Tale of how I moved to Finland
Just a year ago, I sat on Habré and read articles of this kind in order to maintain my morale when I decided to leave my native Kazakhstan and find a job in Europe. But, to my regret, all the articles started roughly the same: “My name is username and I have been programming since I was 8 years old”. I will tell you a completely different story.
I would like to write that when I was 8 years old, I found a book on C on the shelf and I realized that I wanted to connect my life with programming. But, unfortunately, my way to the dream job was a bit tortuous. My education is a linguistic gymnasium and, subsequently, a translation department. In the first year of university, I began working as a translator in a large insurance company. Work did not bring me any pleasure. And at the age of 23, after repeatedly changing companies, I decided to listen to my inner voice and try programming.
Since I had zero experience, I decided to try to find a job in a web studio, but I was not interested in the position, I just had to be in this area. Having come to the interview for the position of a content manager, I honestly admitted why I am here and that I am inconceivably drawn to write code. So I got a job as a tester, it was a great success. Of course, I did not write unit tests, it all started with the usual manual testing, but a start was made and I started with a new force a plan to change the scope of activities. Further work began on himself. Eavesdropping conversations of fellow programmers, reading books that were given with great difficulty, the first web site, nightmares about IE version 6 and the layout of rounded corners before the appearance of border-radius. Having worked in the company for three years and simultaneously pumping PHP and Javascript skills, I finally found the work of a PHP programmer in another web studio.
')
Then there were more serious projects - a news portal, an online learning platform, an aggregator of payment systems. After I went to work at a large IT company in Kazakhstan and became confident Middle Web Developer twenty-eight years old, and I asked myself, what next? And I decided that I would try to move further.
I started by creating a quality profile on LinkedIn. From the first time I did not succeed in quality, the profile consisted of dry facts and brief descriptions of projects, no one would be interested in reading this, I sent a link to my more experienced colleagues, after making many corrections and processing the text, the profile became more readable.
Try to present yourself beautifully, try to tell interestingly about the project, what you brought to it, what difficulties you encountered and how you solved them. Such a profile will be more interesting to read the recruiter. Ask more experienced people to re-read your profile.
In addition to LinkedIn, I read articles and books about what questions can be met at the interview. Tightening theory. I studied English on Skype with a teacher, because for many years I did not use the language and I had the level “I understand everything, but I can’t say anything”. At the same time, I started sending letters to large companies, visited the official websites of companies in the jobs section, and looked at whether there are any vacancies at the moment. I decided to write even to Blizzard, of course they refused me, but no one will cut you off for trying my hand.
The first to respond to my letter is the company from Berlin. I sent the letter early in the morning and in the evening I received an answer and an invitation to Skype for an interview with HR, I did not expect such a quick reaction. But, unfortunately, I was able to pass an interview only with HR and the project manager, the technical interview was too tough for me, I clearly lacked academic knowledge. The story repeated itself at several subsequent interviews, but each time I felt much more confident. During the interviews, I always kept a notebook in readiness to write down questions that I do not know the answer to and then work on them. Live coding was also a big stress, it was still a pleasure to try to program something when someone was watching and breathing into the microphone. At the interview you can get a great experience, even if you fail miserably. You will be clearer where to go and what you need to pull up.
After such an experience, I decided to postpone the move for a year, and for the year to pull up all the knowledge that was not enough to pass the interviews, but a company from Finland became interested in me. They were looking for a person with experience in creating an aggregator of payment systems. Having a rather negative experience of interviews, I decided to try again, but I didn’t have much hope. My first interview was with HR. Next, I was interviewed with a leading programmer, we talked about my previous projects, without specifically addressing technical issues. Having reached the stage of technical interview, I thought, well, everything, you can relax, then I’ll hardly pass at the moment, but the interview went in a completely different way. At the first stage, I was interviewed by a backend programmer, in addition to theoretical questions on PHP, OOP, SQL, I was asked questions that were close to what is actually used in practice, of course, there was live coding. The second stage of the interview was conducted by the front-end programmer, then the questions were asked by the project manager. The interview lasted about three hours, although I read about cases and longer interviews, but three hours of tension was enough for me to get exhausted.
