Do you still think that there's a dynamic fast-paced IT industry here? I'm a native, and to me it feels, for the most part (excluding some exceptional companies), stagnant and dependent on cheap non-EU labour.
Granted, a community is only a small part of an overall industry, but an industry without community is lacking heart and soul.
And I can say, with authority, that Dublin has a vibrant tech community. My company, Engine Yard, runs or hosts two meetups a week in our Dublin office, covering subjects such as Ruby, PHP, Node JS, Scala, as well as database, Open Data and designer / UX oriented meetups.
If you want to come to any meetups on these subject, or become more involved in the Dublin tech community, drop me a line - eamon@engineyard.com.
In addition, for the past three years, I've been running Pub Standards Dublin, the largest monthly gathering in Ireland of developers, designers and anyone interested in tech - we get about 150-180 each month. See http://pubstandards.ie/ or https://twitter.com/pubstandardsdub for details, you're welcome to join us any time.
I'm sorry you feel that things are "stagnant and dependent on cheap non-EU labour". I don't feel the same, and I invite you to come out, meet your peers and properly engage with your local tech community.
You wont regret it :)
I arrived a year ago in Dublin and was surprised about the variety and diversity of the tech scene in Dublin. I really think that Dublin has a strong and thriving tech scene.
I can only speak for Dublin and I'd guess other comments are also referring to the capital. Some points I would add:
On top of tech giants mentioned previously, more recently: Airbnb, Dropbox, Qualtrics (Announced friday)
Large number of high quality domestic companies. Intercom, Datahug, Logentries...
Massive amount of free networking events. Great sense of community and willingness to help among them.
Several high quality incubators. NDRC, Wayra
Great government support & funding. IDA & Enterprise Ireland
Europe's largest technology event is held here. This October will have ~10k attendees, 8k flying in from outside Ireland. Disclosure: I work here
There's an article about moving to Ireland in Hacker News top 10
A few links published in the last 7 days alone:
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/tech-f... http://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/34294-ndrc-rec... http://blog.websummit.net/2013/09/19/a-letter-to-irish-start... http://connormurphy.blogspot.ie/2013/09/a-letter-from-irish-...
I really wanted to believe this but after spending a good 15 minutes trawling through both of those incubator's portfolios, I'm left with the inescapable feeling that they're simply well polished investor fleecing vehicles with a specialization in putting lipstick on pigs...
How are any of these "startups" remotely likely to make any kind of respectable return for an incubator (and by extension the poor investors that have bankrolled it)?
http://wayra.org/en/startup/naymit?field_startup_area_del_pr...
http://www.ndrc.ie/projects/gotcha-ninjas/
http://www.ndrc.ie/projects/sneaky-vegetables/
http://www.ndrc.ie/projects/fred/
http://www.ndrc.ie/projects/busy-moos/
Color me very sceptical..
Two obvious statements:
The vast majority of startups (incubated or otherwise) either fail, or plateau without giving a "respectable return".
Investment, regardless of the stage is risky.
I might add a third: if an "incubator" is peddling investment opportunities off the back of such an obviously sub prime portfolio, wise money should stay well away as should wise startups.
Sadly, the same rot seems to be spreading to the tech industry and, if left unchecked, I fear will one day soon result in our own subprime/CDO style watershed moment. If (when?) that happens, it will make it a lot harder for honest/sensbile startups to attract the investment they need.
Sensible startups will never have a problem raising money, that's if they even need it. A lack of local funding does not mean that funding cannot be secured from sources outside Ireland -- plenty of Irish startups have done that btw.
I think your view of what's going on in Ireland is tainted, and it's not the same as the property boom or the financial crisis associated with it.
For one thing, there is no "startup boom" in Ireland. At least not in the same way as there was in property. The level of investment isn't even in the same ball park. Most startups can't even get a bank loan of a few grand, for starters. And banks are not cozying up to founders in the same way they did to property developers.
There are no dodgy dealings going on behind closed doors, and no one has the ear of a Minister.
You're not going to see your average taxi driver borrow to invest in a startup because he's suddenly rich on paper.
And unlike the finite amount of land available to develop in places like Dublin, there are no such constraints on good business models, with good market potential, backed by a strong team.
Also, I don't remember there ever being a property "scene".
