The tale of the standing start

"Turn the clock to zero, boss. The river's wide, we'll swim across. We're starting up a brand new day" - Brand New Day - Sting

This week the beta version of Foundry Fuel went live and this blog is a shameless call for your support.

Foundry Fuel is here

Foundry Fuel is a passion project with a purpose. When I left Selazar I was looking for a role where my skills (technical and non-technical) would be relevant and this was hard to find. I wasn't exactly looking for a CTO role but something senior. I was also aware of dramatically fluctuating job markets, and really bad practices from some recruiters. Speaking with others in the tech space looking for roles I had this confirmed as a common experience but got lots of other feedback as well. Tales of CVs going walkabout without permission, tales of ghosting and generally tales of high pressure, low comms and general uncomfortableness. When I started talking to other founders this was obvious from the other side as well. "Some recruiters are just vultures" was one quote. It's a bit strong to be honest but this was the feeling. Regardless there was a need for change here. The question was what?

Let's stop though..........Before we go any further I want to make one thing clear.

I am not anti-recruiter.

I am not anti-recruiter. I know great recruiters across Belfast and NI and many of them are amazing. They are great at their jobs, care about people and really go above and beyond. I could name four local recruitment companies and at least eight amazing people locally in that space immediately who I trust and value as great human beings as well as great recruiters. So if you ever need recommendations of great recruiters I would be happy to make those connections.

What I am doing is not against great recruiters, this is alongside them.

Change is good

Recruiters work in specific areas though and have goals and targets that influence their roles and behaviours. They have, like any business, a sweet spot of achievement and targets to work to. This doesn't always work with founders and tech people though. Founders work in tight and restricted budgets and need people they can trust. They don't have 10, 15, 20 or 23 percent of the salary to give to a recruiter but they still need to find great colleagues. Technologists have their own needs and it's not always job hopping they are looking for. Some like working for big corporates, FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) companies or are just happy where they are. Some people need something else. They maybe need a side gig, a new project, an opportunity to shine or just something different That's where Foundry Fuel comes in. I want to help people connect on the "something else" as well as the broader picture. It's for all technologists. Developers, architects, testers, product people, designers, data people and so many more. It's also Ireland wide so it's not just Belfast or Dublin centric. I want to bring in Derry/Londonderry, Cork, Galway and more as we grow.

So when i created Foundry Fuel it was clear a SaaS platform would achieve these goals, where we solve a lot of those common problems people experience. Speaking with people who already connect these individuals offline we saw a gap to help streamline existing processes and really provide more value. As a neurodiverse technologist I know lots of other neurodiverse technologists as well and I wanted to create something that works for us. So, on Foundry Fuel, Technologists are in control of their data and who they share it with. they don't give too much away and they are not handing over their life details in the hope someone will not abuse their trust.

On Foundry Fuel, Founders can connect with Technologists and share their ideas without the hard sell or financial overheads. They can express their vision directly without the need of a proxy or the commitment to paying someone a finders fee for a role, a gap, a colleague position they are exploring. Hosts can streamline their connection processes and make everything easier and manageable.

Manifesto

There are promises I want to make in this endeavour. To keep us all right and to make everything transparent and open. Promises about data and communications. Promises about equality and inclusivity. Promises about conduct and behaviour. That's why we have a manifesto which is on our website. We will work in line with this, to this, to try and make everything fair and free and collaborative.

Curated Events

I've started with Curated Events where Founders pitch to Technologists and the Technologists interact through their phones. Hands off, low pressure, lots of control. The first of these is happening soon in Belfast and early next year in Dublin but we need Founders and Technologists to register on the platform to make this a big success.

Nothing but good intentions.

So fellow Technologists and Founders, lend me your ears.

We have a chance to do something different, to make a difference and connect people who need great people with great people. This is not a money spinning venture, it's built on nothing but good intention and as such it's free and will remain free for Founders and Technologists. So if you are someone in tech, know someone in tech, or you're a founder and you need some technical skills then sign up and come along. There's no commitment or expectation to do anything just be involved and help grow our burgeoning tech communities.

Thanks
Gareth
FOUNDRY FUEL