A couple of days later I received a letter of congratulations on the successful completion of a technical interview and a description of the test task. The test task was proposed to be implemented in any convenient language and in general there was complete freedom of action and choice of technologies, but it was necessary to spend no more than 3 hours on the task. Therefore, I had to stop myself when I wanted to add some small and interesting features and concentrate on the main functionality. I was answered three days later with an invitation to an onsite interview. The company paid the cost of travel and accommodation. All I had to do was get a Schengen. This was my first big win.
Overcoming 5000 km, I ended up in Helsinki. The first thing that struck me in this city is the cleanest air. Arriving at 22 00, I went to the hotel and went to the office in the morning. I always made more bias on the backend, but in the final interview I was asked to implement a new feature on the front end in a day. Having spent the whole day in the Finnish office, the strange feeling that it was always like this never left me, I felt very comfortable. And the team had enough happy faces, which was a good sign. In the evening we discussed what I had done in a day and I went to the hotel, at 6 am I had a plane home.
A week later, they sent me a letter with an offer to move to Finland and a contract. I had to re-read the letter several times in order to realize that everything is actually happening. I was given a month for fees, I quit my previous job, made multiple Schengen, which allowed me to remain until receipt of the residence permit in the country, packed two huge suitcases (you never know what might be needed in the north) and set off.
In order to stay in Finland for a long time, I applied to the residence permit for special expert. To do this, it was necessary to fill out a form on the EnterFinland website and attach a list of required documents. The main document is a contract with the company and then a set of different papers - a notarized translation of a diploma of higher education and in my case of employment record, since the diploma was not by profile, but for this type of permite, you need to prove that you really are a specialist. The first permit is issued for one year, it cost me 450 euros. Permit extension is much simpler and costs two times less, the second permit is issued for a period of 2 to 4 years. The deadlines for receiving a decision on issuing a permit vary from two weeks to n months. After visiting the migration office, you will receive a code, based on which you can be in the country until you receive a decision.
The next step was to get henkilötunnus or a social number, for this you need to visit the city council of Helsinki, you need to do this as quickly as possible, because without this number no further steps are possible and without it you can hardly rent an apartment.
Next, you need to visit the tax Verotoimisto for a tax card. After the long-awaited residence permit card, the next quest chain opened for me. Obtaining a Finnish ID (since the residence permit is not an ID, it is a visa), opening a bank account (which is impossible without an ID) and receiving a Kela social security card.
The first time, while I prepared the necessary documents and applied for a permit, I lived in a hotel. The process of finding an apartment I looked like. I printed a form from the site where you can find an apartment for rent. The site indicates the time when you need to come to the address where the apartment is viewed, from 3 to 23 people can come to view besides you, which complicates the search. If you liked the apartment, then you leave a questionnaire and leave, hoping that they will call you. Of course, first of all they will consider the Finns. But I was lucky here, I found an apartment after the third viewing. My nest was an apartment of 23 square meters near the center of Helsinki.
Some summer photos
Gifts of the forest
Typical Finnish bench
Year in Finland flew by. I can’t even believe that after they sent me an offer I could not decide whether to stay in a warm comfort zone in Kazakhstan, working in a good company, or completely change my life and move. So, if someone plans to move, but doubts that he can find a job, then I can tell you - go for it! I have proved to myself that this is possible.
About me
I would like to write that when I was 8 years old, I found a book on C on the shelf and I realized that I wanted to connect my life with programming. But, unfortunately, my way to the dream job was a bit tortuous. My education is a linguistic gymnasium and, subsequently, a translation department. In the first year of university, I began working as a translator in a large insurance company. Work did not bring me any pleasure. And at the age of 23, after repeatedly changing companies, I decided to listen to my inner voice and try programming.
