How I went to work as a programmer in Sweden (Part 1)
On Habré already wrote about how IT people move to London , San Francisco and some other foreign locations, as well as very sensible about emigration in general . To my surprise, I did not find a similar note about Sweden. Since I currently live in the glorious city of Stockholm and work in a Swedish company, I decided to correct this situation.
After I finished describing my move history, I realized with horror that it turned out to be huge. Therefore, I decided to break it into two parts.
I have been developing applications for the iOS platform for over 3 years. As it turned out in the countries of the "decaying" West, this profession is in demand and important. So much so that foreign employers are ready to invite employees from abroad, including from Russia.
The first proposals for an interview on the position of iOS developer in foreign companies began to arrive about two years ago through LinkedIn. After consulting with my wife, we came to the conclusion that you can try to work abroad. Great Britain was recognized as a country suitable for emigration.
')
For emigration to the UK there are several ways, however, the only suitable for us was the option of a visa for qualified specialists (the so-called Tier 2 (General) visa). The essence of the requirements of this visa is that the new immigrant must have a job offer from a British employer (job offer), money for work for the first time (£ 945 for an employee + £ 630 for each other family member - at the time of my studying the question, perhaps, the numbers are already different now), a document on knowledge of the English language, and also (and this is decisive!) - the desire and ability of the British employer to make an employee of the Certificate of Sponsorship .
It took about a year to prepare and obtain a Cambridge CAE certificate , which is sufficient document to confirm your knowledge of English. After receiving it in early 2014, the active job search phase started.
In the period from January to June 2014, I sent out / responded to vacancies on British recruiting sites about 150 times. I have meticulously documented all contacts in order not to apply for the same vacancy more than once. Approximately for every 5-8 response, I received feedback in the form of a recruiter's call. Yes, it is a call. British recruiters love to make phone calls. Neither write to e-mail, nor communicate via Skype, no. They love to call.
In 4 cases out of 5 the call was reduced to a conversation in the style:
Recruiter: Hello, (blah blah blah) , tell me, what are you doing now?
I: tell where, by whom and how much I work
Recruiter: Do you have the right to work in the UK?
Me: Unfortunately, I need a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Recruiter: (disappointed) Aah ... You know, unfortunately the employer does not make a Sponsorship, but I will try to find another job for you. Goodbye!
I think it is unnecessary to write that I have never heard anything from such recruiters.
After about 5 months of active searches (in May 2014) it became clear that the approach to the response to vacancies and the search for recruiters involved in the selection of developers for mobile platforms for the British market does not work. After a series of strategic meetings with the second half, it was decided to expand the geography of the search. The list of countries suitable for emigration other than Great Britain was expanded to include Ireland and the Netherlands, as well as the currently friendly for all technically savvy Germany specialists.
I approached Ireland in a manner similar to the British: I registered on the main sites of recruitment agencies, posted a resume and began to respond to the announcements. In total, I responded to about 30 vacancies. There was no feedback at all.
The answer came when a recruiter girl working in Ireland, but originally from Romania, contacted me. She suggested that the Irish recruitment agencies through the sites are looking primarily for people who have the right to work in Ireland. As a citizen of Russia, I need to make an invitation to work, it takes a long time (it can take several months) and is expensive (the employer pays 1000 euros when applying for). Therefore, no one is interested in my person. She also advised to look for an employer directly, not through recruiting sites and recruiters.
Looking for Irish employers directly was not as easy as it may seem at first. Nevertheless, I was able to arrange an interview with a company engaged in booking hostels. But then I run a little ahead.
Approximately simultaneously with the start of the search in the expanded list, the girl Ellie left me from a British recruiting agency. The first telephone conversation with her (the British like to make phone calls, remember?) Lasted for almost half an hour. In principle, at that time for me it was already a fairly ordinary length of conversation, some talkative comrades and longer could torture me about my experience, achievements and aspirations. In general, I did not attach much importance to this conversation. As it turned out, nothing.
This girl clung to me with a grasp that the English bulldog would envy (for which, by the way, my many thanks). I still do not know why: whether she acted on some of her instructions for working with applicants, or she understood that with my experience I would be able to profitably “sell” someone.
She immediately warned that her company specializes in continental Europe, that is, no UK or Ireland. There were several positions to choose from in Germany and one in Sweden. Based on her own experience, she recommended interviewing all positions. Germany was on our extended list, so I agreed to the German position without delay.
Sweden was what is called “to the heap”. I didn’t intend to move seriously to Sweden, but it’s always useful to talk for additional experience in interviewing English. Therefore, I agreed to the Swedish position.
Positions in Germany were as many as three.
