Careful transfer to the Netherlands with his wife and mortgage. Part 1: Job Search
On Habré and indeed in the Russian-speaking Internet there are many instructions on how to move to the Netherlands. I myself have learned a lot of useful information from a single article on Habré ( now, apparently, no longer hidden in the draft , here it is ). But I will still tell you about my experience in finding a job and moving to this European country. I remember that when I was just about to send out a resume, and when I had already passed the interviews, it was very interesting for me to read about the similar experience of other colleagues in the shop.
In general, if you are interested in a story about how a C ++ programmer from the Moscow region was looking for work in Europe, preferably in the UK, but he did find it in the Netherlands, he moved there himself and brought his wife, all with unpaid mortgages in Russia and with little adventures - welcome under cat.
A small review of my career, so that it was approximately clear that I was trying to sell to potential foreign employers.
')
In 2005, I graduated from a university in my native Saratov and went to graduate school in Dubna, near Moscow. In parallel with his studies, he worked a bit, wrote something in C ++ (it is even embarrassing to remember). For three years he managed to become disillusioned with his scientific career and in 2008 moved to Moscow. I was lucky with my first normal job (C ++, Windows, Linux, a well-designed development process), but in 2011 I found a new one. Too With ++, only Linux and more interesting stack of technologies.
In 2013, I finally defended my Ph.D. and for the first time decided to somehow move in the direction of overseas. Samsung held some kind of fair in Moscow, I sent them a resume. In response, I was even interviewed by phone. In English! The Koreans made an impression of complete razdolbaev - they did not have either my resume or the presentation they had sent in advance. But they giggled, naturally giggled. I was greatly offended, and I was not upset when I was refused. A little later, I learned that such laughter from Koreans is an expression of nervousness. Now I prefer to think that the Korean was also nervous.
Then I dropped the idea abroad, changed jobs. With ++, Linux, Windows, a little bit even for a microcontroller peed on C. In 2014 I took a mortgage, moved to the near Moscow region. In 2015 I was fired (many were fired at that time), I found work in a hurry. I realized that I was wrong, I searched again, and in the same 2015 I got into one of the best places in Moscow, and indeed in Russia. The best job in my career, a lot of new technologies for me, annual salary increases and a great team.
There would calm down, right? But it did not work. There is no one reason that made me decide to move (I am avoiding the word “emigration” for the time being). There is a bit of everything: the desire to test myself (can I communicate in English all the time?), And the boredom of a quiet life (get out of my comfort zone), and uncertainty about the Russian future (economic and social). Anyway, in 2017, in addition to wanting, I began to take active steps.
I started by deciding to find out in detail about the vacancy, which has already been 4, if not all 6 years old, called me eyes - “a C ++ programmer is required for a Russian-Vietnamese company in Hanoi”. I overcame my introversion and talked in social networks with people I did not know - Russian workers of that company. It quickly became clear that such conversations are very useful, but there is nothing to do in Vietnam. OK, look further.
I only have English from foreign languages. I read, of course. I also try to watch movies and TV shows in the original (with subtitles, without them being uncomfortable). Therefore, for a start, I decided to limit myself to the English-speaking countries of Europe. Because I am not ready to go farther than Europe, neither then nor now (and my parents are not getting younger, and sometimes I have to look after the apartment). There are exactly 3 English-speaking countries in Europe - the UK, Ireland and Malta. What to choose? Of course, London!
I updated myself / got profiles on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster and StackOverflow, re-compiled a summary, translated into English. Began to view the job, stumbled upon Bloomberg. I remembered that even a year or two earlier someone sent me a booklet from Bloomberg, and everything was so beautifully painted there, including assistance with moving, that I decided to - I would try to get there.
I have not had time to send anything anywhere before, in May 2017 a recruiter from London contacted me. He offered a vacancy in some kind of financial startup, offered to talk on the phone. On the appointed day and time, he called me at the Russian number and, word for word, said that here you go try Bloomberg, there you need some plusists. And about financial startup? Well, there they no longer need, or something like that. Well, I actually need to Bloomberg.
The very fact that I was able to talk with a real Englishman (yes, it was a real Englishman), and I understood him, and he understood me, he inspired me. I registered where necessary, sent a resume for a specific vacancy, indicating that I found it and brought this recruiter by the hand. I was assigned the first video interview in a couple of weeks. The recruiter provided me with materials for preparation, I passed the reviews on the Glassdoor myself.
