Nicole : the Irish software engineer who got a job in Paris!
💖 The purpose of The Allyance is to help both companies and candidates: companies wanting to reach excellence in hiring and candidates wanting to find the perfect companies.
➡️ Today, let’s meet Nicole, a wonderful Irish woman and a skilled engineer. If you want to find out how she got a job without speaking French, this interview is for you !
— — —Who are you? Tell us everything!
My name is Nicole, I’m 29 years old. I was born in the West coast of Ireland, in Galway, where a lot of French people come to follow English classes.
I studied computer science and tech at the University of Galway and got an internship right after my undergraduate program. After that, I spent 6 years working as a front end engineer in the video games sector. Initially, I had learned Angular JS but then switched to React in my professional practice.
In January 2024, after a gap year spent traveling, I decided to move to Paris and look for a job, maybe because of all the French people I met in Galway (laughs)!
Since June 2024, I have been working as a Software Engineer at DataGalaxy, the first Data Knowledge Catalog delivering data culture and literacy across organizations globally.
Nicole and Caroline meeting IRL at a meetup. How Parisian!
How did The Allyance help you?
I had applied to quite a few different companies on my own and noticed that I was always blocked at the same steps of the interview. Therefore, I started asking for help and a friend of mine recommended Caroline.
Knowing I had a lot to work on, I picked up the unlimited coaching offer. The main issue was, as Caroline said, that “I sounded like ChatGPT” (laughs). This robotic way of introducing myself during interviews was here to compensate for the fact that I was unsure of my personality.
She taught me how to talk about my strengths instead of my weaknesses, also by showing that I was eager to learn new things in addition to what I already knew.
After looking at my CV and my LinkedIn, she tweeted that I was looking for a job and her contacts started reaching out. The three interviews I got after that really went smoothly thanks to of all the mock interviews we had together. I was able to answer all the questions that came up, even the curveball ones, and eventually to make a good impression.
In the end, I decided to go with DataGalaxy and I do not regret my choice! Oh, and the other good news is that the coaching sessions were entirely free due to how I was hired!
The legendary Lara Croft tweet.
What do you do at DataGalaxy ?
They had a previous developer build them a Chrome extension entirely in React, whereas the whole team is now focused on Angular.
Consequently, my mission is to build up the new version: I’ve been adding automation features to enhance the user experience and rewriting it in Angular. I am also training my colleagues so they can ramp up the new version when we move across.
This project being massive, the beginnings did look like a trial by fire: I had to learn the core of the app to be able to know where it needs work.
I work in a 3-person team in hybrid mode: I try to go to DataGalaxy’s office at least once a week.
How do you keep up with the software methodologies?
Well, my team is frequently sharing articles on Slack, which helps a lot to stay up to date!
I was also doing React courses when I was looking for a job and I now follow Angular Udemy courses so I can apply it smoothly on a daily basis.
As a foreigner, how was it to find a job in Paris?
Extremely difficult…! In fact, without The Allyance, it would have been impossible.
During interviews, as soon as I said that I do not speak French, the tone changed. I get that people want to work with colleagues who speak the same language, but still, this was surprising to me.
That is why Caroline taught me how to make a short introduction in French, which immediately reassured the interviewer that I was willing to learn the language. Right now, I am learning a bit of French, but mostly waiting for my probation at DataGalaxy to be over so I can enjoy free French classes!
Other than that, I absolutely love Paris and it’s hilarious to talk to people who “have done their time” here as if they were in prison or something (laughs)! Coming from Galway, the grey and rainy weather does not bother me at all. On the contrary, I enjoy living in a city where things are not so local, where you do not know everyone you bump into, etc…
When you’re not working, what do you do?
Right now, I have a quite interesting living situation, because I live in a Cohabs shared house with 19 people (laughs)! So these days, I’m mainly hanging out with them in order to create an English-speaking community around me outside of work.
Why would you recommend other engineers to work with The Allyance?
Obviously, no doubt about that! In fact, I already have done so several times.
It is really easy to get bugged out during interviews, focus on your weaknesses and blame it on the company. The Allyance really taught me how to make an impression and I’m grateful for that.
Plus, The Allyance really helped me access their network, which I did not have at all after moving from a foreign country!
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CONCLUSION
Caroline, The Allyance CEO:
“Nicole will forever be one of the coaching experience I am the most proud of! When I told her “you sound like ChatGPT”, something clicked and she became a killer candidate. It might have been direct but it really put her on the right path to better express her skills and motivations.
The entire story around her joining Data Galaxy because she got her job thanks to my personal network. I hope Nicole will be happy in Paris and proud of herslef!”
✔️ Want more?
If you are interested in knowing more about The Allyance, feel free to get in touch with us.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ✒️ Léa C, The Allyance Contributor:
“I joined The Allyance after Caroline and I met at a ionnalee’s concert! I am a freelance translator and content writer (French, English, Spanish and German). I also work as an administrative employee in the health and data science sector. So, I am not far from Caroline’s core topic! I am very active as a volunteer in social and environmental NGOs, where I always try to put intersectionality at the center of actions because I am convinced that every cause is linked to one another. It is readily apparent that Caroline and I share a lot of common interests, which is why we as friends decided to work together!”