The first was in Yelp . Their headquarters are in California, development in California and Hamburg. They were interviewed in two stages:
1. First talk on Skype with their HR-specialist, a story about yourself, your work. Then a short set of several questions to exclude completely inappropriate candidates. I answered the questions, apparently, correctly, because at the end of the survey I was informed that I had passed to the second round and I would continue to undergo a technical interview with the leading iOS developer of the company.
2. The technical interview took place in about a week and a half. At 10 am California time (9 pm Moscow time). A story about his work experience, completed projects, answers to questions about ARC, manual memory management. Next, writing a method that expands a coherent list in an online text editor with the ability to edit the code by both participants in the interview. The list is not quickly, but successfully deployed, promise to contact after a while.
A few days later, Ellie told me that Yelp preferred to take on the position of a person with extensive experience in iOS development. Well then, it happens sometimes.
The second position was the position in the company engaged in the development of services for joint travel (the so-called carpooling) and located in Munich. At first I talked to the head of mobile development, who turned out to be a rather nervous German. This comrade was very worried, he spoke English with a strong German accent, and I got the impression that he felt even more insecure than I was. :) Plus, he said that at present the development of the mobile version of the product is considered a priority and it is planned to direct all efforts to it.
The questions are standard: how much do I do development, what projects have I done, etc. After this interview, a technical interview was scheduled with the company's leading iOS developer. This fellow was a Romanian, with development experience, less than mine. During the conversation with him, I found out a lot of amusing details about how their product works. I also learned that before the start of product development within the company, it was done by a consulting firm (I then met this approach several times in several other interviews, from which I concluded that this practice is very popular in Europe), and at the time product interviews were developed by this guy and a team of four Moldovans at outsourcing. In addition, I clearly understood that my experience with the head is enough to work in this company.
Having morally tuned to go to Munich after a technical interview, I was surprised and horrified a few days later from Ellie that the management of this company decided once again to change the product development strategy and again gave the development to a third-party company. The fate of the Romanians and the unfortunate Moldovans remained unknown to me. I believe the first left to oversee the work of third-party developers, and the latter were fired.
The third German position was in a Berlin startup that made another killer of Google. Before the interview, these comrades sent a test task consisting of three tasks of increasing complexity, which had to be done in a limited time in a special service, the name of which I again did not remember. I don’t know what these comrades were trying to achieve in the first place: whether they wanted applicants to do as many tasks as they could, only relying on the knowledge of rare algorithms, or to find a way to solve problems in the same Google. I solved the first task myself, found the second and third solution on Google (ironically, right?). There was no intelligible feedback from them, I dare to suggest that they hired someone who solved all the problems himself.
Option from the Swedes, I repeat, I did not consider a priority.
At first there were several Skype video calls with at least four different people: the two co-founders of the company (one of whom is also the CEO), the product manager, and the leading iOS developer. All of these people turned out to be very friendly and friendly people with whom it was quite easy to communicate.
The interviews themselves were as follows. Co-founders were interested in experience in general, completed projects, talked on fairly abstract topics, talked about the company. The goal of communication with me, they put not so much an assessment of my professional qualities, but rather how well I would fit into an existing team.
The product manager was interested in about the same questions as the co-founders, but in addition to this, he was interested in the technical details of iOS projects in which I participated: what technologies we used on the client and on the server, how we transferred data between clients and servers, and more .d
The leading iOS developer asked mainly about technical knowledge, including (but not limited to) memory management — MRR and ARC, knowledge of specific frameworks, work with iTunes Connect, Provisioning Portal, etc. After the technical interview, which lasted about 30 minutes, I was sent a test task - to write a small application that works with the API of some existing word search service.
The task was given about a week. In parallel, I had another test task of a similar nature, but I do not remember from whom exactly. I had to sit pretty in the evenings after work and on weekends in order to be in time. It also helped that the API of the ill-fated service gave the data in the form of XML, and that generated by a poorly tuned Microsoft server. Since it was undesirable to use a third-party XML parser for the conditions of the problem, I spat terribly. By the way, the leading iOS developer still apologizes for this “crappy API”, says that he did not work with him personally, he wanted to give a task in related subjects.
The technical people liked the solution of the problem very much, I waited for a decision about the job offer. My friend hr-manager Ellie had already changed her boss (apparently, the standard practice at the final stage of the transaction, he has more experience - the higher the likelihood that the transaction will not break), Matthew. Matthew kindly said that the Swedes generally speaking, there are only two candidates: me and another comrade who was "well, absolutely none." Therefore, Matt recommended to stock up on champagne and wait for the offer. I, given the experience gained earlier, was skeptical.
