It's been almost a year since I traded my native birches for beer and sausages. And so I decided, finally, to blow the dust off my habrauchetka, for.
In my defense, I will say that the case is unusual. Your humble servant, due to natural laziness and other reasons well known to everyone, has failed the quest to obtain a useful piece of paper called a diploma. The consequences of my youthful frivolity await you under the cut.
Work searches
Baseline: PHP self-taught, 8 years alone sawing one project, periodically distracted by all sorts of homemade products and freelance. Fucked up to death. Languages: English and German (the latter gives a lot of bonuses on the spot, but it is not important when looking for a job in IT. Some of my interviewers did not know it themselves).
I was looking for a job slowly, overcoming doubts and my own laziness. Thanks to a friend who wrote me virtual lyuley and adjusted the interview, which I failed miserably. But the main thing is to start. Then I contacted online intermediaries, did a test task from them, then from some employers, then from others, then several Skype interviews, then a trip for a trial day (!). In general, it took a decent amount of time and effort, but I do not regret it, an interesting experience.
Work Visa
Lucky tower owners receive an EC blue card and travel to Europe as white people. You need to find a job for 41.808 euros per year (the threshold for IT today), which is not much.
Everyone else is waiting for a national visa "for non-self-employment." Reading the conditions for obtaining, I became discouraged, because everything is about diplomas and diplomas, about the fact that they need to be confirmed, and so on. But at the same time, the Germans reserve the right to let in the necessary specialists, which they do. Headhunters-intermediaries are aware of this and immediately said: do not worry.
An interesting moment: inΒ» Professions are not only IT, there are a lot of working specialties. Builders, auto mechanics, plumbers... Whoever has not dreamed of being a German plumber, let them throw a stone at me!
True, vocational education also needs to be confirmed in a good way, but it does not take five years to receive it, and it does not break through the databases, like a university education, for the rating of an educational institution.
Personally, just in case, I attached academic certificates from the institute, with translation and certification, but I have no idea whether this made sense or not. Yet the procedure for issuing visas is a black box, apparently on purpose.
An important point is a visa for the second half. She had to take the rap for me and take the German language (level A1). If I had a tower and a blue card, I wouldn't have to.
Move
In the process of obtaining a visa, the most unpleasant thing is the uncertainty about the timing. Enrollment for more than a month, but you can grab the free coupons if you check often. Formal processing times are long, several months. In fact, I got a visa for a week and a half. They try not to let their German employers down. the shortage of staff is serious.
Berlin is green, unkempt and beautiful. Grows by leaps and bounds, speaks all the languages ββof the ball. Finding an apartment is a pain. Get ready to go for dozens of views by renting temporary rooms on AirBNB. The Germans are diligently building up all the wastelands and walls left from the war, the factories were allowed into lofts, but still they do not keep up with the boom of Berlin startups.
The same is true for kindergartens.
About prices. In Germany, by European standards, food is cheap (+- like in Moscow, after you get used to parsing local price tags and you understand where everything is and how much). The Internet is expensive and slow. It makes sense to buy used household appliances, itβs great, on a local eBay, itβs cheap. I bought my aluminum horse for 41 euros. I dashed off about 6000, according to my calculations, the flight is normal, it's time to change the chain a second time.
My personal motivator for moving is being able to cycle to work all year round, even from the outskirts. At first, just euphoria covered when I went out on the road in the morning.
All in all, it's worth it. Germany is not a Valley where people go for a crazy career and money, everything here is much more modest in this regard. This place is for those who understand life.
Be of good cheer!
Source: habr.com