Falling for Ireland’s Vibrant Lifestyle

For Alex, a QA Automation Engineer with DING, living abroad has always been on the cards. Originally from Timisoara in Western Romania, he’s been living in Ireland for over five months. He explains: “I always wanted to live abroad and explore a different culture.” Alex fell in love with Dublin after an initial visit in 2013, where he explains: “I left with a really nice picture in my head about the city and the people living here.” When the opportunity came up to move over, he jumped at it.

A Rainbow of Nationalities

One of the things that attracted Alex to Ireland was the international feel. He says: “There is a rainbow of nationalities here which makes the city much more colourful.” He has found people here live up to Ireland’s perception as a friendly nation. Alex explains: “People are very kind to each other and Irish people are very friendly so that combination made me want to move here.”

The Move Over

The move over with his girlfriend was quite straightforward, in part thanks to the support of DING’s HR team. He explains: “Their tips were very helpful, especially when it came to practical things like finding a flat to rent or opening a bank account. The public sector is very organised here and I was able to solve a lot of things online.” Integrating into Irish culture came easily to Alex, who says he and his girlfriend felt at home within the first month. Now he notes: “At this point, my girlfriend says she can’t imagine herself living somewhere else – me neither.”

The Work

“You’ll never hear me complaining that it’s a Monday and I have to go to work.” Alex laughs. He’s enjoying working at DING, gets on well with his colleagues and likes the culture. He says: “DING’s office is a big open space. It is not closed off by cubicles, so I feel closer to my colleagues who are all young and motivated.” He’s also had the opportunity to work on exciting projects since he started. Welcome news, Alex explains: “The most exciting project I’ve worked on so far was working from scratch on automating mobile apps. This was because I had the opportunity to be involved in the architecture of the framework.”

Community of Tech Experts

“Many of my friends have told me that Ireland is the Silicon Valley of Europe, and indeed, this is how it feels.” Alex notes. And although he hasn’t attended any tech meetups yet, it’s something that’s definitely on his to-do list. He explains: “There are a lot of activities and meetups for tech experts. So far I’ve attended only online meetups and webinars but I’ve registered and will take part in QA meetups in Dublin as well.”

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