensive and time-consuming certification route.

I would love to emigrate. But that's not an option for me either.

dMaN24

Sorry OP. I shall pack my bags right away, and go back to Sweden. That way i'm not stealing the position you might've got instead of me. Hope you know Norwegian though.

seawolf145 wrote: »

Wrong a Norwegian understands swedish and danish,A swede doesnt understand Norwegian or Danish.

Not quite. Even though Sweden and Norway are landlocked, Norwegians and Danish seem to understand eachother better than let's say Danish-Swedish.

I'm having no difficulties with either (working for a norwegian company and i myself is Swedish.) I understand my Danish collegues, but if something is to be brought through in a hurry, English is the better language between us.
I speak and write "fluent" Norwegian. But that's because i've been in this line of business and these languages for ages.