I interviewed a Hindu, about an hour. The questions were in many ways similar (or even just coincided) with those that I have already studied. There was a theory, and actually writing code. What pleased me most at the end was that I was able to conduct a dialogue, I understood a Hindu. The second video communication session was scheduled to spend a week and a half. This time there were two interviewers, one of them is clearly Russian-speaking. I already not only solved their problems, but also asked the prepared questions, asked about the projects. After an hour of conversation, I was told that now I would have a break in 5 minutes, and then the next couple would come. I did not expect this, but, of course, did not mind. And again: they give me tasks, I give them questions. Total two hours of interview.
But I was invited to the final (as the recruiter explained to me) interview in London! They gave me an invitation letter, with which I went to the visa application center and issued a UK visa for my money. Tickets and hotel paid inviting party. In mid-July I went to London.
The recruiter met me 20 minutes before the interview, gave me the latest instructions and advice. I expected that I would be polled for 6 hours (this was written on Glassdoor), but there was only an hour conversation with two techies. I solved only one task for them, the rest of the time I was asked about my experience, and I asked about their project. Then half an hour with HR, she was already interested in motivation, and I had some answers prepared. In parting, I was told that because there is no manager now, he will contact me later - in a week or two. The rest of the day I was wandering around London for my pleasure.
I was sure that I was not screwed up, and in general everything went well. Therefore, upon returning to Moscow, I immediately signed up for the nearest IELTS exam (needed for a British work visa). For two weeks I practiced writingessay essays and passed by 7.5 points. This would not be enough for a student visa, but for me, without language practice, after just two weeks of preparation, it was just great. However, soon a London recruiter called and said that Bloomberg did not take me. "Did not see enough motivation." Well, OK, we are looking further.
When I was just going to London, I was recruited by Amazon recruiters and offered to participate in their hiring event in Oslo. So they recruit people to work in Vancouver, but this time they interview in Oslo. I don't need to go to Canada, Amazon, judging by the reviews, is not the most pleasant place, but I agreed. I decided to gain experience if I had the opportunity.
First, the online test - two simple tasks. Then the actual invitation to Oslo. A Norwegian visa is several times cheaper than a British visa and is made 2 times faster. This time I paid everything myself, Amazon promised to refund everything after the fact. Oslo was surprised by the high cost, the abundance of electric cars and the general impression of a big village. The interview itself consisted of 4 stages for 1 hour. At each stage - one or a couple of interviewers, a conversation about my experience, a task from them, questions from me. I did not shine and in a few days I received a logical refusal.
From my trip to Norway, I made a couple of new findings:
I signed up for a couple of UK sites with technical vacancies. Oh, what were the salaries there! But no one answered my responses on these sites, and no one looked at my resume. But I was somehow found by British recruiters, spoke to me, showed some vacancies and even forwarded my resume to employers. In the process they tried to convince me that 60 thousand pounds a year is a lot, no one will take me with such Wishlist. It also turned out that by resume I am a job hopper, since I changed 4 jobs in 6 years, but at least 2 years should be spent on each.
I did not regret 50 pounds and sent my resume for revision to professionals. A professional gave me some result, I made a couple of comments, he corrected. For another 25 pounds, I was offered to write a cover letter, but I, not impressed by their previous result, refused. I used the summary itself later, but its effectiveness has not changed. So I am inclined to consider such services a divorce of gullible and insecure candidates.
By the way, British and Irish recruiters have a bad habit of calling without warning. The call can overtake anywhere - in the subway, at lunch in a noisy dining room, in the toilet, after all. Only if you reset their call, they write a letter with the question "When will it be convenient to talk?".
Yes, I started sending resumes to Ireland. The reaction was very weak - 2 ineffectual calls and a polite letter with a refusal in response to a dozen and a half or two resumes sent. I got the impression that there are 8-10 recruitment agencies for all of Ireland, and in each I wrote at least once.
Then I decided it was time to expand the geography of the search. Where else speak English well? In Sweden and in the Netherlands. I have never been to the Netherlands before, but in Sweden I had to. Delight the country did not cause, but you can try. Here are just vacancies in Sweden in my profile was even less than in Ireland. As a result, I received one video interview with HR from Spotify, which was not further, and a short correspondence with Flightradar24. These guys quietly merged when it turned out that I was not going to work on them remotely with the prospect of ever relocating to Stockholm.
