St. Petersburg homeless - in Prague. Continuing the history of self-taught developer

What would you answer to the employer's question: “Are you ready to move to our new office in another country?”. Most likely, it would be correct to clarify to which particular country, under what conditions and something else like that. Then start studying legislation, study forums, ask questions, worry about transporting things, understand the features of a local mortgage, make plans for 10 years ahead, worry, start drinking and smoking, or stop drinking and smoking.

All people are different and we all have different motives, but I just have never been abroad.
“Yes,” I replied.

By the way, after the publication of the last story on Habré, where I wrote about how spontaneously I became a programmer, I felt something like fame - old acquaintances emerged, new ones appeared, I was even recognized a couple of times in transport (and this is an indicator!).
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In general, 1.5 years have passed, I moved to the new R & D office of Veeam Software in the Czech Republic and am writing a continuation of my story. Suddenly, someone will be interested in my experience of relocation, improving life and work in another country.

I am attracted as a magnet to any changes where there is an element of uncertainty. Everyone remembers the words: “If everything in the world is meaningless,” said Alice, “What is stopping to invent some meaning?” Adventurism, romance - it's all good, as long as you do not have a stamp in your passport, loans and mortgages. All that was at the time when I was asked a question about changing my place of residence. But preparing for the move is not a quick process, and when you had to apply for a visa, you had to apply for three visas and think about a cat, a dog and a mortgage.

- Tell me, please, where should I go from here?
- Where do you want to go? - answered the cat.
“I don't care ...” said Alice.
“Then it's all the same where to go,” remarked the Cat.

At the family council, we decided that I would go to Prague for the first two months alone, because the daughter is still quite small and not ready to fly into the unknown. But let's get everything in order ...

About visa

Why Prague? The company Veeam Software, where I have been working for 5 years, opened another R & D center. To “complete” the office, we needed a group of volunteers who were ready to change their place of residence and go to conquer the unexplored until this moment traditions of the new country and features of the national development.

For a trip to the consulate required: a completed application form in the Czech language, an employment contract with the Czech division of Veeam, all sorts of information about the fact that I have never robbed and offended anyone, well, and even some pieces of paper. Collecting and filling out documents was the hardest part for me.

The next step is going to the Czech consulate for an interview with the consul. I clicked on all the front door calls, and finally they opened it for me. I waited two hours at the window, after which the consul came out, took my documents and left for another hour. At the interview, he asked what I was going to do in the Czech Republic in my free time, and he himself answered that everyone went there to drink beer. I did not argue. Then he joked about my broken nose, they say, you're just a programmer and you are not going to offend anyone? I asked to speak in English about the architecture of our project, but then I quickly got bored, took the money (I don’t remember how euro) and said goodbye. It was painful days waiting for a response.

Finally, a visa and tickets on hand. The plan for the next two months was this:
I fly alone to Prague, renting accommodation where my family will be comfortable, including a dog and a cat, and during this time my wife prepares all the documents in Russia for our reunion. Then I return to Russia, our family is loaded into the car and goes on a car-sea journey to a new home. Route: the port of Helsinki, ferry - to Germany, "flight" on the highway to the Czech Republic.


The ferry, on which my family and I went to a new life.

About moving and housing search

“The plan, to be sure, was excellent: simple and clear, it’s better not to invent. He had only one drawback: it was completely unknown how to put it into execution. ”

June 11, the Czech Republic. Prague - as in the pictures, only better. Settled in a pre-reserved apartment a few meters from Vyšehrad. Veeam Software provided 2 months for all relocating employees to give people time to find a rented apartment.

Council for rental housing. The first thing to do is to forget about the ruble exchange rate. Accommodation is expensive - it is a fact. But if we forget about the ruble (salary in kroons), then it is quite “hard” for the first year to rent a very good “eurovodka”, with underground parking, a warehouse and a huge loggia. Even in St. Petersburg, I agreed (or rather, the wife agreed, because in our family polyglot is her) with an agent to view a two-room apartment. On the first day I went to watch, and the next day I signed a contract. Since I have pets, I had to pay a double deposit. Agency fees were paid by the company. In total, for the first 4 days of my stay in Prague, I got a place to stay, a bicycle and train tickets to Ostrava to participate in the speed-skating world cup stage (speed skating), which took place this weekend.


I've been skating for a long time, so I could not miss the speedskating world cup.

About leisure

The first thing I did was put on rollers and go to roll along the Vltava. On the other side of the towering St. Vitus Cathedral, looking at this Gothic masterpiece, you unwittingly recall the "Castle" of Kafka. For various reasons, I could not get to him throughout the summer, although I tried almost every day. That feeling when you are the same K. Gothic, and around parks, swans ... Wonderland.

“And what are these sounds, over there?” - Alice asked, nodding at the very secluded thickets of some pretty vegetation on the edge of the garden.
“And these are miracles,” the Cheshire Cat explained indifferently.
“And ... And what are they doing there?” - asked the girl, inevitably blushing.
“As it should be,” the Cat yawned. - Happen ...

It should be noted that Prague was difficult to roller. Once again, flying down from the hill along the pavement, I was afraid to spit out my teeth, not to mention the lack of brakes. Therefore, the next day I found an ad on the Internet and bought a bicycle.

It's funny: I thought that somehow I could speak Czech, and the bicycle salesman thought that he knew Russian, but we both didn’t understand each other at all. Active gesticulation and similar numbers in our languages ​​saved the case.


Riding around Prague on a bicycle turned out to be nicer than roller skating.

