IT work in Barcelona, briefly failed
After reading the article about Prague and re-reading all the comments, I understood a few things:
It was in the evening and we drank tea in Zaporozhye, where my family and I moved from Nikolaev, again after the fact of finding a job at a local enterprise working for foreign customers.
The husband lazily flipped through Skype in the phone and suddenly, choking on tea, asked:
- Do you want to go to Barcelona?
I: - On vacation?
Husband: - Not for long. I am offered a job. Well? It is necessary today to give an answer to send the conditions and the contract.
')
Pretty question. My husband has been working on freelance projects for quite some time. The office does not like, but I love.
I am a COO (chief operating officer) in one of the top Ukrainian-American company that leases a server and a platform for advertising networks.
I have a confident salary, friendly staff, and excellent relations with the management. In addition, I just finished and launched a new project and the company has big plans for me.
Who in their right mind would refuse money, career growth and a friendly working environment?
I.
Why?
We were sent the conditions and the contract and we had to adjust them to fit our needs, without really burrowing.
I will not describe here the whole process of negotiations and correspondence, but in fact we agreed on the following.
By the way, the documents were issued to us, but after 3 months. Bureaucracy 90 lvl. We arrived on February 1 and on March 30 we finished the visa and we steamed for two weeks about this, although we were all told - all the rules are on the design. So that you understand the whole game of shadow and light - without documents we could not independently buy phones and hold the Internet and send children to school, open bank accounts, get medical insurance and buy a subscription to the bike park.
As a result, my work colleague designed the phones for himself and the Internet held in his name.
For a quarter, as non-residents, we were asked for three months of value (900x3), rather than two, as we had originally planned, based on these real estate websites.
But honey. We are still waiting for state insurance (Cat Salut cards). Private issued in the bank. 65 euros from the nose (us 4).
Santander Bank deigned to open accounts for us without a nie on the husband’s work contract, and only because its office is a large client in this bank.
Conclusion. Of course, we expected everything on a saucer, but be prepared that you will have to wait for a rather long time and that without documents you will hardly be comfortable.
I found a job very quickly, but only because the office in which I settled was a client of the previous office. Accordingly, I knew the technology and could proceed immediately, without training, internships and other things.
In Zaporizhia, I came at 10:30 and left as it would. On weekends, on holidays, and during sick leave — you always had to be in touch. Overtime did not pay, but there were annual bonuses and you kind of convince yourself that you are not a slave to the system.
In Barcelona, the husband goes to work at 11, returns to 5, and lunch is one and a half hours and he has the right to work at home two days a week, because "why not if you are comfortable."
I have a working day from 9:30 to 18:30. At 18:31, it is forbidden to answer on Skype. At the weekend, you can call just to ask how are you. No one will lift you up at three in the morning because of the collapse of the stats. Moreover, I somehow got a call at 9 pm for an emergency and apologized more than they discussed ways to eliminate the problem.
In all previous jobs, I was a Swiss knife — and negotiations, and contracts, and integration, and sales, and analytics, and development and project management. In Barcelona, I clearly know what they pay me, they value the initiative and normally perceive the criticism of the leadership. There are no hours-long rallies or weekly gatherings. Scrum is used, but only in the aspects of micromanagement of special projects. I can calmly say - I think it is not worth the effort and they will hear and listen to me.
Of the minuses, everything is very slow. Spanish offices may respond sluggishly to lunch, the logs will be sent after three weeks, and some people make changes to the contract for about 5 months. The integration of the XML feed, which takes less than 3 minutes, can take several hours.
The language of communication is English. My Spanish is good enough to understand that Despasito is slow, but to explain the subtleties of setting up an advertising campaign does not pull. In addition, they speak Catalan.
You still have to learn the language, but with English you can survive. As my children proved in the Catalan school - sign language saves.
My husband was lucky, technical specifications can be printed and framed. He communicates with the lead and the second prog and with the Ukrainian colleagues on the remote. At his corporate party, when I saw 67 people, of which he knew 2, I realized that there is no need to know which of my colleagues breeds Labradors, surfs, or visits coffee shops. You can simply say hello and say goodbye.