It's time to get to the Netherlands. For a start, my wife and I went to Amsterdam for a few days to see how it was there. The whole historical center is tightly smoked with weed, but on the whole we decided that the country is decent and you can live. So I started watching vacancies in the Netherlands, not forgetting, however, about London.
There were not many vacancies compared with Moscow or London, but more than in Sweden. Somewhere I was denied right away, somewhere - after the first online test, somewhere - after the first interview with HR (Booking.com, for example, it was one of the strangest interviews, I still don’t understand what they specifically wanted from me and in general), somewhere - after two video interviews, and in one place after the completed test task.
The structure of interviews in Dutch offices differs from that in Bloomberg or Amazon. Usually, everything starts with an online test, where you need to solve several (from 2 to 5) technical tasks in a couple of hours. Then the first introductory interview (by phone or skype) with technical specialists, a conversation about experience, projects, questions like “What would you do in such a case?”. This is followed by either a second video interview with someone of higher rank (architect, team leader or manager) or the same, but already in the office, face to face.
It was these stages that I went through with the companies, from which I eventually received an offer. In December 2017, I decided to solve 3 problems on codility.com. And by that time, I almost remembered solving such problems by heart, so they did not cause any problems. This is me to the fact that the technical part is about the same everywhere (except Facebook, Google and perhaps Bloomberg - see below). A week later, a telephone interview took place, it lasted an hour instead of the promised 15 minutes. And all this hour I stood in some corner of my openspace, trying not to look suspicious (yeah, speaking in English). A week later, I had to beat out at least some answer from HR that turned out to be positive, and I was invited to an on-site interview in Eindhoven (they paid for the flight and accommodation).
I arrived in Eindhoven a day before the interview and managed to walk around the city. He struck me with cleanliness and warm weather: in January it was about the same as in the warm October in Moscow and the Moscow region. The interview itself consisted of three hourly stages, with 2 interviewers at each. Topics for discussion - experience, interests, motivation, answers to my questions. Purely technical part ended on an online test. One of the interviewees, apparently, decided to try a fashionable technique - a joint lunch. My advice, if there is an opportunity to avoid such a thing - use it, and if you yourself are having an interview - do not do that, please. Noise, din, tinkling of instruments, in the end, I barely heard a man a meter away from me. But in general, the office and people liked me.
After a couple of weeks, I had to kick HR again to get feedback. He was again positive, and only now we began to discuss the actual money. I was asked how much I want and offered a fixed salary and an annual bonus depending on my personal success, the success of my division and the company as a whole. In total, it turned out somewhat less than I requested. Remembering all sorts of articles about how to beat out a big salary for myself, I decided to bargain, despite the fact that the articles described mainly American realities. I knocked out a couple of thousand more gross for myself and at the end of January 2018 I took the offer with no hesitation (see below).
Somewhere in October 2017, I still got some kind of positive reaction from London. It was the American company Yelp, which is gaining engineers in its London office. First of all, they sent me a link to a short (15 minutes, not 2 hours!) Test on www.hackerrank.com . After the test followed with a difference of a week and a half 3 interviews on Skype. And although I didn’t go further, these were some of the best interviews for me. The conversations themselves were relaxed, including theory with practice, and conversations for life and experience. All 3 interviewers were Americans, I understood them without any problems. They did not just answer my questions extensively, they really talked about what and how they were doing there. I could not even restrain myself and asked if they were being prepared somehow specifically for such interviews. They said no, they just recruit volunteers. In general, I now have a video / skype interview standard.
I will describe my experience with these well-known offices in one section not only because their processes are very similar, but also because I interviewed them at almost the same time.
Somewhere in the middle of November a recruiter from Facebook office in London wrote to me. It was unexpected, but understandable - I sent them my resume in July. A week after the first letter I spoke with the recruiter on the phone, he advised me how to prepare for the first Skype interview. I took 3 weeks to prepare, assigning an interview to mid-December.
Suddenly, a couple of days later a Google recruiter wrote to me! And I did not send anything to Google. The fact that such a company itself has found me, greatly raised my CSF. However, it quickly passed. I understand that this giant can afford to vacuum the whole world in search of suitable employees. In general, the scheme with Google is the same: first, an assessment conversation with HR (she suddenly asked me the complexity of some sorting algorithm in average and worst cases), then HR issues recommendations on how to prepare for interviews with technical specialists, the interview itself takes place in a few weeks.