And then it is time to talk again about the Irish ...
But about this - in the second part of the post .
After I finished describing my move history, I realized with horror that it turned out to be huge. Therefore, I decided to break it into two parts.
Introduction
I have been developing applications for the iOS platform for over 3 years. As it turned out in the countries of the "decaying" West, this profession is in demand and important. So much so that foreign employers are ready to invite employees from abroad, including from Russia.
The first proposals for an interview on the position of iOS developer in foreign companies began to arrive about two years ago through LinkedIn. After consulting with my wife, we came to the conclusion that you can try to work abroad. Great Britain was recognized as a country suitable for emigration.
')
For emigration to the UK there are several ways, however, the only suitable for us was the option of a visa for qualified specialists (the so-called Tier 2 (General) visa). The essence of the requirements of this visa is that the new immigrant must have a job offer from a British employer (job offer), money for work for the first time (£ 945 for an employee + £ 630 for each other family member - at the time of my studying the question, perhaps, the numbers are already different now), a document on knowledge of the English language, and also (and this is decisive!) - the desire and ability of the British employer to make an employee of the Certificate of Sponsorship .
It took about a year to prepare and obtain a Cambridge CAE certificate , which is sufficient document to confirm your knowledge of English. After receiving it in early 2014, the active job search phase started.
Job Search in the UK
In the period from January to June 2014, I sent out / responded to vacancies on British recruiting sites about 150 times. I have meticulously documented all contacts in order not to apply for the same vacancy more than once. Approximately for every 5-8 response, I received feedback in the form of a recruiter's call. Yes, it is a call. British recruiters love to make phone calls. Neither write to e-mail, nor communicate via Skype, no. They love to call.
In 4 cases out of 5 the call was reduced to a conversation in the style:
Recruiter: Hello, (blah blah blah) , tell me, what are you doing now?
I: tell where, by whom and how much I work
Recruiter: Do you have the right to work in the UK?
Me: Unfortunately, I need a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Recruiter: (disappointed) Aah ... You know, unfortunately the employer does not make a Sponsorship, but I will try to find another job for you. Goodbye!
I think it is unnecessary to write that I have never heard anything from such recruiters.
After about 5 months of active searches (in May 2014) it became clear that the approach to the response to vacancies and the search for recruiters involved in the selection of developers for mobile platforms for the British market does not work. After a series of strategic meetings with the second half, it was decided to expand the geography of the search. The list of countries suitable for emigration other than Great Britain was expanded to include Ireland and the Netherlands, as well as the currently friendly for all technically savvy Germany specialists.
Ireland, first call
I approached Ireland in a manner similar to the British: I registered on the main sites of recruitment agencies, posted a resume and began to respond to the announcements. In total, I responded to about 30 vacancies. There was no feedback at all.
The answer came when a recruiter girl working in Ireland, but originally from Romania, contacted me. She suggested that the Irish recruitment agencies through the sites are looking primarily for people who have the right to work in Ireland. As a citizen of Russia, I need to make an invitation to work, it takes a long time (it can take several months) and is expensive (the employer pays 1000 euros when applying for). Therefore, no one is interested in my person. She also advised to look for an employer directly, not through recruiting sites and recruiters.
Looking for Irish employers directly was not as easy as it may seem at first. Nevertheless, I was able to arrange an interview with a company engaged in booking hostels. But then I run a little ahead.
Active British Recruiters
Approximately simultaneously with the start of the search in the expanded list, the girl Ellie left me from a British recruiting agency. The first telephone conversation with her (the British like to make phone calls, remember?) Lasted for almost half an hour. In principle, at that time for me it was already a fairly ordinary length of conversation, some talkative comrades and longer could torture me about my experience, achievements and aspirations. In general, I did not attach much importance to this conversation. As it turned out, nothing.
This girl clung to me with a grasp that the English bulldog would envy (for which, by the way, my many thanks). I still do not know why: whether she acted on some of her instructions for working with applicants, or she understood that with my experience I would be able to profitably “sell” someone.
She immediately warned that her company specializes in continental Europe, that is, no UK or Ireland. There were several positions to choose from in Germany and one in Sweden. Based on her own experience, she recommended interviewing all positions. Germany was on our extended list, so I agreed to the German position without delay.
Sweden was what is called “to the heap”. I didn’t intend to move seriously to Sweden, but it’s always useful to talk for additional experience in interviewing English. Therefore, I agreed to the Swedish position.
Germany
Positions in Germany were as many as three.