We spend a month on food (me, husband, son, daughter, and dog) a little less than 300-400 European standard monetary units. In this apartment - 900 +100 utilities. Telephone + Internet (two numbers and a router) 65 per month. Medical insurance - 65 per each dog. Dog to the word costs 50-60 euros per month + 45 times in three months for a haircut.
The company and my husband pay taxes and keep tax records - that is, you do not bother with filing declarations and other paperwork.
If you are called for a beer, then you invest quietly in 40, of course, we prefer to just visit and invite guests, because it leaves 50-60 percent cheaper.
Moving to Spain is not as scary as I imagined it. No one has canceled paperwork, but this is a part of our life and it can be solved.
Tickets, accommodation and versatile assistance in the design - this is normal, but not "wow that's lafa". You are obliged to provide adequate and legal conditions of stay in the country and in addition to buy return tickets - what if you change your mind.
The standard of living, even with a salary of 3000, is very high. Of course, this is not an iPhone X every month, but very close.
Food is cheap if you cook yourself or eat not in 3 stars.
Language - universal English, in IT companies of upper intermediate level, this is enough. Having learned Catalan or Spanish, you will be able to significantly expand the range of offered positions, but this is solely for understanding the jokes of the leads and communicating with the local team.
Children can be arranged in any school from private to local - they cannot refuse you with documents. Verified
Medicine at the level of space for me (after the Ukrainian polyclinics). Checked by operations. Insurance works.
6 months have passed and I can say that we like it. Looking back, I am glad that we are so crazy restless and that we were able to overcome fear and lack of confidence in our own abilities (for myself, my husband is a hero, this is understandable).
- I was very lucky, and could end up just a disaster;
- I was not ready to write a review before yesterday, because I had to go at least half a year, so that I, as a frog traveler, could express my estimated opinion about moving to Barcelona for an IT-family;
- Perhaps my experience will inspire or, on the contrary, save someone from radical changes in work and change of residence.
How did it all start?
It was in the evening and we drank tea in Zaporozhye, where my family and I moved from Nikolaev, again after the fact of finding a job at a local enterprise working for foreign customers.
The husband lazily flipped through Skype in the phone and suddenly, choking on tea, asked:
- Do you want to go to Barcelona?
I: - On vacation?
Husband: - Not for long. I am offered a job. Well? It is necessary today to give an answer to send the conditions and the contract.
')
Pretty question. My husband has been working on freelance projects for quite some time. The office does not like, but I love.
I am a COO (chief operating officer) in one of the top Ukrainian-American company that leases a server and a platform for advertising networks.
I have a confident salary, friendly staff, and excellent relations with the management. In addition, I just finished and launched a new project and the company has big plans for me.
Who in their right mind would refuse money, career growth and a friendly working environment?
I.
Why?
- Because I am not an egoist, and if my husband tolerated distant work for many years for the sake of my ambitions and career, then the time has come and I will learn to take into account his ambitions.
- Because the sea and the sun, instead of Zaporozhye factory clubs of smoke and constant colds on the background of poor ecology.
- Because there are a lot of IT companies in Barcelona and I hoped that with my baggage of experience I would find an application without problems.
We were sent the conditions and the contract and we had to adjust them to fit our needs, without really burrowing.
Conditions and Prejudices
I will not describe here the whole process of negotiations and correspondence, but in fact we agreed on the following.
- We are paid for a visa (and at that time there was no visa free yet).
- We pay for tickets (with it there and back, just in case).
- We rent an apartment for two weeks or until we find an acceptable option but not more than 4 weeks.
- We are issued NIE (this is such an internal document in Spain which is a residence permit in the country, in our case upon the work of the husband).
- The company undertakes to pay taxes and social insurance, and we get clean hands.
- The company maintains tax returns.
- Salary is only 60% of what we originally requested, but in fact 50% more than what I received and 30% more than my husband received. The result is still less than the sum of our salaries, but I was hoping to find a job.
Reality
By the way, the documents were issued to us, but after 3 months. Bureaucracy 90 lvl. We arrived on February 1 and on March 30 we finished the visa and we steamed for two weeks about this, although we were all told - all the rules are on the design. So that you understand the whole game of shadow and light - without documents we could not independently buy phones and hold the Internet and send children to school, open bank accounts, get medical insurance and buy a subscription to the bike park.
As a result, my work colleague designed the phones for himself and the Internet held in his name.
