Hacking the Perfect Code for a Work/Life Balance
January 10, 2022
From festivals designed to pique your curiosity to mobile development mentors, this year in Ireland has been packed full of innovative new work and exciting grassroots projects in the tech scene. Over the last year, we’ve spoken to techies who’ve moved here from all corners of the globe to work in Ireland’s thriving tech sector. And what did we discover? That many of our community have fallen in love, found a job they adore and enjoy a good work/life balance.
Considering a move to Ireland in 2017? Then you’ve come to the right place. Read on to get an insight into what life will be like if you make the move.
Festival of Curiosity
If you were searching for a spark of inspiration, this year’s Festival of Curiosity had you covered. Promising playful days and curious nights, the festival merged cutting edge technology with science, art and design. Like Make Fashion, who brought their innovative mix of fashion crossed with wearable tech to Dublin. We got to experience machine learning and AI working together to create a Yawn Chorus – yes Yawn! And we lost ourselves in a room full of floor to ceiling designs designed to be coloured in at leisure.
Missed this year’s festival? No problem, it happens each July. Keep your eyes on our events page for updates.
Making the Move for Love
Deciding to make the move for romance was a common theme with many of our community. And one of our favourite stories involved Paulo. Originally from Portugal, he decided to move to Ireland when his girlfriend got offered a job at Google HQ. He’s now working for iQuate in Dublin and loving it. He was surprised by Dublin and especially enjoys the international feel. He told us: “I really feel that Dublin is underrated compared to London. Dublin is a low-profile destination that you wouldn’t think about going to, when you work abroad. Well, that’s the typical perception of a Southern European. But actually, there are lots of big companies here and an active start-up scene.”
Embracing the New
Some of the world’s biggest tech companies like Google, Facebook and Apple have their European base in Ireland. While Ireland also has many smaller companies that are on the cutting edge of new technologies. Take Decawave, who are driving innovation in The Internet of Things. Cyril, who moved to Ireland from France, works on the Dublin team, having made the move to Ireland with his other half. He said: “The chip that’s developed here is very innovative and good at what it does. The way I control it and make it work is similar to how I would have previously worked. But the way it’s used and the purpose it’s built for is really innovative.”
Capture Some Culture
Love culture and getting to experience the best of a country’s tech, arts and crafts scene? Then you’ll love this next item. Each year, cities around Ireland dedicate one eventful night to embracing all things cultural. Ireland’s Culture Night was a huge success this year with a programme of free events happening on every corner across the country. On the night, we caught a daring acrobatic display in Dublin’s Temple Bar and discovered some interesting facts about human vision at the Science Gallery before we were treated to a live band in the National Gallery.
Can Technology Change the World?
November brought us to the Medieval city of Kilkenny to one of Europe’s leading tech conferences – Node Conf EU. With a host of interesting speakers like Katie Stockton Roberts, Development Lead for Knowledge and Learning in the BBC, the conference discussed the importance of open-source software, along with the most innovative new ways to use Node.js. No question was too big to be pondered at the conference which was organised by Waterford based company nearForm, who are one of the world’s leading Node.js companies. Katie explained to us: “I enjoy telling the story of where we’ve taken software development in the BBC and making the decisions that we have. We work very closely within my team to test and ensure the quality of what we produce is very high.”
Find Your Perfect Work/Life Balance in Ireland
2017 is shaping up to be another exciting year for tech in Ireland. Find out how you can move over and get the perfect work/life balance at some of the world’s top tech companies. Sign up to our regular newsletter to stay up to date.