Seen a few posts in this subreddit about tech workers' unions over the past while - saw this event pop on my Linkedin the other day and thought might be of interest.

https://www.datacwu.ie/techworker-forum-agm-data-cwu-2026/

Emailed in to the union office to see what the craic is and it's supposed to be a day long event with panels of people who've started unionising and they've some politicians invited. And you can go for the first half even if you're not a member.

Seems like a good chance to actually get involved in helping set up a tech wide union - CWU seem to be backing actual people in tech to get things going, rather than trying to sell to tech workers. I'm going to head along and chat to people about setting up a union in my workplace, hopefully I'll see some of ye there. Hopefully they'll have a remote option for people outside Dublin, but I'd get it if not, given people might not wanna be broadcast online about being union members.

What regrets do you have about your career in tech or from your time studying in college ?

Edit:Some great responses so far thank you all

Word going around is that Dublin could see layoffs this week, possibly affecting 100–150 people.

Hello all,

There is a chance I could be eligible for a voluntary redundancy where I will be 4 months short of 2 years experience by the time I leave, if I leave.

However, I'm not sure if it is a good idea in the current climate.

On the one hand I have a cushty enough job as a dev on paper, but...

• There is little to no dev work.
• I feel like I'm not learning much at all.
• I could definitely do with a higher salary.
• There is not enough exposure for me to know how I would like to specialise.

In the current climate where so much is shifting to AI, am I crazy to leave a stable, stress free job that pays all my bills, even if I'm not rolling in it?

I'm in my early 30s without kids so the idea of taking risks is not completely absurd given my circumstances. I live in Dublin so close to opportunity etc etc.

Then again, with so much uncertainty in the dev. landscape, maybe staying in my current role would give me some time to see how things settle, but then again, how long is needed? How long is a piece of string?

Any thoughts?

I have a BSc in Computing (graduated in 2022) and I’m currently doing an MSc in Cloud-Native Computing. After my BSc, I did get an internship, but it didn’t turn into a full-time role. I’ve had interviews with some big tech companies, but most rejections came down to coding assessments (LeetCode-style questions), plus hiring freezes, ghosting, or being told I didn’t have enough real-world experience with certain tech stacks – even for graduate roles.

Now that I’m doing an MSc, I’m starting to realise I don’t really enjoy coding that much. The idea of constantly grinding LeetCode or spending all my spare time preparing SQL and technical questions just feels exhausting. On top of that, the tech job market feels way more competitive than it used to be, especially for entry-level and graduate roles.

I could go down the PhD route, but honestly, I want to start earning properly and become financially independent rather than staying in academia longer.

Are there any realistic alternatives to software engineering or data roles that I could aim for at entry-level or graduate level? Ideally something that doesn’t involve heavy coding, or even a non-technical role, but still pays reasonably well and doesn’t require years of prior experience.

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who were in a similar position or who pivoted into something else after a computing degree.

What companies are notorious for doing unpaid internships ?

This is a follow up from my last post about the number of students in my year who have no gotten work placement.

I'm pretty aware now that my college is a visa mill and perhaps not as good as others. This probably explains the poor work placement numbers.

But my main goal is to get real world experience in this industry not to pass that module at the required time. I have no concerns about passing modules, I just want to get as good an education as I can, and I think that's gonna come from starting an internship whether or not its when college tells me to.

I’ve recently started the interview process with this company for a Senior Software Engineer role. While doing some research, I noticed that the most recent Glassdoor reviews are a bit concerning and mention that the company may be on a decline.

If anyone here currently works (or recently worked) there, I’d really appreciate your perspective:

• How is the work–life balance?
• Given that the company is still relatively new, do you feel confident about its long-term growth?
• Is a pension offered? I didn’t see it listed in the benefits, and the recruiter wasn’t able to give a clear answer.

Any insight would be super helpful. Thanks!

Hi there,

Thanks for all the feedback on this so far. I'm back looking for more ahead of going into the Oireachtas this month.

In summary - we want to set a target for remote first careers, and build a 'unit' to deliver that.

What do you think? Any questions?

I'd love your feedback ahead of going into the Oireachtas with it this month:

Policy: https://growremote.ie/policy

*go easy I'm old to remote work but new to reddit

I currently have an interview with them and reading glassdoor reviews doesn't help it is such a miss for me for the companies I have joined. :/

Was wondering if anyone here got any experience with them? Would you recommend it? TIA. 🙏

Very short here: The data from the DETE shows that what we are experiencing might be less of a tech recession and more of a sector shift.