For a quarter, as non-residents, we were asked for three months of value (900x3), rather than two, as we had originally planned, based on these real estate websites.
But honey. We are still waiting for state insurance (Cat Salut cards). Private issued in the bank. 65 euros from the nose (us 4).
Santander Bank deigned to open accounts for us without a nie on the husband’s work contract, and only because its office is a large client in this bank.
Conclusion. Of course, we expected everything on a saucer, but be prepared that you will have to wait for a rather long time and that without documents you will hardly be comfortable.
Work in a Spanish IT company
I found a job very quickly, but only because the office in which I settled was a client of the previous office. Accordingly, I knew the technology and could proceed immediately, without training, internships and other things.
In Zaporizhia, I came at 10:30 and left as it would. On weekends, on holidays, and during sick leave — you always had to be in touch. Overtime did not pay, but there were annual bonuses and you kind of convince yourself that you are not a slave to the system.
In Barcelona, the husband goes to work at 11, returns to 5, and lunch is one and a half hours and he has the right to work at home two days a week, because "why not if you are comfortable."
I have a working day from 9:30 to 18:30. At 18:31, it is forbidden to answer on Skype. At the weekend, you can call just to ask how are you. No one will lift you up at three in the morning because of the collapse of the stats. Moreover, I somehow got a call at 9 pm for an emergency and apologized more than they discussed ways to eliminate the problem.
In all previous jobs, I was a Swiss knife — and negotiations, and contracts, and integration, and sales, and analytics, and development and project management. In Barcelona, I clearly know what they pay me, they value the initiative and normally perceive the criticism of the leadership. There are no hours-long rallies or weekly gatherings. Scrum is used, but only in the aspects of micromanagement of special projects. I can calmly say - I think it is not worth the effort and they will hear and listen to me.
Of the minuses, everything is very slow. Spanish offices may respond sluggishly to lunch, the logs will be sent after three weeks, and some people make changes to the contract for about 5 months. The integration of the XML feed, which takes less than 3 minutes, can take several hours.
The language of communication is English. My Spanish is good enough to understand that Despasito is slow, but to explain the subtleties of setting up an advertising campaign does not pull. In addition, they speak Catalan.
You still have to learn the language, but with English you can survive. As my children proved in the Catalan school - sign language saves.
My husband was lucky, technical specifications can be printed and framed. He communicates with the lead and the second prog and with the Ukrainian colleagues on the remote. At his corporate party, when I saw 67 people, of which he knew 2, I realized that there is no need to know which of my colleagues breeds Labradors, surfs, or visits coffee shops. You can simply say hello and say goodbye.
A little about money
We spend a month on food (me, husband, son, daughter, and dog) a little less than 300-400 European standard monetary units. In this apartment - 900 +100 utilities. Telephone + Internet (two numbers and a router) 65 per month. Medical insurance - 65 per each dog. Dog to the word costs 50-60 euros per month + 45 times in three months for a haircut.
The company and my husband pay taxes and keep tax records - that is, you do not bother with filing declarations and other paperwork.
If you are called for a beer, then you invest quietly in 40, of course, we prefer to just visit and invite guests, because it leaves 50-60 percent cheaper.
Summarize
Moving to Spain is not as scary as I imagined it. No one has canceled paperwork, but this is a part of our life and it can be solved.
Tickets, accommodation and versatile assistance in the design - this is normal, but not "wow that's lafa". You are obliged to provide adequate and legal conditions of stay in the country and in addition to buy return tickets - what if you change your mind.
The standard of living, even with a salary of 3000, is very high. Of course, this is not an iPhone X every month, but very close.
Food is cheap if you cook yourself or eat not in 3 stars.
Language - universal English, in IT companies of upper intermediate level, this is enough. Having learned Catalan or Spanish, you will be able to significantly expand the range of offered positions, but this is solely for understanding the jokes of the leads and communicating with the local team.
Children can be arranged in any school from private to local - they cannot refuse you with documents. Verified
Medicine at the level of space for me (after the Ukrainian polyclinics). Checked by operations. Insurance works.
6 months have passed and I can say that we like it. Looking back, I am glad that we are so crazy restless and that we were able to overcome fear and lack of confidence in our own abilities (for myself, my husband is a hero, this is understandable).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/338424/
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