Immigrating to Ireland

JKR_

Hi all, wonder if you could throw me some advice.

I'm 31, and I've been living in South Africa the last 20+ years. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of crime and other factors I find it hard to imagine settling down here, and would like to return to Ireland.

I was a child leaving, and having not been from Ireland originally have very few contacts to help me out with such a move.

My questions:

1) How is the job market for software developers? I'm currently working with C#, Delphi, java, Oracle pl/sql in Senior positions. What would be a 'good' and 'bad' salary to live on?

2) Where should I move to, is there a mini 'silicone valley' of sorts in Ireland - a certain city/district where tech companies appear to amalgamate?

3) I would like to live in a decent area, renting at the start, but somewhat outside town. (no apartments unfortunately, need a garden for my dogs) But still close enough to commute daily. Have any recommendations?

4) Am I mad to move to Ireland to begin with? I know the economy is under major strain, will it likely improve in the next few years?

Appreciate any help!

looksee

Coming to Ireland does not seem like a good idea to be honest, I can't help you with specific information about jobs but you would need to know this http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/coming_to_live_in_ireland/bringing_pets_to_ireland.html#ledc03 about bringing in your dogs.

professore

Plenty of work for experienced developers like yourself. Try some of the jobs sites like jobs.ie and recruitment agencies to gauge the level of interest. Dublin the best for developers in terms of jobs, but cost of living higher than say Cork, Limerick or Galway. Depends what you're looking for.

Are you entitled to an Irish passport? If so that's a big plus.

tatli_lokma

Dublin West is the main areas for computer/tech companies (D15 for Dell, HP and a few other multinationals and Parkwest and Citywest for the likes of Sage etc).

I'm not sure what the jobs market is for people in your sector, but generally the outlook is pretty grim and will continue to be for another few years. But then again, you might be lucky. I was - I was made redundant Dec 11, in a new and better job by Jan 12. I suppose only you can decide if it is worth the risk. I have a south african friend who moved here in '05 for the same reasons as you. Luckily she was able to get an internal transfer, so work wasn't an issue and she is married to an EU national. She likes it here, but finds it a bit hard to assimilate at times as some things are just culturally very different. There is not a particularly large SA community in Ireland, so again it can be a challenge to get to know people. But a lot of that depends on your own personality just as much as anything else.

ABajaninCork

Is London a possibility OP? If you still have an Irish passport, there'll be no problem with paperwork as you'll be an EU citizen.

Loads of IT work there, and a big South African community, particularly in Southfields/Wandsworth area of London.

Mr. Loverman

JKR_ wrote: »

1) How is the job market for software developers? I'm currently working with C#, Delphi, java, Oracle pl/sql in Senior positions. What would be a 'good' and 'bad' salary to live on?

Plenty of software development jobs for people with experience.

Assuming you are a single male and don't have very expensive taste, you can live very comfortably on a software developers salary.

JKR_ wrote: »

2) Where should I move to, is there a mini 'silicone valley' of sorts in Ireland - a certain city/district where tech companies appear to amalgamate?

Anywhere in Dublin really.

JKR_ wrote: »

3) I would like to live in a decent area, renting at the start, but somewhat outside town. (no apartments unfortunately, need a garden for my dogs) But still close enough to commute daily. Have any recommendations?

Shankill? On the dart line, not too expensive, lots of land and quite peaceful. Basically anywhere along the dart line is a safe enough bet.

JKR_ wrote: »

4) Am I mad to move to Ireland to begin with? I know the economy is under major strain, will it likely improve in the next few years?

Personally I would not move to Ireland if I had a choice of moving to any EU country (or any country at all considering your IT experience), but Ireland is fine and you will find a job quick enough.

Mr. Loverman

There are actually loads of C# jobs (244):

http://www.dole.ie/main/index/1/basic/c%23/0/relevance/all/0/0/20/0/0/0/0/0/0/0

Even more Java jobs (525):

http://www.dole.ie/main/index/1/basic/java/0/relevance/all/0/0/20/0/0/0/0/0/0/0

EDIT: Boards is breaking the first link. Just search for c# on dole.ie

Mrs OBumble

looksee wrote: »

Coming to Ireland does not seem like a good idea to be honest.

That would be true if the OP was not a software developer with skills in in-demand areas. But s/he is.

In the current market, it would not surpirse me if the OP has already received a few PMs saying "Send me your CV and I'll give it to my company", from folks who work in places that offer finders-bonuses to staff.

seamus

Yep, IT is one of the few sectors at the moment where employers are screaming out to hire people, and some are willing to pay big money for it.

Can't last, obviously but you may as well make hay while the sun shines.

Salaries are pretty much impossible to call. Salaries range from €25k for junior graduate developers right up to 6-figure sums for highly experienced lead developers working for big software vendors and big websites.

As said, anywhere in Dublin really is fine as the companies are widely distributed.

neil_hosey

senior c# devs salary can range from 50- 70 (maybe more??) depending on the number of years experience you have and your knowledge ie design patterns, EF/nHibernate, CI, etc..

Over 5/6 years experience, you will find a job in a few days. PM me if you are looking for a contact for a recruiter a friend of mine is a decent guy working in that area (im a c# dev myself)

theres also alot o contracting jobs paying alot of money at the moment

JKR_

Thanks for the replies!

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Is London a possibility OP? If you still have an Irish passport, there'll be no problem with paperwork as you'll be an EU citizen.

Loads of IT work there, and a big South African community, particularly in Southfields/Wandsworth area of London.

Yes, still have my Irish passport. London is an option, but honestly I love Ireland. I lived near Cork for about 4 years and the countryside and people were great.

There are still a few logistical problems I need to sort out, but taking it one step at a time. My long-term girlfriend would come with me. She works in Technical Writing/Documentation Management, but unfortunately doesn't have an EU passport which makes things tricky. Looking into getting a de facto permit.

Otherwise no kids which makes things 100 times easier, just two happy dogs and we've looked into all the requirements for them, and no problems there.

So I'll look at areas around Dublin then most likely, thanks for the advice on Shankill.

Any other areas I should look into?

markpb

Anywhere along the Dart or Green Luas lines are a good bet but it really depends on where you end up working. Blanchardstown, Citywest and Sandyford seem to be the main areas for IT jobs although there are quite a few in the city centre too.

henryporter

No harm posting a similar query here as thats where all the Devs hang out: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=25

lima

Tonnes of IT work in Ireland - I really don't understand why these people above are being so negative. It really is booming and to be honest we can't find enough people to fill the roles in Ireland, so I have been trying to recruit from outside Ireland for 4 roles I have in my immediate team.

There is an area of Dublin called Sillicon Docks, that's understated by the authorites:

http://www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/start-up-boom-in-dublin.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/515e42dc-4397-11e1-adda-00144feab49a.html#axzz2JG4sB8Um