How this chef made the move into tech

Genesys’s Orla Coleman talks about making the leap from working as a chef to working with software and the challenges that came with a complete career change.

Not everyone who ends up in tech starts out there. Some come from teaching, others began their careers as plumbers or mechanics. For Orla Coleman, it was working as a chef in an Irish restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, where she’d moved to from Galway at the age of 22.

“I had a very keen interest in working in a kitchen as I loved to cook and had always been interested in how a commercial kitchen worked, but I had never worked in that industry before,” she told SiliconRepublic.com. “Over the course of the four years living over there, I worked in multiple kitchens with different teams of people.”

Now a senior software engineer at cloud software provider Genesys, Coleman is back in Galway in the world of tech. Genesys was named one of Ireland’s 2024 Best Workplaces in Tech by Great Place to Work.

“While I enjoyed working as a chef, I had always had an interest in computers and software from a young age, but because I didn’t choose it as my original degree in college, I hadn’t pursued it. I had always wanted to go back and study it with the aim of working in tech,” she said.

“So, after doing a software course in Australia, I decided to search for something with a better qualification behind it back in Ireland. This is when I found the Springboard course for software development. It really suited me as it was only a one-year course and was designed to get you straight into the industry, which is what I really wanted.”

‘I have always loved computers and software, so finally getting to work with them every day is great’

Coleman decided to move back to Ireland in September 2018 once she had gotten onto the Springboard course. Luckily, the course was in what is now known as University of Galway, so going home made the move easier. She also put her chef experience to good use.

“I was also lucky enough to get a part-time job working in a kitchen in Galway. They gave me the flexibility to pivot to just doing prep work in the kitchen halfway through the Springboard course when the work intensified. Being able to do later shifts and weekend work in the kitchen also helped with being able to work and do the course at the same time.”

Following her Springboard course, Coleman did a three-month internship followed by a short stint as a junior business analyst. However, it was software development she was truly passionate about so she got a job with Genesys in 2020 as an associate software engineer and has been there ever since.

Genesys has been creating roles in Galway for several years and in 2022, the company opened an R&D centre. Coleman’s current role involves developing features and services within the company. “I mainly work on back-end features with some front-end work. On a day-to-day basis coding and problem solving,” she said.

Working in tech v working as a chef

Switching from another industry into tech can bring a huge amount of diverse knowledge and transferable skills – even if the similarities aren’t so clear right away. For Coleman, working well under pressure was definitely a skill she brought from busy kitchens, as well as “adapting to changes quickly and learning fast on the job”.

But there were differences too, “one of which is the pressure that comes on a daily basis when working in a kitchen”.

“When there is a busy rush, there is consistent pressure for that period without let-up and you’re always having to juggle multiple orders and timings in your head. Whereas working in my current role is much more focused on problem-solving and having the time to think through the correct solution,” she said.

“One of the hardest challenges I found with moving into working in tech was the lack of experience I had in the industry beforehand. Going for interviews with very little previous experience was difficult, but I would say that the tech industry is great for giving people opportunities.”

In order to overcome these challenges, Coleman said she worked on her own projects in order to really highlight her passion for software. This meant that she was able to make up for a lack of formal experience with a long-standing drive to work in the industry.

“I have always loved computers and software, so finally getting to work with them every day is great. What I most enjoy about my job and tech in general is the fact that it is always changing,” she said.

“I love problem-solving, which is a major part of my role, and writing code to solve these problems. No week is every really the same. There’s always something new to learn and new challenges to try – especially with the rapid development of AI.”

For those who are considering making a similar career shift into tech, Coleman said it’s important not to be intimidated by making the leap. “There are so many avenues into tech and roles within the tech industry to suit people,” she said.

“It’s a great industry to learn and grow within so you don’t need to be an expert straight away. This is something I wish I had known starting out. Tech moves so quickly – everyone is always learning.”

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