[ILUG] Goodbye

[Ian Kiigan]

(sorry for continuing this off-topic conversation on the list)

Well, you're not the only person leaving the country for
one reason or another. I'm leaving Ireland also this week...
reasons include the fact that Dublin is ludicrously expensive
these days (rent etc) the job market sucks, and I'm sick of
giving Eircom my money for massive ISDN bills.

However I think it is a little trite of you to attribute your
failure to find a job on "anti-American sentiment" as you put it.
You may have noticed that a LOT of other people (Irish or otherwise)
are finding the IT job market tough at the moment. Bottom line is:
it's a tough market, with lot's of highly skilled people looking
for work. Last time I was job hunting (back in June) it took
several weeks of full-time searching, phone calls, interviews.

If you couldn't find a job here, instead of blaming all your
worldly problems on alleged European racism, why not look
closer to home for the problem (i.e. yourself). If you are telling
me that you absolutely found it *impossible* to find any decent
IT related job in Europe despite spending several months searching
full-time, I would say that you either (a) don't have adequate skills &
experience for the jobs which you are applying for or (b) are being
unrealistic or overly fussy in your salary expectations or job
requirements. The solution to those problems include (a) improve
your skillset or (b) lower your expectations. As IT professionals
it is clear that one requires the ability to be flexible and adapt
to changing market conditions. For example, if the world decided
tomorrow that something like C# was the greatest thing since sliced
bread and all the Java development jobs evaporated, all the Java guys
would just go off and learn C#. It's called "versatility".

While I will be the first to put my hand up and say that Ireland's
immigration system is an absolute disgrace and a national embarrassment
(yes, I'm one of those people who has sat out on Harcourt St. with my
non-European fiancee all night at the immigration office in the freezing
cold) I do know plenty of Americans who live here and work here in IT and
have had no trouble.

In summary, I can't think of ANY company in Ireland that would not
want to fill a vacancy with "the best person for the job", wherever
they are from. If you have encountered companies that were unwilling
to go through the hassle of hiring you and arranging your Irish work
permit (which is a considerable investment of time and money) that
is no worse than the many hi-tech company in the USA who are unwilling
to hire people seeking H1B visas.

Regards

Ian

Ian Kiigan
ian at kiigan.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ilug-admin at linux.ie [mailto:ilug-admin at linux.ie]On Behalf Of
> cybersean3000 at yahoo.com
> Sent: 10 December 2001 15:24
> To: ilug at linux.ie; social at linux.ie
> Subject: [ILUG] Goodbye
>
>
> For a bit of news you Irish will enjoy!
>
> I have decided to return to America.  We came here in March
> seeking a better life; a life where our children could walk to school,
> where they could walk down the street to play with their friends, and
> where we did not have to go to the hospital every Halloween to have
> the sweets X-Rayed for foreign objects such as razor blates, sewing
> needles and hypodermics.
>
> I figured that if anything went wrong with the start-up company I
> came over to work for, my skill set and experience could find a job
> rather quickly.  I did not figure anti-American sentiment into the
> equation.  I guess Ireland would be happy to have me as long as I
> was on holiday spreading my dosh around, and not happy to have
> me here seeking work.  This experience will always be fresh in my
> mind whenever a european crosses my desk for an interview.
>
> You have until 20 Dec to bash me, berate me, and what ever else it
> is you do in your free time.
>
> l8r!
>
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug at linux.ie
> http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug for (un)subscription
> information.
> List maintainer: listmaster at linux.ie
>
>