ICT Specialists (Executive Officer level) in Civil Service

KJK1LL3R

CryWolf wrote: »

That’s disappointing.... What stream(s) did you apply for? Did you get your order of Merit for your location?

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=110902855&postcount=1367

CryWolf

HugoMyBoss wrote: »

Best of luck

Also best of luck to you. I applied for West of Ireland.... so cross our fingers 🀞

bada_bing

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

I rang up PAS on Friday to ask for any updates as I haven't heard anything back ever since I got my order of merit email. I was told that there has been no demand for IT staff in rural locations and that all the jobs were based in Dublin. Bit disappointing as I was hoping there might have been something in at least one of the midlands counties.

I have to agree with you , i'm not one bit impressed with the whole campaign for both software development and infrastructure. i get the sense they're playing around with people's hopes and expectations for those around the country, i think they're acting rather flippant about the whole campaign.

KJK1LL3R

bada_bing wrote: »

I have to agree with you , i'm not one bit impressed with the whole campaign for both software development and infrastructure. i get the sense they're playing around with people's hopes and expectations for those around the country, i think they're acting rather flippant about the whole campaign.

Yeah the original advert stated that there would be jobs in the likes of Laois but sadly these must've been few and far between. Did they ever say how long these panels last for?

ireland456

Does anyone know how a dept looks for these ict positions

Was speaking to hr in my dept and they didn't even know this panel existed.

How is a dept ment to use a panel if doesn't know it exists?

Dytalus

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

Yeah the original advert stated that there would be jobs in the likes of Laois but sadly these must've been few and far between. Did they ever say how long these panels last for?

Past EO panels I've been on have lasted two years. On my first EO panel it took several months from getting my order of merit to beginning my work.

ncit9933

What happens if you reject an offer in Dublin (whilst waiting on the possibility of a more suitable location in Dublin)?
Do you get removed from the panel?

Dytalus

ncit9933 wrote: »

What happens if you reject an offer in Dublin (whilst waiting on the possibility of a more suitable location in Dublin)?
Do you get removed from the panel?

That's my understanding. Turning down a position for one panel removes you from that panel (or any that you gave a lower priority if you selected multiple locations)

ncit9933

It seems like a fairly fickle lottery to where you get offered so!

The Red Lantern

ncit9933 wrote: »

It seems like a fairly fickle lottery to where you get offered so!

Are you not happy with where your offer is? PAS are usually sound if you ask them for somewhere else

rostalof

Dytalus wrote: »

That's my understanding. Turning down a position for one panel removes you from that panel (or any that you gave a lower priority if you selected multiple locations)

It will remove you from the panel of the location you turned down. It doesn't affect your placing on panels for other locations.

bada_bing

ncit9933 wrote: »

It seems like a fairly fickle lottery to where you get offered so!

I would agree with that to some extent, i mean if you are placed no.1 on the order of merit for Dublin, you don't get to pick which job you would like to go for. You could still get the least suitable job offered to you by PAS for some location in Dublin when there could be other jobs more suited to your preference. So in that sense it is like a lottery indeed. Personally i think if you are 1st in order of merit , they should list the jobs available to you and then you can make the choice as to which job you would like to go for and then continue onto the next person and so on...

The Red Lantern

Has anyone worked in revenue IT before? I'm starting there soon and just wanna get a heads up on what to expect

MCBrowne

Do you think is this panel exhausted now?

rostalof

MCBrowne wrote: »

Do you think is this panel exhausted now?

The results for the panels were out on the 7th of August last year so wouldn't the panel run until at least the 7th of August this year? Or the following year if it's a two year panel, as a lot of them are.

bada_bing

I've been on this panel and know plenty of others on it whose's OOM are in the top 10 and 20, they're still waiting to hear something after a year and i wouldn't hold out much hope for this panel as it seems to be a complete shambles. I did get a job out of it but frankly i don't think it's worth the salary and i'm looking for other jobs as they do take the piss by trying to get ICT EO's to do so much above the pay grade. There's been no training and it's all over the place and i'm hoping to hear back from another job interview. You're better off applying for standard EO jobs in my opinion unless you're quite young and have little experience in the IT market

rostalof

bada_bing wrote: »

I've been on this panel and know plenty of others on it whose's OOM are in the top 10 and 20, they're still waiting to hear something after a year and i wouldn't hold out much hope for this panel as it seems to be a complete shambles. I did get a job out of it but frankly i don't think it's worth the salary and i'm looking for other jobs as they do take the piss by trying to get ICT EO's to do so much above the pay grade. There's been no training and it's all over the place and i'm hoping to hear back from another job interview. You're better off applying for standard EO jobs in my opinion unless you're quite young and have little experience in the IT market

I thought you turned down the EO ICT role you were offered in Agriculture House and took another job you had applied for?

