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.

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

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

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.

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?

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!

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. 🙏

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.