Finding it difficult to get work in IT.

MonkeyDoo

Is anyone finding hard to get work in the IT sector? Every RTE commentator and Politician seems to think there is a big skills shortage in the area but I have been trying to find work for months now! Is there really a shortage of IT workers?

Stheno

What are your skills, qualifications and experience?

Creamy Goodness

Yes there is a real shortage of skilled IT workers.

What are your qualifications? What's your cv like and what approaches have you taken to finding a job already?

pauliebdub

MonkeyDoo wrote: »

Is anyone finding hard to get work in the IT sector? Every RTE commentator and Politician seems to think there is a big skills shortage in the area but I have been trying to find work for months now! Is there really a shortage of IT workers?

There is a shortage of experienced IT professionals with a specialised skillset however some of the commentators arent expressly saying this. What are your skills and qualifications?

pog it

What specialised skillsets are in demand?

Gone West

pog it wrote: »

What specialised skillsets are in demand?

Any and all specialised skillsets are in demand if you are experienced and skilled enough.
All programming, developers, systems guys, ITIL, QA, management, systems engineering, helpdesk, security, business analysts, etc. There are actually thousands of vacant positions.
Granted, almost all require at least some experience.

pog it

Fuzzy wrote: »

Any and all specialised skillsets are in demand if you are experienced and skilled enough.
All programming, developers, systems guys, ITIL, QA, management, systems engineering, helpdesk, security, business analysts, etc. There are actually thousands of vacant positions.
Granted, almost all require at least some experience.

Thanks Fuzzy. The challenge for me and many others is identifying what skillset to take on. There is a serious lack of info out there for people who might otherwise transition into IT from other careers. And from what I heard from Microsoft, not all postgraduate transition type courses are giving people good enough skills. A spokeswoman from Microsoft last year said that she was getting applications from people who had done one year diplomas but that they were not at a high enough level to employ.

Elessar

I too, am transitioning into IT from my current career. However I don't really know what area to specialise in, I'm hoping my degree course will help me decide (I have some ideas mind you).

What the news reports are not telling you are that while there are many job vacancies in IT, 90% of them require a large amount of experience and a degree at minimum and/or a second language. It would be more accurate to say there is a shortage in experienced and skilled IT workers. So don't be in the mindframe that any old cert or two will get you a job instantaneously.

Creamy Goodness

The second language will help you, but not as much as you think. It will help hugely with support roles and if you get a job in a multi-national whose target audience is mainland europe/asia.

But sitting here as a backend developer and now iOS developer with 5 years in the industry I can't see where a language would have benefitted me (that being said I have worked for two Irish companies and one Swedish company).

starlit

Why is it that they seek graduates that have a language most technical support jobs require one at the moment.

_Kaiser_

doovdela wrote: »

Why is it that they seek graduates that have a language most technical support jobs require one at the moment.

Because most Support jobs in Ireland are dealing with the EU market and even if you DO have a language, a native speaker is still preferred (for dialects/accents/slang presumably), hence why these companies "import" so many of their workforce.

starlit

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Because most Support jobs in Ireland are dealing with the EU market and even if you DO have a language, a native speaker is still preferred (for dialects/accents/slang presumably), hence why these companies "import" so many of their workforce.

Is it not a bit unfair if you are irish have the skills and foreign language in tow so international candidates have precidence?! Youve the likes of australia now wanting to only hire or put ozzies first before hiring international or imigrant applicants.

Gone West

doovdela wrote: »

Is it not a bit unfair if you are irish have the skills and foreign language in tow so international candidates have precidence?! Youve the likes of australia now wanting to only hire or put ozzies first before hiring international or imigrant applicants.

Language teaching here is appalling.
If you need speakers of French/German, you won't find much fluency here amongst the natives. Forget about the more exotic eu languages. And even the Irish who are fully fluent and have lived abroad perfecting the language, those guys are doing better jobs in Berlin or Zürich than the entry level helpdesk jobs mentioned here.

In Germany, Sweden, etc, English is so widely spoken that Speaking English Perfectly is totally required for many many jobs. Imagine if a second language was mandatory here in Ireland for most jobs. People would flip.

I think that most people in Ireland should be fluent in at least 2 but ideally 3 languages.

Mr. Loverman

pog it wrote: »

The challenge for me and many others is identifying what skillset to take on.

Elessar wrote: »

I don't really know what area to specialise in

Please do not specialize in something based on demand.

IT is full of unhappy people. People who spend the majority of their lives doing something they hate.

You should only be studying IT if you genuinely like it. Do not waste your life in a job you hate just because there are jobs available. Surely your life is worth more than that.

So if you are sure you want to stay in IT, you need to research the different areas to see which ones you reckon you would prefer.