MCBrowne

bada_bing wrote: »

I've been on this panel and know plenty of others on it whose's OOM are in the top 10 and 20, they're still waiting to hear something after a year and i wouldn't hold out much hope for this panel as it seems to be a complete shambles. I did get a job out of it but frankly i don't think it's worth the salary and i'm looking for other jobs as they do take the piss by trying to get ICT EO's to do so much above the pay grade. There's been no training and it's all over the place and i'm hoping to hear back from another job interview. You're better off applying for standard EO jobs in my opinion unless you're quite young and have little experience in the IT market

Yeah it seem's to be a shambles, I was offered a role in Portaoise but I'm based in Donegal. Not holding out much hope! I should add, I asked if I could do it based from the Agriculture office closest to me remotley and was told that remote working was not an option. Look at us now, all working remotley!

KJK1LL3R

Yesterday afternoon I was contacted by PAS to ask if I would like to be considered for a vacancy for an EO ICT Specialist (Infrastructure and Operations) role with DAFM in Laois. I wasn't told a start date or even where the office was located but I can only assume Portlaoise.

The job description given by PAS back in 2018 was very general so I was wondering if perhaps anyone could tell me a little bit about working in ICT within DAFM at the moment if you wouldn't mind please? Unfortunately I've only been given until close of play on Monday evening to make what is a really live-changing decision as I would need to relocate from County Derry so I would really appreciate any input or feedback you could provide.

rostalof

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

Yesterday afternoon I was contacted by PAS to ask if I would like to be considered for a vacancy for an EO ICT Specialist (Infrastructure and Operations) role with DAFM in Laois. I wasn't told a start date or even where the office was located but I can only assume Portlaoise.

The job description given by PAS back in 2018 was very general so I was wondering if perhaps anyone could tell me a little bit about working in ICT within DAFM at the moment if you wouldn't mind please? Unfortunately I've only been given until close of play on Monday evening to make what is a really live-changing decision as I would need to relocate from County Derry so I would really appreciate any input or feedback you could provide.

I can't comment on DAFM as I have no experience of that department but from speaking to you previously I know you're more than qualified and experienced for the job. Departments don't expect EO ICTs to be a 100% fit for the job. They realise that they're generally hiring either recent graduates or people with a year or two experience in similar roles. You're neither and you'll be an absolute asset to any department!

bada_bing

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

Yesterday afternoon I was contacted by PAS to ask if I would like to be considered for a vacancy for an EO ICT Specialist (Infrastructure and Operations) role with DAFM in Laois. I wasn't told a start date or even where the office was located but I can only assume Portlaoise.

The job description given by PAS back in 2018 was very general so I was wondering if perhaps anyone could tell me a little bit about working in ICT within DAFM at the moment if you wouldn't mind please? Unfortunately I've only been given until close of play on Monday evening to make what is a really live-changing decision as I would need to relocate from County Derry so I would really appreciate any input or feedback you could provide.