Start
Since I had zero experience, I decided to try to find a job in a web studio, but I was not interested in the position, I just had to be in this area. Having come to the interview for the position of a content manager, I honestly admitted why I am here and that I am inconceivably drawn to write code. So I got a job as a tester, it was a great success. Of course, I did not write unit tests, it all started with the usual manual testing, but a start was made and I started with a new force a plan to change the scope of activities. Further work began on himself. Eavesdropping conversations of fellow programmers, reading books that were given with great difficulty, the first web site, nightmares about IE version 6 and the layout of rounded corners before the appearance of border-radius. Having worked in the company for three years and simultaneously pumping PHP and Javascript skills, I finally found the work of a PHP programmer in another web studio.
')
Then there were more serious projects - a news portal, an online learning platform, an aggregator of payment systems. After I went to work at a large IT company in Kazakhstan and became confident Middle Web Developer twenty-eight years old, and I asked myself, what next? And I decided that I would try to move further.
Interview Preparation
I started by creating a quality profile on LinkedIn. From the first time I did not succeed in quality, the profile consisted of dry facts and brief descriptions of projects, no one would be interested in reading this, I sent a link to my more experienced colleagues, after making many corrections and processing the text, the profile became more readable.
Try to present yourself beautifully, try to tell interestingly about the project, what you brought to it, what difficulties you encountered and how you solved them. Such a profile will be more interesting to read the recruiter. Ask more experienced people to re-read your profile.
In addition to LinkedIn, I read articles and books about what questions can be met at the interview. Tightening theory. I studied English on Skype with a teacher, because for many years I did not use the language and I had the level “I understand everything, but I can’t say anything”. At the same time, I started sending letters to large companies, visited the official websites of companies in the jobs section, and looked at whether there are any vacancies at the moment. I decided to write even to Blizzard, of course they refused me, but no one will cut you off for trying my hand.
First interviews
The first to respond to my letter is the company from Berlin. I sent the letter early in the morning and in the evening I received an answer and an invitation to Skype for an interview with HR, I did not expect such a quick reaction. But, unfortunately, I was able to pass an interview only with HR and the project manager, the technical interview was too tough for me, I clearly lacked academic knowledge. The story repeated itself at several subsequent interviews, but each time I felt much more confident. During the interviews, I always kept a notebook in readiness to write down questions that I do not know the answer to and then work on them. Live coding was also a big stress, it was still a pleasure to try to program something when someone was watching and breathing into the microphone. At the interview you can get a great experience, even if you fail miserably. You will be clearer where to go and what you need to pull up.
W. Success
After such an experience, I decided to postpone the move for a year, and for the year to pull up all the knowledge that was not enough to pass the interviews, but a company from Finland became interested in me. They were looking for a person with experience in creating an aggregator of payment systems. Having a rather negative experience of interviews, I decided to try again, but I didn’t have much hope. My first interview was with HR. Next, I was interviewed with a leading programmer, we talked about my previous projects, without specifically addressing technical issues. Having reached the stage of technical interview, I thought, well, everything, you can relax, then I’ll hardly pass at the moment, but the interview went in a completely different way. At the first stage, I was interviewed by a backend programmer, in addition to theoretical questions on PHP, OOP, SQL, I was asked questions that were close to what is actually used in practice, of course, there was live coding. The second stage of the interview was conducted by the front-end programmer, then the questions were asked by the project manager. The interview lasted about three hours, although I read about cases and longer interviews, but three hours of tension was enough for me to get exhausted.
A couple of days later I received a letter of congratulations on the successful completion of a technical interview and a description of the test task. The test task was proposed to be implemented in any convenient language and in general there was complete freedom of action and choice of technologies, but it was necessary to spend no more than 3 hours on the task. Therefore, I had to stop myself when I wanted to add some small and interesting features and concentrate on the main functionality. I was answered three days later with an invitation to an onsite interview. The company paid the cost of travel and accommodation. All I had to do was get a Schengen. This was my first big win.
Helsinki
Overcoming 5000 km, I ended up in Helsinki. The first thing that struck me in this city is the cleanest air. Arriving at 22 00, I went to the hotel and went to the office in the morning. I always made more bias on the backend, but in the final interview I was asked to implement a new feature on the front end in a day. Having spent the whole day in the Finnish office, the strange feeling that it was always like this never left me, I felt very comfortable. And the team had enough happy faces, which was a good sign. In the evening we discussed what I had done in a day and I went to the hotel, at 6 am I had a plane home.