The first was in Yelp . Their headquarters are in California, development in California and Hamburg. They were interviewed in two stages:
1. First talk on Skype with their HR-specialist, a story about yourself, your work. Then a short set of several questions to exclude completely inappropriate candidates. I answered the questions, apparently, correctly, because at the end of the survey I was informed that I had passed to the second round and I would continue to undergo a technical interview with the leading iOS developer of the company.
2. The technical interview took place in about a week and a half. At 10 am California time (9 pm Moscow time). A story about his work experience, completed projects, answers to questions about ARC, manual memory management. Next, writing a method that expands a coherent list in an online text editor with the ability to edit the code by both participants in the interview. The list is not quickly, but successfully deployed, promise to contact after a while.
A few days later, Ellie told me that Yelp preferred to take on the position of a person with extensive experience in iOS development. Well then, it happens sometimes.
The second position was the position in the company engaged in the development of services for joint travel (the so-called carpooling) and located in Munich. At first I talked to the head of mobile development, who turned out to be a rather nervous German. This comrade was very worried, he spoke English with a strong German accent, and I got the impression that he felt even more insecure than I was. :) Plus, he said that at present the development of the mobile version of the product is considered a priority and it is planned to direct all efforts to it.
The questions are standard: how much do I do development, what projects have I done, etc. After this interview, a technical interview was scheduled with the company's leading iOS developer. This fellow was a Romanian, with development experience, less than mine. During the conversation with him, I found out a lot of amusing details about how their product works. I also learned that before the start of product development within the company, it was done by a consulting firm (I then met this approach several times in several other interviews, from which I concluded that this practice is very popular in Europe), and at the time product interviews were developed by this guy and a team of four Moldovans at outsourcing. In addition, I clearly understood that my experience with the head is enough to work in this company.
Having morally tuned to go to Munich after a technical interview, I was surprised and horrified a few days later from Ellie that the management of this company decided once again to change the product development strategy and again gave the development to a third-party company. The fate of the Romanians and the unfortunate Moldovans remained unknown to me. I believe the first left to oversee the work of third-party developers, and the latter were fired.
The third German position was in a Berlin startup that made another killer of Google. Before the interview, these comrades sent a test task consisting of three tasks of increasing complexity, which had to be done in a limited time in a special service, the name of which I again did not remember. I don’t know what these comrades were trying to achieve in the first place: whether they wanted applicants to do as many tasks as they could, only relying on the knowledge of rare algorithms, or to find a way to solve problems in the same Google. I solved the first task myself, found the second and third solution on Google (ironically, right?). There was no intelligible feedback from them, I dare to suggest that they hired someone who solved all the problems himself.
Swedish version
Option from the Swedes, I repeat, I did not consider a priority.
At first there were several Skype video calls with at least four different people: the two co-founders of the company (one of whom is also the CEO), the product manager, and the leading iOS developer. All of these people turned out to be very friendly and friendly people with whom it was quite easy to communicate.
The interviews themselves were as follows. Co-founders were interested in experience in general, completed projects, talked on fairly abstract topics, talked about the company. The goal of communication with me, they put not so much an assessment of my professional qualities, but rather how well I would fit into an existing team.
The product manager was interested in about the same questions as the co-founders, but in addition to this, he was interested in the technical details of iOS projects in which I participated: what technologies we used on the client and on the server, how we transferred data between clients and servers, and more .d
The leading iOS developer asked mainly about technical knowledge, including (but not limited to) memory management — MRR and ARC, knowledge of specific frameworks, work with iTunes Connect, Provisioning Portal, etc. After the technical interview, which lasted about 30 minutes, I was sent a test task - to write a small application that works with the API of some existing word search service.
The task was given about a week. In parallel, I had another test task of a similar nature, but I do not remember from whom exactly. I had to sit pretty in the evenings after work and on weekends in order to be in time. It also helped that the API of the ill-fated service gave the data in the form of XML, and that generated by a poorly tuned Microsoft server. Since it was undesirable to use a third-party XML parser for the conditions of the problem, I spat terribly. By the way, the leading iOS developer still apologizes for this “crappy API”, says that he did not work with him personally, he wanted to give a task in related subjects.
The technical people liked the solution of the problem very much, I waited for a decision about the job offer. My friend hr-manager Ellie had already changed her boss (apparently, the standard practice at the final stage of the transaction, he has more experience - the higher the likelihood that the transaction will not break), Matthew. Matthew kindly said that the Swedes generally speaking, there are only two candidates: me and another comrade who was "well, absolutely none." Therefore, Matt recommended to stock up on champagne and wait for the offer. I, given the experience gained earlier, was skeptical.
And then it is time to talk again about the Irish ...
But about this - in the second part of the post .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/285682/
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