Opening the gateway to Europe

There is no denying the Irish software industry is currently buzzing with opportunity. The good news is that the exponential growth it has shown in the last decade looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. As Jennifer Condon, head of Forbairt's National Software Directorate, explains: "Ten years ago there were 1,500 people employed in the software industry in Ireland. Now that figure is 15,000 and there are still opportunities everywhere." Roughly half of all software workers are currently employed by foreign - typically American - multinationals, such as Microsoft, who have chosen to use Ireland as a gateway to the European market. The remaining half work in the indigenous software sector which is made up of nearly 500Irish owned software companies. The breadth of activity is reflected in the diverse recruitment needs of the sector, says Ms Condon.

"There are employment opportunities for all sorts of skills within the industry, from people with computer degrees to business studies backgrounds," she says. "People are inclined to think that the industry is made up of "tekkies" beavering away at screens all day, when in fact that is not the case. For example, a software company dealing in financial services products will need people with banking and business skills. There is also a great demand for people with degrees in business studies or sciences who take a one-year postgraduate diploma in computers."

It can be a very attractive industry to work in, she feels. "It is a young industry and the companies in it understand the need to be flexible. Software companies tend not to have strict management structures because they are not dealing in production line stuff. All their products are going to be slightly different to the last one which means they have to be flexible in their approach."

The sector also offers tremendous opportunities for entrepreneurs with technical nous, she feels. "People are encouraged to go and set up their own company - in how many other sectors is that really possible? For this reason there is a sense of excitement in the industry. Ireland is currently running at a level of 50 start-ups a year in software development."

Despite the youthfulness of the sector you don't need to be straight out of college to participate, she points out. "There is tremendous scope for people to retrain and reskill in this area, whatever their age. Everyone seems to focus on the young, trendy, straight out of college types that go into software, but there are so many different styles of job available in the sector that there is a place for all sorts of skills and experience.

"Women who have had families and are now trying to get back into the market, for example, are a perfect target for the industry. I think it is very important as an industry that we don't blinker ourselves to only working with shiny young graduates."

Ian Hyland, services sector specialist with FAS, agrees. "There is a myth that the software sector is populated only by whizzkids, but in FAS we have had many people in their 30s who have successfully made career changes into the software industry. Age isn't a barrier in this field. It is very much a team-based environment, too, with good social interaction. There is a misconception that the work entails a bunch of nerds staring at screens and not talking to anybody."

Robert Cochran, director of the National Centre for Software Engineering at DCU, is also optimistic about the scope for growth in the software sector.

"There is certainly no obvious reason on the horizon why the sector can't continue to grow at its current rate," he says. "If it does, depending on how you classify workers in the sector, I would expect there to be 25,000 working in the industry by the year 2000 and that is probably an underestimate. Such demand for staff has already placed upward pressure on wages. Newly graduated software workers in areas ranging from technical support to software development can expect starting salaries of £14,000 minimum.

Cochran defines three specific areas of activity within the software industry. These comprise in-house software development departments which in effect work for one client alone. Secondly, there are software houses that work on a commission basis for a number of clients. Finally, the fastest growing type segment, is that which makes products for the open market.

So is the software sector a field of dreams?

"Everybody in the business dreams of becoming the next Bill Gates," he says. "Being the next Iona is probably more realistic." Given that Iona Technologies - which started as a TCD campus company less than a decade ago - saw its managing director Chris Horn's personal fortune rise to £30 million when the company floated on a US stock exchange earlier this year, that's not bad at all.