i can tell you about my experience but i'm sure not everyone will have the same experience as me so be mindful of that. I was working as ICT specialist in Kildare in Infrastructure although that was not my preferred stream. I was already there under a different temporary software development contract but because i already knew the place and most of the staff, i was happy enough to stay on as ICT specialist as i applied for the competition while i was under the temp contract. One thing that i was really concerned with was the lack of anything concrete pertaining to the role itself and i think this is something that they use to their advantage.
I assumed i'd be doing standard infrastructure stuff such as fixing computers, troubleshooting problems, hardware stuff etc.. which i had no problem with if that was the case. But within a few weeks i got the nagging feeling that they wanted me to a role similar to senior application developer on a old legacy product that was huge can of worms in DAFM and i was not happy with that and i did not feel it fell into the area of infrastructure. I said i would meet them halfway on it and do a few things but i would not commit fully to what they intended for me. That worked fine for another couple of weeks and then it reared its ugly head again and they asked me to make a choice and i didn't like how they played that game and so i said i would no longer do anything with the product that they wanted me to looked after. Even at that point my job description was still vague and things were tense there for a while and they seemed annoyed with me. Luckily i did find other tasks to do and managed to show them that i could do it well and they were impressed with it. But the whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth and i was always wary of them pulling another thing like that out of left field. Luckily i found another programming job elsewhere in the public sector.
Again as i said it might not be the same for others but i do think my situation is more prevalent in the field of IT within DAFM and always ask for a job description asap and have it in WRITING!!! They're very sneaky about avoiding writing it down or sending it in email as most of the discussions were verbal and they gave me the impression that we had an amicable agreement of what i would be doing and then a few weeks later they'd try and spring something else on me. That's all i can say but do persist on asking for specific details about the job description and don't rely on verbal agreements, they're not worth anything at all.

doc22

Your job is at the hands of the AP/PO and to expect an exact job description in writing is pointless in my opinion they can change your role at will. My experience if you had a task that you couldn't do there was no problem.

doc22

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

Yesterday afternoon I was contacted by PAS to ask if I would like to be considered for a vacancy for an EO ICT Specialist (Infrastructure and Operations) role with DAFM in Laois. I wasn't told a start date or even where the office was located but I can only assume Portlaoise.

The job description given by PAS back in 2018 was very general so I was wondering if perhaps anyone could tell me a little bit about working in ICT within DAFM at the moment if you wouldn't mind please? Unfortunately I've only been given until close of play on Monday evening to make what is a really live-changing decision as I would need to relocate from County Derry so I would really appreciate any input or feedback you could provide.

You're only asked to confirm your interest and once assigned you can ask the departments HR more questions about role and start dates. Only issue is the contacting of references

KJK1LL3R

So even if I confirm my interest at this stage am I effectively commiting to accepting the job immediately or can I ask for more info before making a final conclusive decision? It's a tricky one as it would be a €3.5k pay cut for me compared to my current IT Support role at a university and I'm not sure it would be the wisest decision to relocate for a job that was paying less. Over time I would eventually be able to earn more in the Irish civil service but it would be very hard to stomach the idea that it would take me 3 years to get back to what I'm currently earning now. I also must admit that Laois was actually my 3rd or 4th choice location as ideally I would've preferred Westmeath or Offaly around the likes of Mullingar or Tullamore. And I think I'm correct in thinking that I wouldn't be allowed to transfer to another location for at least two years. It's a very tough decision and I really wish I had more than just a weekend to think it over.

Newport81

What is the salary for these roles?

KJK1LL3R

The salary is €29,609 - €49,960 and I am currently on €33,219.26 with the top of my scale being €37,365.18 so I would eventually be able to earn more in the civil service but it would be hard to stomach the initial loss of €3610.26 and would take 3 or 4 years in the civil servive before I'd be back to my current salary. Not sure if it is wise to relocate for a job that will initially be such a pay cut particularly as I'll have added expenses such rent to pay which I don't currently have to worry about at the moment living at home. If they had offered me the role back at the start of the panel I may have been more tempted but I've had three incremental pay rises in the summers of 2018, 2019 & 2020 since I initially applied for this competition.

doc22

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

So even if I confirm my interest at this stage am I effectively commiting to accepting the job immediately or can I ask for more info before making a final conclusive decision? It's a tricky one as it would be a €3.5k pay cut for me compared to my current IT Support role at a university and I'm not sure it would be the wisest decision to relocate for a job that was paying less. Over time I would eventually be able to earn more in the Irish civil service but it would be very hard to stomach the idea that it would take me 3 years to get back to what I'm currently earning now. I also must admit that Laois was actually my 3rd or 4th choice location as ideally I would've preferred Westmeath or Offaly around the likes of Mullingar or Tullamore. And I think I'm correct in thinking that I wouldn't be allowed to transfer to another location for at least two years. It's a very tough decision and I really wish I had more than just a weekend to think it over.