What we need is a healthy startup ecosystem. I've been active in the "startup scene" since 2007. I've seen the growth of startups, I've seen the rise of a strong tech community, I've seen the rise of all the accelerators. The level of investment has risen, but not at the same pace or scale. These are some of the necessary component for a healthy ecosystem.
And like in nature-based ecosystems, things die to make way for new lifeforms.
Anyway, I'm rambling now... need coffee :)
Your view is your view, but I don't see things the way you've painted them.
It use to be a case you can count the tech groups on one hand (for me anyway)! Also there are many entrepreneurs meetups happening around town as well. It's really exciting to be in Dublin at the moment, although I do wish the same amount of activity would happen in other cities/towns around the country.
As many mentioned before me, go and check out the meetups around town (via meetup.com, lanyrd.com and sign up to Dublin StartupDigest). This all leads to a vibrant tech community (good cafés also helps). I might warn you though, there is something happening most nights every week. Enjoy!
sounds like a meaningless platitude to me. From my experience most companies have huge difficulties finding good irish candidates because they are both just low in numbers and inclined to immigrate to London.
What I meant more so was that government policy seems to be pushing Irish innovation into a corner, while cheerleading a 'knowledge economy' that probably doesn't jive with our ideas of what a knowledge economy is. You only have to look at the recent reductions in the wage-floor for importing tech workers, on a fast-track visa scheme, from outside the EU, to see what I mean. If we had a thriving tech sector then why are wages stagnant? Why did Sean O Sullivan bleat on about needing to issue, what was it, 15k visas to non-EU people per year? We have a massive EU wide workforce, with massive unemployment and masses of graduates graduating each year. A significant number of STEM grads leave the industry because they can't find work, and yet we don't have enough workers? And if we don't have enough workers then why do they need to lower the wage floor for importing people? Shouldn't wages be rising?
Government policy is purposely driving wages down. Jobbridge internships have been extended to 18 months, and I fear for the effect that this is going to have on the country, in terms of brain-drain for graduates, and general morale.
It sounds like you guys all feel good about our tech sector. I'm glad, because as well as the above, all i've heard for the last 10 years is how terrible our graduates are, and how companies are annoyed that they have to spend money bringing people in from elsewhere. This isn't true of course, they don't have to, it's just part of the same 'we only want geniuses' narrative that's taking place in the US and elsewhere, which is handily also stagnating wages. I could link to probably 50 interviews and articles (if i had enough time) from CEO's of Havok, Demonware, Paypal, Google etc etc saying how poor our country is for talent, and whether you feel good about our tech sector, the statements coming from our indigenous companies, and MNC's, don't make me feel good.
So i'd suggest that if the sector is thriving, it's in spite of our culture, political climate (except for corporation tax), and whatever else, rather than being a thing that was destined to happen.
Anyway nevermind that, if anyone has any more suggestions for meetups, i'd love to hear them. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
Get out there, meet people and I'm sure you'll have a different perspective
The amount of meet ups help make the IT industry in Ireland thrive. There barely goes a week without there being an event on sometime even three to four each week.
Edit: 10 people in Dublin, I think their headcount is double or triple that in total.
I live in Belfast, and there isn't the same variety of big tech, but still tonnes of IT jobs
If I lived in Dublin, I'd go all out to work at Google, or maybe Twitter..
Unless you're a sysadmin, I don't think there are a whole lot of jobs going in Ireland at Facebook, Twitter or Amazon.
Also, you can work from a Dublin base for these companies I am fairly sure.
I am just illustrating that there is plenty of opportunities for those who go looking!
Just to illustrate what I meant about sysadmins being a priority for these companies, look at Facebook's job page: https://www.facebook.com/careers/locations/dublin
And Amazon's (note, it's paginated): https://uk-amazon.icims.com/jobs/search?pr=2&searchLocation=...
I wasn't telling people not to investigate these companies, just that their isn't a glut of jobs that their size would suggest. There are companies a fraction of the size hiring more developers than the big guys at any given time.
I'm sure you can sometimes work from a Dublin base for these companies, I'm also sure that would be an exception to the norm.
If you're a sysadmin by trade or want to be (a minority here I think), you could do far worse than apply to Google, Facebook or Amazon.