So, I had lists of links to articles / videos / other resources from Facebook and Google, and they overlapped in many ways. These include , for example, Cracking the Coding Interview, www.geeksforgeeks.org , www.hackerrank.com , leetcode.com and www.interviewbit.com . I know the book for a long time, and, as it seems to me, it is not very relevant. Now the questions at the interviews are more difficult and interesting. On a hacker, I have been solving problems since the preparation for Bloomberg. But www.interviewbit.com was a very useful discovery for me - a lot of the things listed there came to me during real interviews.
In the first half of December 2017, with a difference of a week, I had a video interview with Facebook and Google. Each of 45 minutes, each had a simple technical task, both interviewers (one - the British, the other - the Swiss) were polite, cheerful, and naturally had a conversation. It's funny that for Facebook I wrote the code on coderpad.io , and for Google - in Google Docs. And before each of these interviews, I thought: "Just an hour of shame, and I will take up other, more promising options."
But it turned out that I had successfully completed this stage in both cases, and both offices invited me to London for on-site interviews. I received 2 invitation letters for the visa center and at first even thought of combining all this in one trip. But he decided not to bother, especially since the UK issues a multivisa immediately for six months. As a result, in early February 2018 I flew to London twice a week. Facebook paid for the flight and one night at the hotel, so I flew back at night. Google - flight and two nights in the hotel. In general, organizational issues Google solves at the highest level - quickly and clearly. By that time I already had something to compare.
Interviews in the offices took place according to the same scenario (the offices themselves are also located close to each other). 5 rounds of 45 minutes, one interviewer per round. An hour or so for lunch. Lunch is fed free of charge, for the whole lunch break they are provided with a “guide” - someone from not older engineers, who actually shows how to use the dining room, leads around the office and generally supports conversation. At my conductor on Google, I wondered occasionally what was their average programmer work time. And then, they say, we have 2 years in Russia - this is normal, but here you will sit down for a job hopper. He replied that in Google the first 2 years only delve into how and what to do, and the employee begins to bring real benefit in 5 years. Not quite the answer to my question, but it is clear that the numbers are different there (and do not tally with the latest data ) .
By the way, not one and, it seems, not even two engineers said that they transferred to the London office from California. To my question “Why?” They explained that in the Valley, life outside of work is boring and monotonous, and in London - theaters, art galleries and civilization in general.
The questions themselves on all rounds are all as described on www.interviewbit.com and hundreds of other sites / videos / blogs. They give the choice of where to write the code - on a blackboard or on a laptop. I tried both, and that, and chose a board. Somehow the board is more conducive to voicing your thoughts.
On Facebook, I performed much better than on Google. Perhaps, general tiredness and overwhelming pofigism had an effect - even before these trips, I received and accepted an offer from the Netherlands, pessimistically assessing my chances. I do not regret. Plus, in Google one of the interviewers had a powerful French accent. It was terrible. I didn’t understand almost a single word, constantly asked again and surely made an impression of a complete idiot.
As a result, Google quickly refused me, and after three weeks, Facebook wanted to conduct another interview (via Skype), citing the fact that they couldn’t figure out how I approached the role of Senior Engineer. Here I have a little bombanulo, to be honest. For the last 4 months I’ve only been doing interviews and preparing for interviews, and now again ?! I thanked politely and refused.
Offer from a not very famous office from the Netherlands I took as a bird in the hand. I repeat, I do not regret. Russia's relations with the United Kingdom have deteriorated noticeably since then, and in the Netherlands not only I received a work permit, but also my wife. However, about this later.
The narrative is suddenly a long one, so I’ll break here. If it is interesting - in the following parts I will describe the collection of documents and relocation, as well as the search for a wife in the Netherlands themselves. Well, I can tell a little about everyday aspects.
Part 2
Part 3
In general, if you are interested in a story about how a C ++ programmer from the Moscow region was looking for work in Europe, preferably in the UK, but he did find it in the Netherlands, he moved there himself and brought his wife, all with unpaid mortgages in Russia and with little adventures - welcome under cat.
Prehistory
A small review of my career, so that it was approximately clear that I was trying to sell to potential foreign employers.
