Make IT in Cork

We are now half way through our Ireland odyssey, and it is high time to thank the people who brought us here: Make IT in Cork.

This journey began at the beginning of the year on Twitter, and it's all my wife's fault.

As a PhD researcher looking into online recruitment and HR, she had been following relevant discussions on Twitter closely. Over time, she found that she shared many opinions on mobile recruitment with a man by the name of John Dennehy, CEO of Zartis Ltd. the company that owns Make IT in Cork and its sister company, Make IT in Ireland. They shared so many opinions, in fact, that John invited her over to Cork as a visiting scholar in order to learn more about what Zartis are doing in the mobile recruiting space. http://zartis.com/

We had been to Ireland twice before on short holiday trips, and absolutely loved it, so the decision to come to Cork for two months did not take long.

In all honesty, it took about 30 seconds.

But what is this company that invites people over to Ireland? And why are they doing it?

Here's what Make IT in Cork had to say:

www.makeITinCork.com

That is the official line. But there is another side to the company, and of course the people involved.

The guys at Make IT in Cork have made sure that we felt welcome in the city. They gave us some tips on where to go and what to see, and even took us out to see some of the lesser-known places in Cork city.

Cork Coffee Roasters, McCartney Street, Cork

Siobhán introduces Anu to possibly the best coffee in town.

 

The Hi-B Bar, a Cork institution, just don't answer your phone!

 

They have included us in local social events and introduced us to people, and also offered to help with day-to-day stuff like houses and schools

This should not be overlooked. Moving to another country, even for a short visit, can be challenging. But Make IT in Cork have helped to make the transition as smooth as possible. Every time I needed advice or just a friendly face to talk to, John, Siobhán and Ronan have been available and more than happy to help. That kind of support is priceless!

But these activities are not just confined to Cork. The sister company running the country-wide initiative called “Make IT in Ireland” is also helping to bring IT talent to the Emerald Isle, primarily to Dublin:

www.MakeITinIreland.com

Ireland is such a beautiful place, and the people are just the friendliest and most welcoming in the world. I know that many an Irish person must get sick of hearing that, but it's true.

And here's another thing that's true: the Irish IT and Tech-sector is quietly booming even though the headlines talk about austerity.

 

There are more and more opportunities for IT and tech talent opening up all the time, with no signs of slowing. Also, 2013 is a great year to come to Ireland thanks to "The Gathering", a year-long celebration of all things Irish. Towns, cities and villages across the country are organising their own celebrations and inviting those who have left and those who have never been to come to Ireland to enjoy everything it has to offer.

And let me tell you, it has a hell of a lot to offer. Come and see for yourself.

Cork Passport, phase 2 - Game on!

Well, what a response to my last post about the Cork passport.

There has been lots of interest in my adventures around Cork, particularly relating to acquiring sufficient points to get the passport.

Well, good news. Cork Rebel Week have finally conceded and awarded me my Cork passport! Not in the flesh yet, I hasten to add, but they have tweeted about it, and as that tweet is now public property, the passport is as good as mine.

They made one mistake, though. Oh, yes. A big one.

They assumed (they probably didn't, it just sounds better) that now that I had been awarded the Cork passport that I would just sit back and enjoy the view of the River Lee from my open-top Pope mobile as I drive slowly around the city waving at strangers, Queen-Elizabeth style, flush from my new honorary Corkonian status.

No, no, no, no, no! I am nowhere near finished. In fact, I'm just getting warm.

And I told them as much. And they took it as a challenge. And they tweeted it to the entire Twitterverse. Fair enough, I'm game - bring it on!

So, now we have the situation where I will attempt to get as many Cork passport points as I can, and anyone out there is welcome to beat me. Let's call it #Corkpassportpointworldrecord, which is a ridiculously long hashtag and I don't expect you to use it.

In the interests of fairplay, I will now publish my points to date, and I have to warn you (and the CRW people) that there may be some potential points here that were not included in the previous count because the activities are not explicitly included in the list, but I think they are worth points. We will let Cork Rebel Week decide.

• 500 for international travel documents terminating in Ireland
• 250 for pre-registering for my Cork Passport
• 100 for sharing a CRW status on my Facebook page or Twitter
• 500 for the picture of me with Pat O'Connell
• 100 for sharing a CRW update on the Pop the Cork page

Those are the confirmed points totalling = 1450 points

There are a few other activites that I would like to claim points for:

• We are a family of five, so there are five sets of international travel documents terminating in Ireland. Does that equal 500 x 5?
• We don't have our return tickets yet. Any points for that?
• We have had one Finnish and one Irish visitor to Cork, neither had been here before. Points for bringing visitors to Cork?
• We have another Finnish visitor arriving this week. As above?
• My parents are coming from England to visit Ireland for the first time next week and are flying directly into Cork airport. Must get points for that??

