Working and residence permits for Argentinian citizens in Ireland?

My boyfriend and I are currently planning on moving to Ireland (or the UK, as a backup plan) but as we need to live and work there, i read we needed residence and work permits. Residence permits said you apply to them once you land, but for working permits i'm not sure if we have to apply in our local embassy or what. He has a high school degree special for technician work (it was what we call here a "technic school" in which he had 2/3 more years than the average high school and learned about thermodynamics and that sort of thing) and he's currently in the same College as me studying audiovisual arts. I have bilingual high school degree and doing the same career. so i don't know if we apply for the "skilled workers" category (maybe just the normal category). Is it hard to obtain working permits? We're just getting into all this but we're very serious about it.... The more information the better. So the overall question may be, is it hard to obtain working and resident permits? How's the process for a non-EU citizen?