In general, based on my experience (your experience may differ), people are least happy in management, followed by support, followed by QA, followed by development, followed by BA, followed by system administration...

youcancallmeal

OP still hasn't responded. Whole thread seems pointless if they can't explain what type of role they are looking for, what level of experience they have, outcome of any interviews they might have already had etc etc

experiMental

I hope that will save the OP: a list of IT companies in Ireland

http://makeitinireland.com/tech-map/

Good luck!

starlit

Fuzzy wrote: »

Language teaching here is appalling.
If you need speakers of French/German, you won't find much fluency here amongst the natives. Forget about the more exotic eu languages. And even the Irish who are fully fluent and have lived abroad perfecting the language, those guys are doing better jobs in Berlin or Zürich than the entry level helpdesk jobs mentioned here.

In Germany, Sweden, etc, English is so widely spoken that Speaking English Perfectly is totally required for many many jobs. Imagine if a second language was mandatory here in Ireland for most jobs. People would flip.

I think that most people in Ireland should be fluent in at least 2 but ideally 3 languages.

That be ideal that people in Ireland should be fluent in at least one or two languages be it Irish or another language other than English. I know a few who have both a native EU language as well as English. They say themselves they would leave Ireland when an opportunity arise. They have both Irish, English and another Native Language. Or is it that we not really selling ourselves or that our IT courses aren't up to scratch compared to international and EU counterparts?

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Please do not specialize in something based on demand.

IT is full of unhappy people. People who spend the majority of their lives doing something they hate.

You should only be studying IT if you genuinely like it. Do not waste your life in a job you hate just because there are jobs available. Surely your life is worth more than that.

So if you are sure you want to stay in IT, you need to research the different areas to see which ones you reckon you would prefer.

In general, based on my experience (your experience may differ), people are least happy in management, followed by support, followed by QA, followed by development, followed by BA, followed by system administration...

Very true, just can be a struggle to identify the one area of IT that suits you, you can a try a few areas but its hard to pinpoint what route to go.

Then again you have the mass media attention on the likes of cloud and social media is it because they both in demand? They were jobs that exist now but didn't exist 10 years ago will they still exist in the future? Cloud is the exception as its just another fancy name/buzz word as is social media!

Regarding coding, web development/design and Tech support they be around a while yet they constantly evolving though like other areas of IT. You always need someone to run a network and assess the needs of a user friendly market when it comes to all things IT be it the internet or gadgets!

At the moment business analysis and data related type jobs seem to be big at the moment. Though often think you need very good analysis and problem solving skills and be numerical of some sort to be good at those areas unless you go into a branch of consultancy you could discipline yourself into any area of IT?! Though need all round expertise on most areas of IT and hands on knowledge and experience.

Gone West

doovdela wrote: »

That be ideal that people in Ireland should be fluent in at least one or two languages be it Irish or another language other than English. I know a few who have both a native EU language as well as English. They say themselves they would leave Ireland when an opportunity arise. They have both Irish, English and another Native Language. Or is it that we not really selling ourselves or that our IT courses aren't up to scratch compared to international and EU counterparts?

Fluency in Irish not relevant at all to getting an IT job, IMO.

I speak and read a few languages, 2 at fully fluent level, and I would be interested in emigrating to another EU country. The problem is that the money in Ireland in certain aspects of IT is excellent right now.
You could take a 30% hit and move to Switzerland where things are double the price.
You could take a 70% hit and move to Spain where things are half the price.

Ireland does have its faults.
But if you are a hotshot engineer or are talented with Linux, security, "esoteric technologies", Biz analyst, or whatever, you can make hay right now.

Something to look at is Ebay out in Dundalk or wherever. Wilderness. They are not looking to tap into the vast pool of educated young fully bilingual Irish people who speak Spanish/Croatian/Dutch etc. They are looking exclusively for native speakers, because there just isn't the level of fluency here.
They are looking for low end, regular people, no degree needed who have a European education, and can do basic customer support for 22k who will emigrate here to do it.

Slutmonkey57b

doovdela wrote: »

Is it not a bit unfair if you are irish have the skills and foreign language in tow so international candidates have precidence?! Youve the likes of australia now wanting to only hire or put ozzies first before hiring international or imigrant applicants.

This sort of logical contradiction doesn't bode well for a career in IT, I'm afraid. (assuming your complaint is "I can't get a job here and I can't get a job there")

wexie

Fuzzy wrote: »

Fluency in Irish not relevant at all to getting an IT job, IMO.

I didn't think fluent Irish was relevant to anything other than getting a job with TG4? I have never seen or heard of any kind of jobs in IT requiring any level of Irish and I'd say you'd be hard pushed finding any support organisation that offer support in Irish.

As many people have already pointed out yes there are many jobs out there in IT. But....like people have already pointed out experience is key.

There are jobs out there available for people with little or no experience, but chances are they are entry level support jobs and most likely will require a second European language.

Having said that, if you can hack it, a lot of support environments are great places to pick up experiences and certs. Few years of support under your belt goes a long way towards proving to a prospective employer you can deal with pressure. (depending on the type of support of course)

starlit

What I meant by Irish is that its not the only language that candidates be fluent in as most learnt it in school. What I meant was that they wouldn't just have Irish and English they would also have a foreign language that be learnt for as long as Irish has been say in terms of being fluent at it....