Nothing starts until DAFM HR call and ask are you interested to arrange start date.

So say Yes now and buy more time?

You'll be waiting longer then 2 years for any transfer unless you're heading to Dublin and that won't be into an IT role either only a general EO position and could be anything. Outside Laois, Silgo, Limerick and Cork there just isn't many regional IT role regardless. Most zones have 30-40 person wait list and as things stand only 1 in 8 positions will be filled by transfer from 2021 , meaning that 200-300 roles will be offered for a given county before it'll be your turn.

Pay wise half the additional will be wiped out in taxes.

An IT Job is an IT job the real question is do you want to live in Portlaoise long term? If you wanted to move back to Derry how hard would it be to be to get a similar roll to what you are doing now in Public sector? Is there promotion options were you are?(they'll be in Irish Civil Service)

KJK1LL3R wrote: »

The salary is €29,609 - €49,960 and I am currently on €33,219.26 with the top of my scale being €37,365.18 so I would eventually be able to earn more in the civil service but it would be hard to stomach the initial loss of €3610.26 and would take 3 or 4 years in the civil servive before I'd be back to my current salary. Not sure if it is wise to relocate for a job that will initially be such a pay cut particularly as I'll have added expenses such rent to pay which I don't currently have to worry about at the moment living at home. If they had offered me the role back at the start of the panel I may have been more tempted but I've had three incremental pay rises in the summers of 2018, 2019 & 2020 since I initially applied for this competition.

This panel only began last year

KJK1LL3R

doc22 wrote: »

Nothing starts until DAFM HR call and ask are you interested to arrange start date.

So say Yes now and buy more time?

You'll be waiting longer then 2 years for any transfer unless you're heading to Dublin and that won't be into an IT role either only a general EO position and could be anything. Outside Laois, Silgo, Limerick and Cork there just isn't many regional IT role regardless. Most zones have 30-40 person wait list and as things stand only 1 in 8 positions will be filled by transfer from 2021 , meaning that 200-300 roles will be offered for a given county before it'll be your turn.

Pay wise half the additional will be wiped out in taxes.

An IT Job is an IT job the real question is do you want to live in Portlaoise long term? If you wanted to move back to Derry how hard would it be to be to get a similar roll to what you are doing now in Public sector? Is there promotion options were you are?(they'll be in Irish Civil Service)



This panel only began last year

I wouldn't intend to live in Portlaoise, my girlfriend lives in Westmeath so I would probably have to initially stay with her family whilst I looked to rent somewhere around Mullingar/Tullamore direction. I know up here in the North of Ireland, a civil service job is kind of viewed as a bit of a dream job in terms of security, promotion prospects, holidays, flexible hours and remote working but I'm not getting the impression the same outlook applies in the South of Ireland? I also noticed that it appears that the IT roles with the local government county councils seem to actually offer better terms when it comes to salary and annual leave entitlement so perhaps I am better off waiting for an opportunity at a local council in the midlands. Since I currently work in an IT support role at a University, I had thought about the likes of Maynooth University or Athlone Institute of Technology but there never seems to be any long-term IT jobs advertised at those places, just insecure one year contracts which are too risky for me to consider relocating for.

doc22

I'd take it so and try to get the service from NI Public Service carried over on the EO scale(ask DAFM HR to see what they say). Goodluck. Other Council roles wouldn't have Flexi for the marginal annual leave gain

KJK1LL3R

doc22 wrote: »

I'd take it so and try to get the service from NI Public Service carried over on the EO scale(ask DAFM HR to see what they say). Goodluck. Other Council roles wouldn't have Flexi for the marginal annual leave gain

I've taken your advice and contacted DAFM HR to see if my NI public service can carry over on the EO scale. I also asked about how the start date works as there is no way I could start immediately given that I would have to serve a notice period then start the lengthy process of relocating to the Republic during what is already tricky times with this covid pandemic.

I did interview for an IT support job with Laois Council back at the start of the year but only managed to finish 3rd on the panel. I wish I had got it though as the salary is significantly better than civil service at €43-52k and the annual leave was 30 days per year plus public holidays and flexi.