We tell you who is expected abroad and answer uncomfortable questions about the relocation of IT specialists to England and Germany.
Us in often send resumes. We carefully translate each of them and send it to the client. And mentally we wish good luck to a person who decides to change something in his life. Change is always for the better, right? 😉
Do you want to know if they are waiting for you abroad and receive instructions on relocation to Europe? We want too! Therefore, we have prepared a list of questions and we will ask them to our friends - companies , where Russian-speaking specialists are helped to find work and build a successful career abroad.
The guys recently launched a new YouTube project , where the characters share their stories about moving to England, Germany and Sweden, dispel myths about working and living abroad.
Meet our today's interlocutor Elmira Maksudova, IT & tech career consultant.
Elmira, please tell us what most often motivates our people to move to England?
Of course, everyone has their own motivation and pushes a person to move not just one, but a whole set of circumstances.
But most of the time it's:
- Finance: salary, pension system.
- Quality of life and opportunities: level of culture, climate/ecology, security, protection of rights, medicine, quality of education.
- Opportunity to develop professionally: many of the IT professionals we interviewed rate the technical level of Russian projects as “extremely low” or “low”, including the fact that many Western technologies are beginning to be replaced by Russian solutions that are several orders of magnitude behind. Also, many developers, according to the results of the survey, are depressing by the state and level of Russian management.
- Unpredictability and instability in society, lack of confidence in the future.
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What professions have the highest chances of finding a good job easily and quickly?
If we talk about the UK, then to scarce positions with a simplified procedure for obtaining a work visa, according to include product managers, developers, game designers, cybersecurity professionals. Testing engineers and analysts, DevOps, system engineers (virtualization and cloud solutions), Program Managers, machine learning and Big Data specialists are also in demand. The demand for these specialties has been steadily growing over the past 5 years. The situation is similar in countries such as Germany, Holland, Switzerland.
Is European education required?
European education is definitely not required. And the mandatory availability of higher education as such depends on the country.
To get a UK visa A degree in a specialty is not a requirement.
But, for example, in Germany the situation is different. If considering the possibility of, then a diploma of higher education is required to obtain this visa. Also, the diploma must be in the database. The candidate himself can check the presence of a university in this database, and it will be even better if he mentions this at the interview. If your university is not in the Anabin database, it must be verified in - Central Office for Foreign Education.
If we talk about a local German work permit, then without a higher education you can get the opportunity to live and work in Germany, but this is much longer and riskier. This is where multiple checks will be needed. We are currently working on just such a case. When applying for a work visa, letters of recommendation were required, evidence that there is a close relationship between previous experience and the position for which the client is applying.
Not all companies are aware that this option is possible. Therefore, during consultations, I always emphasize that candidates themselves need to know everything about work visas and, if necessary, tell the employer that this is possible and what documents need to be collected. Cases when a candidate himself takes care of his work permit are quite frequent, especially in Germany.
Photo by Felipe Furtado via Unsplash
What is more important - work experience or specific skills? And if skills, what kind?
What matters is not how many years you have been working, but the relevance of your experience. We have many clients who change their field of activity and get education in a completely different field, for example, logistics → project management, network technologies → data analysis, development → application design. In such cases, even project experience in a dissertation or internship becomes very relevant and more suitable for your profile than, for example, leadership experience 5 years ago.
Hard skills for tech specialists are certainly important, but usually at the level of the direction. Very often, vacancies give a mix of technologies, that is, not 5 years in C ++, but experience in using several technologies: C ++, Erlang, Kernel Development (Unix/Linux/Win), Scala, etc.
Soft skills are strictly critical. This is an understanding of the cultural code, the ability to communicate in an appropriate way, solve problems and find mutual understanding on work issues. All this is checked at the interview stage. But just “talk about life” will not work. A certain mathematics is sewn into the interview process, on the basis of which the candidate is assessed. We help to learn these laws and learn to play by the rules of employers.
Elmira, tell me honestly, do you need to know English to work in England?
