Instantaneous Ireland 1

There's a lot of disappointed computer science students around Ireland today, the Irish (southern) Leg of the 'dare to be digital' competition is apparently not going ahead this year or so strong rumor has it. Which of course is a real shame, it was an excellent opportunity for some of the bigger games companies to spot talent, gave the students themselves a platform and generally raised morale around the GD community...that buzz has now ebbed away.......

Yes... so students although always working...I was one of those once…well twice...ok ok I admit it... three times, Engineering, Electronics and Theatre. Yes indeed it was at that time considered a bit of a strange mix (Micks?) of skills, which fortunately for me, time and technological developments have cultivated into a very apt skillset for today’s digital marketplace - add the creativity factors - Imagination: spirituality; discipline and belligerent self belief and you end up writing blogs about it. Oh I suppose you do need to throw in a few life experience factors there just to ensure it all holds together, plenty of disappointments, lots of tragedy, a good bit of travel, a sense of humor - a loving supportive family is essential, patience helps a great deal too.

And that’s the rub, when I was writing terrifically funny scripts at 18 years old, I was constantly and continually led to believe that irrespective of whatever I did, wrote or completed, I would never be taken seriously as a writer until I was in my forties, hence the engineering choice in the first instance – well that and I needed cash in 1980’s Ireland where there wasn’t that much of it spare. Thankfully all of that has changed, the hegemonic grip of the Catholic Church has loosened, the rate of cultural, social and technological change has increased to unprecedented levels, meaning what I’d call a new ‘Instantaneous Ireland’ has come to prevail in our collective cultural headspace, we can afford most things, (whether through low interest loans or indeed SSIA cash) so we want, we want a lot and we want NOW. Those expectations ripple right throughout our society even to the students who could gain a modicum of notoriety or peer endorsement through participation in events like dare to be digital. So all I can say is; what I had to readily accept many times over, “It’s character building ! Accept it ! Learn from it ! and move on !