Around 2006, I finished working and doing postgraduate studies at a university in Moscow. At this point, I had some savings from a contract with Samsung Electronics. And I decided to buy in Sweden. The idea was that you can load all your belongings on the yacht, which can exceed one backpack and a computer case, and start traveling on a yacht around Europe.
I could stop in each country along the way and feel whether I like this country or not. I liked Sweden, two German cities: Kiel and Hamburg, and in Holland in Amsterdam.
But the yacht moved forward at the behest of the captain and the wind, and my first long stop in 2008 was in the Azores (Portugal) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The main sport on the island was running the whole village against a beer-filled bull. The next popular sport is tele-football and football. Surprisingly, especially the bull, gave so much adrenaline to the locals that I didnβt see fights or any kind of nervousness on the island at all.
After 3 months in a marina on the island of Terceira, I extended my Portuguese visa. And the employees told me right in the office that if I find a job on the island, I can get a residence permit in Portugal and a resident card.
I didn't really think about it. But I went to both computer stores on the island and asked if they needed Linux specialists. It turned out that all their clients use Microsoft Windows. Who would have thought that in 2 years the situation in the European Union would change and resident cards and work permits would not be distributed to all interested tourists.
European "Miami"
After crossing the Azores - Madeira - El Jadia near Morocco, an interesting story happened to the yacht (I'll tell you later). But by 2010 my yacht was already in Spain.
And together with the yacht I ended up in La Manga. This place is also called Mar Menor (Little Sea). Unlike the Mediterranean, a yacht can anchor here for months. If there are storms, they are rare and the waves are not as big as in the sea.
The place is very beautiful and is located almost in the very South of Spain. The air temperature in the coldest time of the year is usually not lower than +10 degrees at night. It is hot in summer, but the breeze from the two seas makes living there very pleasant. At first I lived on a yacht. I bought products at the local supermarket Aldi and Mercadona and once a week at the local market. It took 20-30 euros a week, as I cooked on a yacht in a galley. I had a gas stove and a bottle. Fish could be bought from local fishermen, or caught by oneself.
I was in Spain on a tourist visa and worked remotely. I traveled to Bulgaria every 3 months (on the same visa). In Spain and Bulgaria, he actively communicated with developers and often attended various meetups and other IT events. Mastered new technologies and frameworks. Actively spoke at conferences and workshops. He also attended major events and hackathons. A couple of times he was among the winners.
Gradually learned Spanish at a basic level. After 4 years of various temporary jobs in Africa (Morocco and Somaliland) and a few months in Russia at SMRC, local clients began to appear in Spain. And then in 2014 I was faced with the need to have a work permit. And for this I must have a resident card. The card is given after 3 years of continuous residence in Spain, subject to registration without interruption (residence addresses can be changed, but not desirable).
During this time, we managed to make several projects on co-sharing and IoT on Chinese components.
Learn how to make local Asian coffee with 43 liquor, which was called Ruso before Franco's victory and, they say, it was the Russians who brought humanitarian and not very aid on ships from the USSR for gold. These were primarily bombers and other aircraft.
He also studied in detail the La Union and Portman area of ββthe former lead and iron mines near La Manga. Very touristy and beautiful place for all kinds of walks throughout the year. There are many antiquities in those places and the last piece of forest preserved in Spain with plants that have existed there for the last 6000 years.
This is one of the saddest (I would say heartbreaking) Spanish mining centers. .
Resident card
The time was approaching the moment when I received a work permit in 2018. At first, I worked part-time at a local 1000 odds and ends store in the yachting department. I had to work like this for at least 6 months.
Barcelona or Madrid?
Then, along with his modified scooter with a GPS tracker, a remote shutdown button, a programmable lock and an alarm, he began to take bus trips to Madrid and Barcelona for interviews.
In Madrid, in addition to many contacts with potential employers, there were interesting meetings. For example, our current astronaut came to one of the annual Spanish conferences in the field of startups and made a report about his life and work.
In the end, I settled on Barcelona. Since there were better conditions, and I like the city itself. There is the sea, yachts. A very rich cultural life in all aspects. Almost every day IT meetups and often with free pizza and beer. Tasty food. You don't have to use public transport to get to work. From housing to work 5 minutes through a very beautiful historical center.
About the project
The project we completed lasted one year. He is at the forefront of modern technology. Associated with big data. And, perhaps, our product is one of the few in Spain (in our subject area) that honestly uses neural networks to filter specific data in several languages ββrequired by the customer.
If interested, I can tell you more about the project and the life of an ordinary programmer in El Born (Barcelona). This is a quarter next to the triumphal arch in the very historical center of the city.
The second part of the article about .
Source: habr.com