We hear lots about what we could learn from the excellent German apprenticeships system, so Robin Gehret’s perspective is surprising: he found German education inflexible, while the Irish system allowed him to flourish in ways he never could have there.
The 29-year-old tech worker was born in Nuremberg, grew up in Bavaria and moved to Ireland in 2017. He lives in Kinsale, Co Cork.
German education works for many, he stresses. “The problem is, if you’re not a mainstream person who gets everything on the first try, you’re pretty much left out.”
Aged 10 or 11, children are streamed into one of three levels of secondary, which determines their future path: into trades, office work, or college.
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“If you don’t get into high school, it’s very difficult to go to college.”
Gehret did an apprenticeship in insurance and finance, then applied for a customer service job with Apple in Amsterdam. Apple in Cork poached him for German-speaking technical customer support. “Before that, Ireland was not on my personal radar.” It took a while to “get used to the Cork English” he says, now with his own Cork lilt.
A couple of years later, aged 24, he discovered he could apply to college as a mature student. “I couldn’t believe it, to be honest. This seems too good to be true. I’m thankful for this opportunity.” He graduated this month from UCD with a 2:1 degree in business studies, through hybrid study while working. He enjoyed the learning style.
“In Germany everything is competitive, pressured. You have to be the greatest, better than anyone else, otherwise you fall through the cracks, you don’t get a job, people don’t take you seriously. That’s only my experience.
“In Ireland, I felt they’re happy I’m there, especially the lecturers in UCD. They’re happy to support you. That was a completely different sound to me. It was a different type of teaching, more detail and objective-oriented, more collaborative than trade school or college in Germany: here’s the content, figure it out yourself, if you can’t, you’re not in the right place.”
His first challenge here was viewing “substandard, mouldy, damp houses”. He’s had his share of “dodgy landlords, faulty apartments”, he says. He says housing, both availability and quality, is “an absolute disaster”. Advertised properties are “always taken. It’s hard to get a viewing. And the standard, in my opinion, is absolutely terrible, whether old or new properties. There’s always something wrong”, and not small stuff, he says, but roof-leaks in new houses, water coming out of power sockets, mould.
Irish people are extremely friendly, something I enjoy day-to-day. The lifestyle is more laid-back. No one is putting any expectations on you or telling you what to do, which is very common in Germany
Avert your squeamish eyes now. One horror story he recounts, from a modern rented apartment in Cork City, doesn’t bear thinking about. “It sounds kind of gross, but every time the neighbour used their toilet facilities, their faeces actually came out of my shower. It flooded the entire apartment multiple times a year.” He lived there for three years, “because I couldn’t find anything else.” “I will be honest, it left a toll on me.”
Gehret met his girlfriend about three years ago, and they’re renting in her hometown, Kinsale. Happily, “our landlord is great.”
“My career here progressed positively very quickly.” He’s worked for multiple American multinationals, including two lay-offs (“without a support network, it’s quite the psychological and professional challenge”). He now works for HubSpot, and “I love my job, the people and the company”. He’s a principal services consultant, project planning implementation of Hubspot’s marketing software for companies in Germany.
He works remotely, so a couple of times a year he works for a few weeks from his parents’ home, seeing them “more often than their neighbours’ kids living in Germany! My parents see that for me personally, I’m happier in Ireland, my jobs are better than I could have ever imagined in Germany. They’re happy that I’m happy, that I have my girlfriend, that everything kind of works.”
The many positives about living in Ireland include “fantastic and accessible” education, and the good job market, especially for German-speakers. He enjoys the “international, dynamic and fun” work environment; because we’re English speaking there’s “a potpourri of different nationalities, people from all over the world working together. It’s way more internationalised than Germany, even in smaller companies”.
“Irish people are extremely friendly, something I enjoy day-to-day. The lifestyle is more laid-back. No one is putting any expectations on you or telling you what to do, which is very common in Germany. Irish people usually say, let him do his thing. If it doesn’t bother me, it’s fine. Ireland, aside from the weather, is a stunning island with fantastic beaches, nature and air quality.”
There are negatives, all the same. Housing, obviously. Healthcare is “not transparent, confusing, barely accessible and the quality is bad. The infrastructure and ease of getting from A to B is non-existent. Buses, trains and taxis are not fit for purpose. Government services are confusing, not easy to access and do not hold their own promises”.
Since meeting his girlfriend, he’s been introduced to “the Irish world”. Now “I have different insights into how Irish people live, through her. It’s things you don’t see, how families interact with each other, what they do on the weekends, how a family gathering might look like. Those small things.”
At first, “as a foreigner, everything is new”. With time, “I also see the negative sides, that people here have the same issues Germans have, which you probably wouldn’t see with just friends or colleagues. To actually experience the real life, that’s something I really enjoy.”
Ireland is “family-centric. Family plays a role every day in their lives, at least that’s what I’m experiencing”. Family is important in Germany too, but interactions are different and family members may not see each other as often. “In Ireland, I feel it’s this constant flow of family information, driving people around in the countryside, in a different way than in Germany. I wouldn’t say better or worse.”
Gehret is “very happy that Ireland accepted me when I moved here. I never had issues being a foreigner. My career progressed very positively. I never imagined I’d achieve what I have in such a short time”.
However, “it is getting more stressful to live in Ireland”. The negatives “remind me daily of what is not working. I say this from a perspective that I want it to work, because I want to stay, play my part by paying taxes, but also receive quality services and infrastructure in return. Loads of things are better in Germany than in Ireland, no doubt, but I really, really like it in Ireland. I really see the positive things. I have my girlfriend, I have my job, and that’s all positive.” If infrastructural problems were fixed “I think Ireland could be an absolutely great country, because it already has so many positive things. It’s a very, very easy life when it comes to people and connections”.
