



Over the last 5 years Waterford has seen huge growth in attracting Tech companies, both indigenous and international. The business assistance of Arclabs Research & Innovation Centre, the IDA and Waterford IT providing excellent STEM students, has been a huge success. In 2017, we will see the announcement of an official Tech Hub in Waterford and that has a huge potential for the county. I have spent some time assisting software companies to recruit talent in Waterford. There are huge benefits for companies to setup there and for candidates to re-locate there. Now that there are more and more Tech companies establishing themselves in Waterford, candidates can have a better sense of job security. If you do re-locate to Waterford but you don't enjoy the particular company or the role, there are plenty of other Tech companies in the area, which is an important factor.

The obvious reason for a re-location from the Capital City is the cost of living, in Dublin average rent is €1600, in Waterford it is €735. People living in the big smoke are not necessarily making the big bucks, when salaries and cost of living are put in perspective with their confreres in the country. Your time spent on a commute to work can be your social time, family time or just your "you time". Maybe that time could be spent on the beach, with a lot of California companies in Waterford, they love to be near the beach. Waterford has some great beaches not far from the city. If you like a place full of history and culture, Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland. Oh and it also has it's own Airport too. Here is the popular website Lovin Dublin's take on it. "Amazing things Waterford has that you won't get in Dublin".

I recently spoke with a Senior Software Developer who moved from Berlin to live in Waterford.

So why Ireland?

We were looking at moving to an English-speaking Country, as we felt that to plant roots and flourish in a place, you need to be able to connect with other people. While in Berlin working in English was never an issue but we were missing out on social life, friends and ways to integrate ourselves and be part of a wider community, simply because of our poor German.

We were in love with Ireland. People are very friendly here, and everywhere you go it's just beautiful.

Taxes are a big deal. My salary, on a gross basis, only got marginally better when moving here. But after taxes, it feels like a massive raise. When compared to the crazy amount of taxes we used to pay in Germany, there's just no comparison.

The biggest tech companies are here and very exciting startups.





Why Waterford?

I started to apply for jobs in Dublin, Cork and Waterford. A company in Waterford got in touch with me and they made me a good offer. We had family there and it seemed like a great company to work for, so we just went for it.

Outside of family, the other big incentive for us was the thought that cost-of-living in Waterford would be way more reasonable. In that we were right, and in fact we're currently living off my salary, while my wife is studying at WIT. I doubt that would have been possible if had chosen Dublin.

The big reason for Waterford is that you can maintain the right balance between working for great companies (and there really are some of them here), while being able to maintain a good and healthy lifestyle (the beaches are so nice), with low costs of living and no big commute.





Of course it's different for everyone but it's nice to get the perspective of someone who has immigrated to Ireland. If you are thinking of doing the same or interested in hearing more, please let me know. One of my Waterford based clients has got 2 Senior opportunities, a Senior Software Engineer and a Senior Infrastructure DevOps Engineer. Their benefits include Health Insurance, Pension, Phone and Home Broadband.





by Darren O'Dwyer