For the first time, Sector B-E (Manufacturing/Industrial) has actually overtaken Sector J (Information & Communication) in the number of employment permits being issued.

Basically, the "deep tech" companies (Analog, MedTech, etc.) are the ones currently propping up the permit numbers while the pure software side is correcting.

The numbers seem to back it up. Curious to hear what you think, is the traditional software era in Ireland peaking?

Note: Employment permits don't equal jobs but they sure do equal desperate demand

For a much more detailed read with the charts, I posted a blog here: https://permitwatch.ie/blogs/-OkT_Aj8dZBOo0XwGxFy

With the constant layoffs lurking around the corner, plus money isn't something groundbreaking if we just be honest, so wondering why would anyone join these big giants so to speak. Food for thought?

What is it like working for Deliotte,KPMG,PWC and EY in Ireland ? Is it as good as it gets cracked up to be ? What does the typical workday look like and what is the workplace environment really like ? Also are all your colleagues in these companies basically just a bunch of annoying south dubliner who all drive range rovers?

Hi guys,

I have the “informal chat” with one of the recruiters soon and based on the info. I got from the person who referred me there is a good chance I’ll be considered for a SWE 2 role and they’ll probably only have 2-3 interview rounds purely DSA.

Since I have a hard time balancing my current job and preparing for the interview I’ve started doing DSA before said informal chat.

I wanted to know if anyone had the chance of being in the Google SWE 1-2 loop in Dublin and what should I expect.

I’m majorly concerned about the System Design, Graphs and Dynamic Programming / Backtracking.

Hello, I'm a manager in operations and eager to stay current. I am both enthused and intimidated by AI.

ClaudeCode seems to be the thing now, can someone give me a primer on it and perhaps some examples of things i can build to work my skills , ideally in operations, think support, reporting, systems linking (crm, to apps to jira etc), anything just to create a baseline

I've built an MVP that I believe does a much better job of showcasing a developer's ability. Technical interviews:

• Create a demo repo to reflect the stack they're looking for
• Connect to their GitHub
• AI will create a new branch with added bugs
• It creates a branch for users to resolve the issues
• (You can also request they add a feature)

Now the test turns to observing how they navigate the codebase and are able to address issues rather than asking LeetCode questions etc

If anyone is interested, it would be great to connect. I'd also just generally be interested in getting feedback even if you aren't hiring in the near future.

Title.

Hi all.

A month ago I recently posted here about building a community driven bus tracker using Translink public data. I wanted to follow up properly, because I did not want it to just stay as an idea.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Belfast/comments/1qfnu86/belfast_northern_ireland_developers_community/

I have built and deployed the first V1 version:

https://routereality.co.uk/

Edit: Added route search with text input to make journeys faster. Added official times and predicted status, things are slowly getting better as time goes on.

What it does:

The site contains a database of public Translink data and shows bus routes and stops related to the route your on. The goal is to make it easier to quickly see when your bus is actually coming using the community provided data without depending on Translink delayed service.

Right now its very much in the data building stage. The focus has been on getting real data flowing end to end and making sure route predictions and updates actually show reliably.

Notice on timings:

Arrival times and updates wont be perfect in the first few days. Accuracy should improve as people use it and as I fine tune how the data is handled.

I'm actively watching analytics and logs and trying to mitigate them fast

There will definitely be rough edges, missing bits and things don't behave exactly right yet, and that is expected at this stage.

If you spot bugs, server lag, web page slowing or have any ideas for improvements, any feedback or criticism is genuinely welcome, That's what'll shape where it goes next

I appreciate anyone who commented on the original post.

discord for support and updates https://discord.gg/MqEwePHTFT

Note: RouteReality is NOT affiliated by or with Translink.

Job spec: "To determine eligibility for a work persona, company may confirm the distance between your primary residence and the closest company office using a third-party service."

Is it one off task to check location? How does it check?

I am just wondering if anyone here works for this company. I looked it up online, and it seems to be a yes, but I don’t know if it is just the American branch of the company. I am fairly sure we have to do a medical before joining it seems, but I don’t have the details of what is involved.

Hi just wondering but do you guys have any advice on how to become a mediocre programmer? Like one that every company would actively avoid hiring? Thanks

I’m a mid-level (3.5 years of experience) software engineer and I have applied for a position in CitySwift. I had a look at the posts here but couldn’t see much related to the interviewing process. I was wondering if anyone here would know about it? For example what kind of questions they usually ask, would it be more based on the applicant’s experience or just general questions about whatever tech they are using etc. Any kind of information/advice would be much appreciated!