The theme of moving one's mortal body from one country to another is revealed, it would seem, from all sides. Some say it's time. Someone says that the first ones do not understand anything and it is not time at all. Someone writes how to buy buckwheat in America, and someone writes how to find a job in London, if you know only obscene Russian.
However, what the move looks like from the point of view of the company, the issue is almost not covered. But in this topic there is a lot of interesting things, and not only for big bosses. But budgets, headcounts, metrics, and so on are insanely boring for developers. What is it - to open an office abroad, why, how much and how? And, most importantly, how our IT brother can benefit from this.
The article turns out to be unrealistically large, so in this series the answer to the question: “Why?”
First, a little background and introductions. Hello, my name is Eugene, I was a front-end team leader at Wrike for a long time, then a manager, and then fuck, bang, and we open an office in Prague, and I'm going to be the director of Wrike Prague. It sounds rosy, but in fact Ecclesiastes was right, a thousand times right.
… Because in much wisdom there is much sorrow; and whoever increases knowledge, increases sorrow.
What for?
The motives for a personal move are usually clear: try something new, learn a language, financial issues, politics, security, and so on. But why would a company open a development office in another country? After all, it is expensive, it is not clear what kind of market there is, and indeed ... There may be several reasons, and each one can benefit.
HR brand
There was an opinion that many top developers would like to work abroad. This is not always the case, and not always the top ones, and in general, here you can run into huge disputes, again returning us to the eternal question with the letter B: “To fall or not to fall”. Nevertheless, there is an outflow, and this is a fact. But leaving for an incomprehensible company, it is not clear with what culture in an incomprehensible country it is scary. This is where all the salt is. Opening a foreign office increases the chance to hook on good employees who would like to relocate to another country with minimal discomfort.
Tips
- Often companies have a “buffer period” that you have to work with the company before you can be transferred. We don’t do this at Wrike, but we understand that maybe some employers need this time to look at a person and not transfer wrong;
- The opening of a new office involves expansion. And expansion involves the opening of new positions. So here is the most suitable field for bidding and negotiations. This is not true for all companies, but they don’t take money for demand, do they?
- One of the most important questions is: “Which teams are already there, and what are they doing there?”. Often, companies only transport people from certain destinations, such as a particular product or technology. And it may turn out that it will not be very interesting or not profile for you. We discussed it for a long time, and decided that it would be better to make an office "about everything", so it is easier to find developers and teams and avoid reservations for cultural, professional or some other reasons.
Funnel expansion
Sometimes it seems that IT is like a black hole - it only absorbs and gives nothing away. And more and more new specialists entering the market disappear in an endless stream in her bottomless body. Personnel shortage forces companies to look for new territories and drives them, as in the era of great conquests, across the ocean. The decision is not easy, no one knows what they are - local workers. What do they want and what do they know. And this, perhaps, is a topic for a separate article. Interviewing Czech programmers turned out to be quite fun, but difficult.
And by the way, not all companies are ready to recruit non-Russian-speaking engineers. After all, for this it is necessary to translate workflows into English, change the onboarding procedure, and so on. Difficult. It is difficult, of course, for R&D, because sales or, say, support is usually local. But what useful can be learned from the fact that the company nevertheless decided, and openly stated that “we will have multicultural R&D”.
Tips
- You will have non-Russian-speaking colleagues. It's cool, it broadens one's horizons, new acquaintances and so on. But, unfortunately, you will not be able to discuss new memes with a colleague if you do not know English. So if you go to a company that is ready to transport you - be sure you will be asked about knowledge of the language. But on the other hand, working in IT in 2019 and not knowing English is nonsense, isn't it?
- Be sure to find out in which team you will work after the move. It depends on whether you will speak Russian, English or remain silent most of the time. In general, this advice can be applied to any interview at all. Ask where and how you will work. And this, by the way, is a big difference between Russian developers and Europeans.
One of the programmers at the interview asked for a tour of the office. Since we are in Prague, and he is in Paris, we took a webcam and walked “with him” around the offices. Very reminiscent of the series "The Big Bang Theory"when Sheldon was afraid to leave the house, and sent a robot instead.
— Hello guys, this is Jean, he wants to be our front-ender
- *the guys nod at the laptop*
Risk diversification
Of course, here we are stepping on thin ice and risk returning to the question with the letter B. But two/three/four offices in different locations are much better than one from the point of view of any business.
Be sure to read the article Shahin Sorkh about Iran, and how developers can live there .
To be honest, this is very sad to read.
Tips
- It is important to understand here, what is the future of the office? Why was it opened? And it is worth asking what will happen in a year or two. You know, everyone does not like the classic HR question: “Where do you see yourself in five years?”. But for some reason we do not ask ourselves. After all, it depends entirely on what you will do in two/three years.
Investment attractiveness
Business is business. And money is money. Foreign offices increase the attractiveness of the company in the global market, which means that they can potentially lead to good investments. It seems to be not the most interesting topic for developers, but personally I would rather work in a company with a good budget than in a company without investments and budget. This doesn't necessarily mean you'll drive a Ferrari, but new MacBooks, monitors, and modern workplaces don't just pop up out of nowhere. Even cookies and coffee cost something, such is the world.
And another reason for opening an office abroad comes to mind. The last and saddest.
For check
I can understand the top management who cheerfully reports to the top: "We have an office, everything is fine." But in fact there are two salesmen sitting there and that's it. Investors are happy, stocks jumped.
Unfortunately, there are such companies, but I will not name them. For us, they are completely useless, and it will not be possible to give any advice here. Unless you ask again: “Why do you need an office?”
One of my friends told me that they opened an office in China with great fanfare. All mailings trumpeted that it would be a major engineering center and in general, glass, concrete, brains and innovation. But for some reason, no one saw any pictures from the office. People came from there, yes, but no one could get there. Right Area 51. There were rumors that they were doing something so breakthrough that all competitors were sleeping and seeing how to snatch secrets from there. But in the end, after the applied Russian ingenuity (to get the guests drunk in the bar until unconscious), my friend learned that a think tank is a barn in the middle of a Chinese rice field.
We expand the company - we expand ourselves
From a pragmatic point of view, the opening of a new office for the company's employees is always a blessing, because the opening means new positions, including quite high ones. And the most important thing here is to be proactive. I would recommend:
- Look around. What are the people around you doing, your boss and your great boss? Maybe the new office will need the same people. And here you are so beautiful;
- Decide where you are interested in developing;
- Having come up with a position for yourself, write a 30-60-90 plan and goals for it. Let it be a draft, you've never done it. But this is better than saying: "I want to be the mistress of the sea";
- Proactively come to the authorities with a plan, goals and other things;
- Profit!
Total
It is critical to find out why the company opens an office abroad. Both for employees of this company, and for potential candidates. A lot depends on the answer to this question: will you sit in a small, fading department, or will it be a brand new, developing office. Will you speak English, or will it be another Russian-speaking ghetto. And what are the prospects for the company and you.
In the next series: Select a country. Why the Baltic States are not suitable, why it is impossible to live in Berlin, and why in London, the European IT capital, it is easier to open a fruit shop than an IT company.
PS
If you are in Prague, come visit us at Wrike. I will be happy to tell you why Czech beer is not so tasty. Well, or in St. Petersburg, always welcome. Vitejte!
Source: habr.com