Niall Byrne, aka Nialler9 Music blogger and gig curator
"I guess like most things, if you have a passion for it, you just start doing it," says the music blogger Niall Byrne, aka Nialler9.
After finishing a multimedia programming course at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology seven years ago, Byrne set up a website to showcase his skills. Though it quickly bagged him a website-design job, he maintained the site, using it as an outlet to write about his passion for music.
"In the US, the music blog was already taking off, so I started doing that kind of as a way to chronicle the stuff I was into."
Now the most-read Irish music blog, with about 35,000 unique visitors a month, nialler9.com was named Best Music Blog at the Irish Blog Awards five years in a row.
His reputation as a muso has seen him extend into writing about music for 'Cara' magazine and the 'Irish Independent', while he continues to design websites on the side.
Another string to his bow is as a gig curator, picking line-ups for events such as SXSW in Austin, Texas and the Camden Crawl in London and Dublin.
"I have a reputation as somebody who is a filter for people's tastes, so I guess that translates into someone who knows their stuff and could pick line-ups for events that are really good and cutting-edge."
Byrne says the notion of a CV is redundant: "My CV is everything I do online." With income from advertising on his blog, music writing and website design, he says finances balance out.
"Sometimes I think, I wish I knew what was happening next month or if there was a bit more security, but generally it works out," he says. "And I get to work from home and have a lovely life and hang out with the dog."