Over the past year and even longer there’s been four people who have devoted a lot of time helping out others in the growing Irish technology scene. They’ve given their precious time without charge to encourage and help as much as they can and it has resulted in a greater body of shared knowledge when it comes to business and tech.
Those four people are Pat Phelan, Joe Drumgoole, Keith Bohanna and Conor O’Neill. At Barcamps, Open Coffees, on blogs and on the oldskool phone they’re regularly dispensing advice and helping people make connections. I’m not sure how much people appreciate these guys but this is my little thank you card on the web for them as this year comes to a close. The Irish startup scene would be a lot poorer without these guys giving their time. Thanks Pat, Joe, Keith and Conor. Maybe we should give thanks back by talking up their work or do what they do and help out others when we can. These guys are heroes.
Photo owned by lilibethjanuary (cc)
I only know Keith and Conor, but I will give all of them a virtual hug since it is about all I have to offer.
Thanks lads and may you all have a peaceful anf hug filled Christmas
I must say that I agree 100% and have not only been helped in person with advice and pointers but for anybody starting new businesses in this small island of ours their blogs should be one of the first starting points. Too many people see it as a big competition between start ups but in my opinion to compete on the international scene we need to help each other in any way possible and give each other a “leg up” in exactly the way these guys do. Top job lads 🙂
Up until this day last week I had only met one of the four gents you mention.
Of course I have great personal knowledge of Joe as I worked with him for years. He’s a great guy with plenty of experience to dispense and always loves talking about technology (try to keep him away from the programming language discussion though, unless you have 2-3 hours to spare).
I had the great pleasure of meeting Pat and Keith at the bloggers party in Dublin last week. I felt like I already new the lads from their blogs and their twitter streams, but they are so energetic and approachable in person, that it only raised my opinion of them.
I’ve known about Conor for ages too, but so far I haven’t met him in person (something that I hope to correct in the short term).
So Happy Christmas to the 4 wise men (and to you too Damien) and lets hope next year is as energetic in the Irish tech and web scense as this year.
Fuck it Mulley, that is some pressure to put us under. This small space is full of really helpful people which makes the journey so much easier and less lonely. I can’t do code nor do I have much in the way of early adopter juice to offer so a helping ear is the least I can do to pay back the assistance I receive.
THANK YOU 🙂
Keith
Ah stop ye lovely man.
I spent many years working in businesses where everyone kept their cards close to their chests, there was always subterfuge and everyone was out for themselves. I hated it.
When we started looking at building LouderVoice, I got to know people like you, Fergus Burns and Walter Higgins. There I saw a completely different way of operating and it just made total sense to me. Openness, idea sharing, growing the community and an open rolodex are the heart of it. Whatever little time/effort I spend lending a hand here and there comes back to me 100x over. So basically I’m a selfish bollix 🙂
Have to agree with you re Pat, Keith and Joe. If you just could bottle and sell those guys’ energy and enthusiasm!
LouderVoice would not be where it is today without all of the names I’ve mentioned.
I haven’t said it in a while, but thanks lads.
here here
Hooray! thumbs up and merry xmas!
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