Finally, a suggestion.

As I continue my adventures around Cork, I will try to wear my red The Rebel County T-shirt as much as possible. If you spot me, stop me, take a picture and tweet it @CorkRebelWeek and @RobiBrooks with the hashtag #spottherebel.

I think anyone who does that should get some points. Cork Rebel Week can decide if this is ok, and how many points should be awarded etc.

Watch this space - this is gonna be fun!

The Cork Passport

Normally, of course, any regular traveller to Ireland would not need a separate passport to enter County Cork. But for one day, on the 16th October, visas will be handed out at the rebel county borders in exchange for a donation to various Cork charities.

Why, you ask? Because 16th October will become Cork Independence Day, coinciding with the birthday of Michael Collins, who was born near Clonakilty, Co. Cork on 16th October 1890 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader) and World Food Day.

In fact, the entire week of 14th - 20th October is Cork Rebel Week in Cork http://www.corkrebelweek2013.com/what-is-rebel-week, and forms part of a much larger celebration taking place throughout 2013 in Ireland called "The Gathering" http://www.thegatheringireland.com/.

The idea is to invite both those who have left Ireland and those who have never been to experience Irish culture, tradition, business, sport, etc and have fun throughout the Emerald Isle.

As part of the build up to Cork Rebel Week, the organisers have thought up all sorts of activities to promote the celebrations; the Cork Passport is just one of these activities. Here's what it says on the Cork Rebel Week webpage:

So, Pop the Cork decided to get involved.

Cork Rebel Week, or CRW for short, devised a point system for anyone who wants a Cork Passport. All you have to do is earn 1000 points by performing certain activities and you can claim your Cork passport. Here's how it works:

On 3rd April I quickly added up my points and discovered that I had 850 points.

• 500 for international travel documents terminating in Ireland
• 250 for pre-registering for my Cork Passport
• 100 for sharing a CRW status on my Facebook page or Twitter

Only 150 points shy of the required 1000. I had already been in Cork for 3 weeks and had posted loads of stuff about the city on various social media channels and I was sure that the guys at CRW would award me the missing 150 points.

I posted about it on the Pop the Cork Facebook page... no reply.
I posted about it on the CRW Facebook page... no reply.
I tweeted about it... no reply.

Damn! These guys are tough. They don't just hand out Cork Passports for free.

I needed a plan.

I went back to the points table for inspiration, and there it was: "Picture of yourself with one of the CRW ambassadors...". I looked up the ambassadors, and Pat O'Connell's name jumped out at me.

I have already spent a lot of time in the English Market, just because it's a great place to hang out and watch people (that sounds a bit weird), and I knew the place where Pat worked. Then it dawned on me that Pat was the guy in the famous photo of the Queen when she visited Cork last year (2012).

"Well", I thought, "If the Queen can get in a shot with Pat, I should be able to as well".

But I wasn't satisfied with just a simple photo of me and Pat. Oh no.

The guys at CRW had made me wait. They had lulled me into a false sense of security that I had some clout because they had retweeted and favourited my tweets a few times. They had lead me on!!!

Revenge would be sweet.

I decided that I should wear my "Rebel County" T-shirt in the photo with Pat thereby scoring even more points to take my total clear over the 1000 mark. But there was more...

A few days previous, I had heard of a special chocolate bar called a "Langer bar". "Langer" is a slang term specific to Cork, the definition of which I will not go into here. Nevertheless, this chocolate bar, named after such a purely Corkonian word, is only made and sold in one shop in Cork. It is the Corkonian Willy Wonka Golden Ticket of chocolate bars.

With this bar in hand, my rebel county shirt on my back and Pat O'Connell by my side, I would shatter the record for most-points-in-a-single-photo.

Alas, it was not to be. The Half Door Sweet Shop, the only shop in the universe to sell the "Langer bar", was closed every time I managed to make it there. Disappointed, but not broken, I soldiered on to the English Market.

Pat was busy at work when I arrived. I explained why I was there and asked if he wouldn't mind taking a photo with me. He graciously obliged, and we took a few shots. He was a great sport and laughed through the whole thing. I told him I was the Queen's cousin and that she said it was ok to take photos with other English people, too.

So, here it is. Perhaps not a record-breaker, but definitely a high-scoring Cork-Rebel-Week shot.

Those CRW guys must be wondering what hit them.