Technical IT specialists usually have basic knowledge of English at least at a technical level - all work is somehow related to English (instructions, code, training materials, vendor documentation, etc.). The technical level of the language will be enough for correspondence, documentation, attendance at conferences - these are entry-level and intermediate-level positions for developers, system, network engineers, data engineers, testers, mobile developers. Conversational at an intermediate level, when you can participate in discussions, explain your decisions and ideas - this is the Senior level for the same roles. There are technical roles (regardless of Junior or Senior level) when fluency in English is critical and can be a criterion for evaluating a candidate - Pre-sales / Sales, engineers, designers, system and business analysts, architects, Project and Product managers, user support (Customer Success /Customer Support Manager), account managers.
Of course, executives need fluent spoken English: for example, for such roles as team leader, chief technology officer, operations director (IT infrastructure management) or director of business development.
What about German/Dutch and other languages besides English?
As for knowledge of the local language in Germany, Holland and Switzerland, they are not required if you speak English. In the capitals there is generally no special need to know the language, but in other cities your life will be much easier if you speak the local language.
If you are building far-reaching plans, then it makes sense to learn the language. And it's better to start before moving. Firstly, you will feel more confident (when registering, looking for an apartment, etc.), and secondly, you will show your interest to the company.
Age? At what age are applicants no longer considered?
On the part of the employer: In Europe and the UK there is a law against age discrimination - it is so strictly enforced that employers do not perceive age as one of the characteristics of hiring. The most important thing is your technological outlook, expertise, portfolio, skills and ambitions.
On your part, as a candidate, it is better to move before the age of 50. Here we are talking about ease and the desire to adapt, productivity and an adequate perception of the new.
Photo by Adam Wilson from Unsplash
Tell me, how does relocation usually happen?
The most common scenario is that you look for a job remotely, go through interviews (first a video call, then personal meetings), get a job offer, agree on conditions, get a visa and move.
This format does not require significant financial investments and takes an average of 1 to 6 months, depending on how actively you are looking for a job and which country you plan to move to. We have cases of clients who passed all stages of selection in 1 month and received a visa in 2 weeks (Germany). And there are cases when only the period of obtaining a visa was extended for 5 months (Great Britain).
"Inconvenient" question. Can I move on my own without your help?
Of course you can. It's great when a person has a strong motivation, is ready to study the issue and do everything himself. It's not uncommon for us to get emails like this: "I've watched all 100 of your videos on , followed all the advice, found a job and moved. How can I thank you?"
Why then do we? Our expertise is a tool and knowledge that a person receives in order to solve his specific problem most efficiently and quickly. You can learn to snowboard yourself, and sooner or later you will go anyway, with bumps and not right away, but you will go. Or you can take an instructor and go the next day, fully understanding the process. A question of efficiency and time. Our goal is to give a person knowledge and understanding of the principles of the labor market in a particular country and, of course, to share contacts.
Let's talk about salaries, how much do technical specialists actually earn in the UK?
The salaries of developers in Russia and the UK differ several times: Software engineer: £17 and £600, Senior Software Engineer: £70 and £000, IT project manager: £19 and £000 per year in Russia and UK, respectively.
Including tax, the monthly income of an IT specialist is on average £3800-£5500.
If you found a job for £30 a year, then you will get only £000 per month - this may be enough for one person, but you cannot live on this money with your family - both partners need to work.
But if your salary is £65 (the average level for a developer, data / machine learning engineer), then you will receive £000 in your hands - which is already quite comfortable for a family.
The figures are tasty, but they alone cannot be used to say that the standard of living of a person will change significantly. Let's compare after-tax salaries in Russia and the UK with the cost of goods or services that we use every day.
It seems to me that this is a fundamentally incorrect comparison, and the mistake of many is precisely that they are trying to compare liters of milk, kilograms of apples, metro fares or rental housing. Such a comparison is absolutely useless - these are different coordinate systems.
England and Europe have a progressive taxation system, taxes are higher than in Russia and range from 30 to 55%.