Pro mode

Now, when the whole family is assembled, the daughter taught me a strict regime. The rise at 7.30 - no chance, because the kid with his little hands lifts my eyelids, loudly telling something in my ear. 8.00 - breakfast. The dog jackals under the table, while Varya (daughter) chews breakfast with her four teeth. Not a single crumb reaches the floor. At 8.50 we are already marching through the park under the twitter of birds (I, Varya in a carriage and a dog with a ball). Park - on the hill, right next to the house. In general, here in all districts of Prague there is a park, and not one. And in each such park there are special areas for dogs. From the top of the hill overlooks the entire historical center of Prague. Varya struggles with sleep and demands spectacles, then the dog comes to the rescue, making funny jumps in the air, trying to catch the ball on the fly. 9.30 - Varya gave up - asleep. Her friends, Russian Fedya (something terrier-like) with her eternally speaking phone mistress and Czech Bruno (like Sheltie, like Chocha), catch up with Choche (that's the name of our dog), and I take out a book and sit down to read on the bench. 11.00 - I sit in the saddle and rush to work until I work for 5-7 minutes, but I stretch the pleasure to 12 hours, passing through the entire center.

On weekends we load ourselves into a car and drive to some castle or just sit in a tram and go for a walk in the center.


My company for morning walks.

About work

After moving from St. Petersburg to the Prague office, in addition to the carpet on the floor, dishwasher in the kitchen and sorting garbage, nothing really changed: the walls, floor, ceiling, tasks, rallies, code, colleagues, sometimes black humor.

We have, most likely, a good modern office (I do not know the criteria of "goodness"): parking, bicycle parking, batteries in the floor and no one knows where the air conditioners are hidden.

And also: now in our kitchen, in addition to cookies, various overseas fruits have appeared: bananas, kiwi, tangerines and other preservers of the dish. But the traditions remain the same: you have a holiday? (married, divorced, born) - be kind enough to share the joy with colleagues in the form of something edible, delivered in a box by courier.

Given the territorial remoteness of some colleagues (while not everyone who planned moved to Prague), it turned out that Skype is not only a slow and “important” means of transmitting a ridiculous picture to a friend sitting at a nearby table, but also a tool for communication on business issues.

In general, the workflow has not changed much - a constant deadline. It turned out that the code written in Prague contains the same number of bugs as the code produced on the banks of the Neva.


My new workplace. Only the interface language has changed.

About prices

If we talk about grocery stores, I did not notice the difference in price or in choice. Lack of ravioli was a little upset, but then I found a store of Russian products. The main thing is to learn that sour cream is not sour cream, but cream. For two days I ate cottage cheese with sour cream (cream) and could not understand why I could not eat more than three spoons.

Public kindergartens accept children from 3 years and it will cost around 2-3 thousand crowns. Children in these gardens receive the necessary portion of childhood: games, walks, wallowing in mud and sleeping on the floor, and only then our beloved tutorials are paradise, in one word.

But if you want to give the child to the garden from an earlier age or you want your child to proudly go to Russian-English-Chinese-Czech with in-depth study of quantum mechanics, the garden is already private gardens, and all of them will cost from 5 thousand. and to infinity crowns.
About medicine I can not say anything, because I did not know anything about her at home. Once, back in St. Petersburg, I went to a neurologist to complain of a headache. After the doctor found out how much concussion I had, he advised me to rejoice that I was alive. So I am glad: my teeth are flying on the box, and my knees are on the bike. We have a medical insurance paid by the company, according to it we pass scheduled examinations with the child, inoculated us - we like it.
Clothing. If you bought jeans in Lenta, then you might as well buy them at Tesco's supermarket. In the very heart of Prague, there is Paris Street, there are shops where you can buy cowards for my three salaries and get a company bag with which it is important to walk along the Old Town Square. To each his own.

"Just think that because of some thing you can decrease so much that it turns into nothing."

There is also a huge outlet where you can buy branded clothes at real discounts. Sales here work out of the ordinary: they don’t write the price by 20% percent more expensive than the original one, then cross it out and make a 3% discount on this crossed out price.

By the way, this year I drove to the subway at the same cost as in the past - and this is the first time with me.


New Year's celebrations in Prague are a great time to enjoy traditional dishes and drinks in the heart of Europe.

Pro language barrier

There is no language barrier in the 21st century: any mobile device speaks and understands any language. There is a barrier in the head, an incomprehensible fear and complete confidence that they will not understand you, and if they do, you will certainly not understand anything in response. But it is enough to get into an extreme situation and all obstacles are crumbling, cultural differences are erased and everyone understands each other perfectly. In Děčín (a town on the border with Germany, where everyone speaks Czech and German) I couldn’t find a train station - I got lost, and there were just a few minutes before the train. So, I managed to get from the depths of consciousness all the verbs and nouns I needed to find out from passers-by where I should go. Finally, I even wished them a good day.

In general, all the young people here speak English very well, and people over 40 have a little bit of fluff, but speak Russian.

There is only one place where you do not understand and do not want to understand - the post of the Czech Republic. I am more than confident that this is a Russian post office. But this is such a piece of the motherland, with the only difference that you are rude in Czech.

About future plans

My modest plans for this year - to find a good man in the team. In general, judging by the way our colleagues from the personnel department are quick, conducting many interviews in Prague and thinking about the design of the new office, Veeam is going to turn around here. As a result, we will have another major R & D center in the heart of Europe. At the same time, by the way, the Russian development center develops according to the same scenario, but in a parallel, St. Petersburg, universe - there are many vacancies (for our products are constantly developing), and they decide something with the office.


Our office in Prague. Green color - to lift the spirit.

Instead of conclusion

I did not say anything about beer! How is it to write about Prague and not to mention beer? I can only say one thing: beer is cheap here. For me, Prague is like castles, parks, bicycle paths. This is Kafka, walking with the family, this is still the same Veeam, only smaller (at least for now).