About IT in Azerbaijan

If today is a week of migration to Habré ...

Last year there were several topics about how information technologies are developing in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics. A lot of topics about Ukraine and Belarus. Now I want to tell a little about IT and Azerbaijan, dispel several myths about the country. Go.

Small preface

Let me start in 2008. That year I finished the eleventh grade of the secondary education institution of Baku. After graduation, I was going to move to Moscow to study at Moscow State Technical University. Bauman, get a diploma programmer (or something close to this). However, fate decided a little differently.
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The initial plan for admission to the "Baumanka" failed - my level of knowledge of physics was too low. Of course, it would be possible to tighten it, however, even then I began to realize that I prefer IT in business and administrative processes. For this reason, I entered the Russian State University of Trade and Economics at the applied computer science (in economics).

The move and the first year were quite difficult. Different culture, different mentality. Something was easier than at home, something much more complicated. First of all, it was struck by the fact that in general, in Russia the standard of living is much lower than in Azerbaijan (I am not currently guided by any statistical data, a purely subjective opinion). Despite the fact that in my 16 years in Moscow I received a salary in the region of 30,000 rubles, this was barely enough to pay rent for an apartment (before the crisis, the cost of an odnushka in Butovo was 35,000 rubles), there was very little food left -chut And then the crisis struck, prices fell (wages remained) and it became a little easier.

In the three years that I constantly lived in Moscow, I changed almost a dozen different companies. And if in the first year my requirements for the company were very modest (if only they took, if only they took), then by the end of the third year I was twisted from a salary of 70 thousand and the absence of a second monitor. Subjectively, he grew very much in terms of technology knowledge. Education abandoned, and here's why. As far as I could judge, the university does not provide real knowledge, but only provides a tool (not a fact that it is convenient) to acquire this knowledge on its own. For this reason, I completely switched to self-education, choosing only subjects of interest to me, not only technical, but also of a general educational nature (jurisprudence, history, political science, biology and genetics).

However, it became increasingly difficult to live in Moscow - income grew, but expenses grew, depression appeared, apathy and other symptoms that should be familiar to many residents of the megalopolis. Among other things, there was the problem of my inability to socially adapt to the existing society. In the end, I decided to return home (in summer 2011).

What has changed in three years in Baku?

Baku has grown very much in terms of the development of information technology. At the moment, optics is being conducted throughout the city (for the needs of the Ministry of Transport) by our backbone provider. In turn, there are rumors about the beginning of the deployment of FTTH (Fiber to the Home), and in a year or two residents of the capital should be happy with high-speed Internet via the optical channel.

The situation on the market has changed. Developers of web services in popular languages ​​(Java, Python, PHP) have become in demand. The first interest clubs appeared. This year Baku GTUG (Google Technology Users Group) opened. Many companies have begun to pay attention to the local market (as an example, I can mention the Belarusian company, which actively offers cloud hosting on the Russian site to Azerbaijani users).

There are giant signs on the streets and avenues that will inform drivers about traffic jams and advise routes detours. All streets are equipped with cameras that record drivers without belts, drivers exceeding the speed and committing other offenses.

And what about IT?

At the moment I am working as a lead programmer at a local company, which seeks to develop several convenient services for local residents. First of all, this is an iTicket - this project is designed to help residents of the capital to purchase tickets to cinemas, museums, exhibitions, concerts and other events. At the moment, only the Park Cinema cinema is connected to the system, but we are already working on connecting the Azerbaijan Football Association to sell tickets for the matches.

Among other things, it is we who will sell tickets for the future Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Baku. To do this, we completely rework the system, change the architecture so that the system can withstand such an influx of visitors (it is assumed that the system will be used mostly by foreigners). I am ready to talk about the internal structure of iTicket in the next article (about scalability, server placement, technologies used, pitfalls, choice of processing center, etc.).

Migration to Azerbaijan

At the moment there is a shortage of personnel in the country. Even not so - qualified personnel. Therefore, if you know your business well and you are tired of freelancing in Russia, or you are not ready to move not to a Russian-speaking country, or ... yes, maybe you are just interested in Azerbaijan as a permanent residence, you should consider:

- The average salary of a qualified web programmer in the capital is about 1,200 AZN (46,500 rubles)
- For citizens of the CIS visa is not needed
- More than half of the population of Baku speaks Russian without problems (albeit with an accent)
- In the capital there is a sufficiently developed infrastructure (including IT infrastructure)
- The cost of the Internet is about 500 rubles for 2 Mbit / s.
- The cost of renting a one-room apartment for a month - 7000 rubles
- The cost of living - depends on you. It is possible to keep within 5,000 rubles, and maybe 40,000 is not enough.

In the comments ready to answer any questions you may have.



Update:
About the sea ask :)
Baku is located on the peninsula. On three sides it is washed by the Caspian Sea. A lot of beaches. There are clean, there are dirty, but generally decent quality. On average, to the beach 10 minutes by transport or by car.