A liter of milk costs the same, but if you break the screen on your iPhone 11 Pro, in Russia you will have to pay a tidy sum for repairs, and in the EU / UK they will fix it for free. If you buy something online and change your mind, in Russia you are tormented by the return, and in the EU / UK you don’t even need a check. Electronic trading platforms like Amazon/Ebay, which deliver goods on time and insure you against fraud, cannot be compared with individual online stores, and even more so with Russian mail.
Commercial insurance in the EU/UK works like clockwork, and there is no need to confirm that you were entitled to it, in Russia you will simply get tired of proving that checking the ears of a child for the 15th time in 2 years is not a previously developed disease, even a chronicle - This is an insured event. Teaching a child the English language (and mentality) in the classroom within the framework of courses and schools or in a natural environment with native speakers. If your child is bullied at school, even drop out of school, in the EU / UK, up to the criminal responsibility of parents for this.
Renting a house in Europe or England often (especially for a family) transforms into the opportunity to buy your own apartment (low interest rates on loans and mortgages) or even a house (which is very unusual for the average Moscow apartment dweller), live in the suburbs and travel to London (or not travel and work remotely).
In England, a garden for a child under 3 years old will cost an average of £200-£600 per month. After 3 years, all children receive 15 hours of preschool education per week at the expense of the state.
Schools are private and public. In private schools, the cost of education can reach up to £50 per year, but there are public schools whose work is rated as “excellent” (by the Ofsted checking organization) - they are of a very high quality of education and are free.
NHS - public free medicine at a fairly good level, but if you want to have commercial all-inclusive insurance that is valid in all countries of the world, it will cost £ 300-500 per person per month.
Photo by Aron Van de Pol from Unsplash
Okay, I almost decided to move to England. But I am a little afraid that they will treat me like a guest worker there, that I will have to work hard 24 hours a day and even go out to drink coffee will not be possible.
About guest workers: London is multinational, there are a lot of visitors from different countries, so you will find yourself in the same situation as many around. Therefore, there is no concept of a guest worker at all. There is such a fun game - count the number of foreign languages in a subway car in London. The numbers can reach up to 30, and this is in one car.
About processing: Processing is more common for startups, and then only at a certain stage. Investors, on the other hand, consider a “crazy” work schedule a risk factor. Work-life balance is increasingly welcomed.
They also take burnout very seriously. By law in the UK, "an employer must carry out a risk assessment of work-related stress and take steps to prevent employees from becoming ill from work-related stress." Burnout in the UK officially has the status of a disease, and if symptoms appear, go to a therapist, he will conclude that you are stressed, and you can take a break from work for a week or more. Exists who are recognized to care about your mental health. So if you are tired and want to talk about it, you know where to call (and even in Russian).
I have two children, a husband and a cat. Can I take them with me?
Yes, if you have a spouse, they get with the right to work in the country. Children under 18 respectively also receive a dependent visa. And there are no problems with animals - the procedure for transporting pets is very clearly described.
I don’t want to talk about money again, but I have to. How much money do I need to raise to move?
Typically this is visa costs + £945 in your bank account 90 days before applying for a Tier 2 visa + first 3 months rent + £500-1000 per month for expenses (this depends on your lifestyle - someone can live on 30 pounds a week, cooks himself, rides a bicycle / scooter, prefers to buy tickets in advance for a plane or a concert (yes, even for that kind of money you can fly to Europe and hang out at festivals), and someone eats in restaurants, travels by car or taxi, buys new things and tickets a couple of days before departure).
Thanks to Elmira for the interview. If you have any questions - leave them in the comments.
In the following articles, we will talk about how to write a resume and write a cover letter so that you get noticed. We will find out if hunting people on social networks is common in the UK and touch on the fashion topic of a personal brand. Stay tuned!
PS If you are a brave and motivated person, leave a link to your resume in the comments until 22.10.2019/XNUMX/XNUMX so that we can figure out what and how to do using a living example.
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