Rent the Runway’s Mark Kenny discusses his role in software engineering and his experiences of working abroad.

“I’m born and bred in Kilkenny and went to college in UL where I studied computer systems followed by a masters degree and I left Ireland in 2005 after finishing college and moved to London,” Mark Kenny told SiliconRepublic.com.

Having moved in his 20s, Kenny, who is a software engineer at Rent the Runway, explained initially the plan was only to stay for a few short years, however, he said, “I was drawn in by everything the city had to offer and ended up staying for a total of nine years.”

Kenny added, “At the time, there simply weren’t any jobs in graduate roles. I finished my initial undergraduate degree just as the dot com bubble burst and no one was taking on graduate positions. In order to buy time, I did a masters degree but the tech sector was still barely in recovery, especially in Ireland.

“Most of my classmates were either heading abroad or taking roles unrelated to what we had studied. For me, London was the obvious option since it was close to home, a diverse job market, and a chance to explore different career options. It’s important to note that at the time, I didn’t think of it as emigrating, but just being a few years away from home before I came back.”