A week later, they sent me a letter with an offer to move to Finland and a contract. I had to re-read the letter several times in order to realize that everything is actually happening. I was given a month for fees, I quit my previous job, made multiple Schengen, which allowed me to remain until receipt of the residence permit in the country, packed two huge suitcases (you never know what might be needed in the north) and set off.
Documents in Finland
In order to stay in Finland for a long time, I applied to the residence permit for special expert. To do this, it was necessary to fill out a form on the EnterFinland website and attach a list of required documents. The main document is a contract with the company and then a set of different papers - a notarized translation of a diploma of higher education and in my case of employment record, since the diploma was not by profile, but for this type of permite, you need to prove that you really are a specialist. The first permit is issued for one year, it cost me 450 euros. Permit extension is much simpler and costs two times less, the second permit is issued for a period of 2 to 4 years. The deadlines for receiving a decision on issuing a permit vary from two weeks to n months. After visiting the migration office, you will receive a code, based on which you can be in the country until you receive a decision.
The next step was to get henkilötunnus or a social number, for this you need to visit the city council of Helsinki, you need to do this as quickly as possible, because without this number no further steps are possible and without it you can hardly rent an apartment.
Next, you need to visit the tax Verotoimisto for a tax card. After the long-awaited residence permit card, the next quest chain opened for me. Obtaining a Finnish ID (since the residence permit is not an ID, it is a visa), opening a bank account (which is impossible without an ID) and receiving a Kela social security card.
Apartment Search
The first time, while I prepared the necessary documents and applied for a permit, I lived in a hotel. The process of finding an apartment I looked like. I printed a form from the site where you can find an apartment for rent. The site indicates the time when you need to come to the address where the apartment is viewed, from 3 to 23 people can come to view besides you, which complicates the search. If you liked the apartment, then you leave a questionnaire and leave, hoping that they will call you. Of course, first of all they will consider the Finns. But I was lucky here, I found an apartment after the third viewing. My nest was an apartment of 23 square meters near the center of Helsinki.
Little about Helsinki
- The purest air and water that can be drunk from the tap. I couldn’t get used to it for several weeks after the move and still boiled it incredulously.
- Magnificent nature, which can be found even in the city. Beautiful parks, islands, the sea and of course the city center with beautiful architecture.
- Most of the population speaks fluent English, I have been living here for a year and have never had any problems with explaining what is a huge plus, since Finnish is not an easy language.
- Prices in Finland are considered high, but the ratio of wages and prices is quite acceptable. Products in stores at prices are not very different from Almaty. Is that meat more expensive and buckwheat in the afternoon with fire you will not find. Apartments near the city center are quite expensive. But it is quite possible to find a one-room apartment for 700 euros per month. The farther from the center, naturally, cheaper, so that if living in the center is not the key point, then in more remote areas you can find excellent two-bedroom apartments in new homes for 800 euros per month.
- Well developed transport system. A ticket for all types of transport within the zone of the city of Helsinki will cost 55 euros per month.
- Higher education in Finland is of high quality and free for residents. If you have a residence permit of a certain type, then you can enroll in any Finnish university and study for free.
- Lack of bureaucracy. In my opinion in Finland it is quite easy to get any document. For example, I needed a driver's license. The only thing I had to do was pay 40 euros, fill out a form and exchange my Kazakh rights for Finnish. And exactly one week later I received my rights by mail.
- Finns respect personal space, so the likelihood that someone will stand at the bus stop and breathe into your back when there is zero free space around. The Finns are quite friendly, although, judging by their harsh faces, you can't say that. So, do not hesitate to ask for help.
Some summer photos
Gifts of the forest
Typical Finnish bench
Year in Finland flew by. I can’t even believe that after they sent me an offer I could not decide whether to stay in a warm comfort zone in Kazakhstan, working in a good company, or completely change my life and move. So, if someone plans to move, but doubts that he can find a job, then I can tell you - go for it! I have proved to myself that this is possible.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/358846/
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