I know Irish isn't needed for IT jobs per se unless they working in the Gaelteach areas.

As regards to Irish Tg4, teaching and the gardai really are the only the only careers that need Irish maybe few other areas in the public service might.

lukepaddy2

A degree on its own is not enough these days! I made this mistake and was unemployed for nearly 8 months after college. After doing a couple of certs I was employed straight away

You need to pick an area and specialize in it.

If you want to work with databases and development then do some of the courses

MCSA SQL SERVER and then get your mcse which is the expert one when you gain employment. There is also like a hundred different oracle certs than you can do.Starting salary is at least 35k if you get this and will slowly creep up to 50k or more when you get some expierence

If you want to pursue networking then these two are an absolute must
CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK ASSOCIATE and then get your cisco certified network professional when you gain employment
MCSA WINDOWS SERVER and then get your MCSe expert one in windows server when you get employemnt.

Thats just a few of the certs but theres hundreds of them like sharepoint, vmware, cloud computing, Java, PHP, .Net Framework certs and not many places will hire you if they see you are not willing to upskill on your own. I was told by numerous employment agencies to get some of these certs and you will definitively land a job and I had interviews left right and centre

zweton

great advice.

lukepaddy2

Yea like each cert has two or three exams. Even just do one of the exams and put down on your C.V that you plan on completing the cert soon or have them booked and it shows initiative and also that you actually know about the technologies you will be using.

the_syco

wexie wrote: »

There are jobs out there available for people with little or no experience, but chances are they are entry level support jobs and most likely will require a second European language.

Maybe 10 years ago. Now, everywhere is in recession. Want a Spanish agent? Advertise €20k in Spain, and people will hop on a cheap flight for the interview.

This way they get someone who speaks Spanish but can understand the english training, as opposed to someone who speaks english, and understands the customers.

Swap out Spanish for German/French/Swedish/Japanese/etc.

pog it

doovdela wrote: »

What I meant by Irish is that its not the only language that candidates be fluent in as most learnt it in school. What I meant was that they wouldn't just have Irish and English they would also have a foreign language that be learnt for as long as Irish has been say in terms of being fluent at it....

I know Irish isn't needed for IT jobs per se unless they working in the Gaelteach areas.

As regards to Irish Tg4, teaching and the gardai really are the only the only careers that need Irish maybe few other areas in the public service might.

Jobs in civil service and media jobs through Irish language too- TV mainly- not just TG4. With production companies also.
Also Irish language organisations. And jobs in translation and research for the likes of Fiontar in DCU.

Slutmonkey57b

pog it wrote: »

Jobs in civil service and media jobs through Irish language too- TV mainly- not just TG4. With production companies also.
Also Irish language organisations. And jobs in translation and research for the likes of Fiontar in DCU.

So, "jobs where the government has mandated the use of irish" then...

MonkeyDoo

Have 4 year Science degree , over 10 IT years experience. Have mainly being dealing with recruitment agencies.

Feedback am getting is their clients like my CV, some interviews...one phone and one face to face.

Face to face was a funny interview..wasn't asked anything technical was just interviewer telling me about the company. Was a permanent role and she didn't seem to like the amount of IT contracting I'd done.

Phone interview was technical in area I hadn't worked in 5 years...the rustyness showed

Have another interview coming up so fingers crossed.

ImDave

MonkeyDoo wrote: »

Have 4 year Science degree , over 10 IT years experience. Have mainly being dealing with recruitment agencies.

MoneyDoo - do you mind me asking what area of IT you are working in?

Birroc

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Please do not specialize in something based on demand.

IT is full of unhappy people. People who spend the majority of their lives doing something they hate.

You should only be studying IT if you genuinely like it. Do not wasite your life in a job you hate just because there are jobs available. Surely your life is worth more than that.

So if you are sure you want to stay in IT, you need to research the different areas to see which ones you reckon you would prefer.

In general, based on my experience (your experience may differ), people are least happy in management, followed by support, followed by QA, followed by development, followed by BA, followed by system administration...

Spot on!

highgiant1985

There certainly seem to be plenty of jobs in IT from what I can see at the moment.

I work for a software company with offices in Cork and Kilkenny and they're struggling to get people.

At the moment they've open positions for DBAs, Developers, Consultants, Product and QA.

I've also been approach a number of times on linkedin by recruiters about a number of roles all over the Country.

pog it

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

So, "jobs where the government has mandated the use of irish" then...

Not in all cases. TG4 exists for an Irish speaking audience who are as entitled to this as speakers of only English who get RTE (however bad the service), and programmes made through Irish for them and other stations such as BBC generate a lot of jobs..

And the investment in translation jobs is a cost shared with all EU member states.. and who is going to begrudge a few people those high level jobs? They have earned it, just like anyone in any high level job. And better earned than plenty of the civil servants handed promotions for average performance.