NEW LIFE:There may be less money in the botanic gardens, but this former techie was happy to leave the telecommunications world behind him, writes Sylvia Thompson
GLYNN ANDERSON still looks a little like a techie. The Dublin- born computer science graduate spent seven years at college (a primary degree followed by a Masters in computer science) and another 14 in the telecommunications industry before giving it all up to become a guide and information officer first in the Phoenix Park and now in the National Botanic Gardens.
"I was firmly a techie for a long time. I had a technical mind and was reasonably good at computers, but I always felt that there were people better than me who were more suited to it," he explains.
"College was fun and enjoyable and I don't regret anything but I do wonder if I'd chosen a different career, where it would have brought me," he says.
"At the time, considering studying subjects like history and English seemed very impractical."
Anderson grew up in the Dublin suburb of Clontarf, almost opposite Bull Island and two of his older brothers were birdwatchers as children. "My family were all big nature lovers and we spent our weekends out in the Dublin mountains and local parks but somehow I left all that behind and got seduced by computers which were just taking off at that time."
After college, Anderson worked for a telecommunications research company for four years and then spent another four years working for the Swedish telecommunications company, Erikson.
In 1999, together with a former colleague, he set up his own company which did consultancy work and later developed software. "That was exciting and included working on contract in The Hague for a year.
"Working for yourself gives you the space and freedom to think about things but I still realised that the basic day-to-day work wasn't what I should be doing," he explains.
When the dotcom industry bubble burst in 2000, Anderson's company - like many others of its ilk - took a hit and the small division he was running in Dublin was closed down.
"I was 34 at the time. It was a very stressful period. Some people assumed that I'd made a lot of money but I hadn't. I tried to assess what was important to me and it became very clear that I wanted to do something different," he explains. During this time, he met and later married Irish American Lucy Deegan Leirião.
Between 2001 and 2003, he ran his own small consultancy company and then felt he needed to get back into the workforce. "I got a job as a project manager with Vodafone for a year. I found it difficult to be in this corporate environment in which the pressure is turned up all the time and there is huge internal competition," he says.
Job advertisements for guides and information officers at Office of Public Works heritage sites caught his eye and he applied for and got the job as guide and information officer at the Phoenix Park visitor centre at Ashtown Castle.
"It was at that point that I really made the decision to leave the corporate world," he says.
"In terms of pay, I began earning about one-third of what I was earning in my previous job and less again in terms of what I was paid on earlier contract jobs but I loved it. The Phoenix Park visitor centre was like an oasis in life for me after such a stressful period," he explains.
"One of the biggest changes was that I was dealing with the public for the first time and I was working both indoors and outdoors rather than spending all day in artificially lit open plan offices."
Following the end of the six- month contract at the Phoenix Park, Anderson applied for and got a job as guide and information officer at the National Botanic Gardens in 2006.
"It's a fantastic place to work. One thing I notice is that when I was working in computers, I was working with very similar types of people whereas now, I meet all sorts of characters. I tend to be a very diplomatic type of person and this work has given me more scope for that part of my personality," he says.
Speaking about his move to the National Botanic Gardens, he says "it was a logical continuation of my work in the Phoenix Park but I'm learning a lot more here about the plants. I never had any formal training but it's amazing how much you learn from the gardeners and the visitors themselves."
Before he left the corporate world, Anderson began nurturing his interest in nature again by researching the folklore and history of birds of Ireland.
Then, working closer to nature, he began to put more time into the project. Letters to newspapers seeking information on different birds resulted in a contact from a publishing company which ultimately led to a publishing contract.
The book, Birds of Ireland - facts, folklore history (Collins Press), was published last month. "I'm happy with the book and I'd like to publish some more."
Overall, he says, he is very happy with the changes he has made in his life.
"When I left my work in telecommunications, a lot of people told me they were envious of what I was doing but they didn't think they could do it themselves. In a practical sense, when I wake up in the morning, I bound out of bed whereas before, getting out of bed and facing the job I was doing was such a struggle. I've less money and I have to be more cautious about spending money but I've a much better feel for what my values are."