')
In 2005, I graduated from a university in my native Saratov and went to graduate school in Dubna, near Moscow. In parallel with his studies, he worked a bit, wrote something in C ++ (it is even embarrassing to remember). For three years he managed to become disillusioned with his scientific career and in 2008 moved to Moscow. I was lucky with my first normal job (C ++, Windows, Linux, a well-designed development process), but in 2011 I found a new one. Too With ++, only Linux and more interesting stack of technologies.
In 2013, I finally defended my Ph.D. and for the first time decided to somehow move in the direction of overseas. Samsung held some kind of fair in Moscow, I sent them a resume. In response, I was even interviewed by phone. In English! The Koreans made an impression of complete razdolbaev - they did not have either my resume or the presentation they had sent in advance. But they giggled, naturally giggled. I was greatly offended, and I was not upset when I was refused. A little later, I learned that such laughter from Koreans is an expression of nervousness. Now I prefer to think that the Korean was also nervous.
Then I dropped the idea abroad, changed jobs. With ++, Linux, Windows, a little bit even for a microcontroller peed on C. In 2014 I took a mortgage, moved to the near Moscow region. In 2015 I was fired (many were fired at that time), I found work in a hurry. I realized that I was wrong, I searched again, and in the same 2015 I got into one of the best places in Moscow, and indeed in Russia. The best job in my career, a lot of new technologies for me, annual salary increases and a great team.
There would calm down, right? But it did not work. There is no one reason that made me decide to move (I am avoiding the word “emigration” for the time being). There is a bit of everything: the desire to test myself (can I communicate in English all the time?), And the boredom of a quiet life (get out of my comfort zone), and uncertainty about the Russian future (economic and social). Anyway, in 2017, in addition to wanting, I began to take active steps.
Work searches
I started by deciding to find out in detail about the vacancy, which has already been 4, if not all 6 years old, called me eyes - “a C ++ programmer is required for a Russian-Vietnamese company in Hanoi”. I overcame my introversion and talked in social networks with people I did not know - Russian workers of that company. It quickly became clear that such conversations are very useful, but there is nothing to do in Vietnam. OK, look further.
I only have English from foreign languages. I read, of course. I also try to watch movies and TV shows in the original (with subtitles, without them being uncomfortable). Therefore, for a start, I decided to limit myself to the English-speaking countries of Europe. Because I am not ready to go farther than Europe, neither then nor now (and my parents are not getting younger, and sometimes I have to look after the apartment). There are exactly 3 English-speaking countries in Europe - the UK, Ireland and Malta. What to choose? Of course, London!
Bloomberg LP
I updated myself / got profiles on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster and StackOverflow, re-compiled a summary, translated into English. Began to view the job, stumbled upon Bloomberg. I remembered that even a year or two earlier someone sent me a booklet from Bloomberg, and everything was so beautifully painted there, including assistance with moving, that I decided to - I would try to get there.
I have not had time to send anything anywhere before, in May 2017 a recruiter from London contacted me. He offered a vacancy in some kind of financial startup, offered to talk on the phone. On the appointed day and time, he called me at the Russian number and, word for word, said that here you go try Bloomberg, there you need some plusists. And about financial startup? Well, there they no longer need, or something like that. Well, I actually need to Bloomberg.
The very fact that I was able to talk with a real Englishman (yes, it was a real Englishman), and I understood him, and he understood me, he inspired me. I registered where necessary, sent a resume for a specific vacancy, indicating that I found it and brought this recruiter by the hand. I was assigned the first video interview in a couple of weeks. The recruiter provided me with materials for preparation, I passed the reviews on the Glassdoor myself.
I interviewed a Hindu, about an hour. The questions were in many ways similar (or even just coincided) with those that I have already studied. There was a theory, and actually writing code. What pleased me most at the end was that I was able to conduct a dialogue, I understood a Hindu. The second video communication session was scheduled to spend a week and a half. This time there were two interviewers, one of them is clearly Russian-speaking. I already not only solved their problems, but also asked the prepared questions, asked about the projects. After an hour of conversation, I was told that now I would have a break in 5 minutes, and then the next couple would come. I did not expect this, but, of course, did not mind. And again: they give me tasks, I give them questions. Total two hours of interview.
But I was invited to the final (as the recruiter explained to me) interview in London! They gave me an invitation letter, with which I went to the visa application center and issued a UK visa for my money. Tickets and hotel paid inviting party. In mid-July I went to London.
The recruiter met me 20 minutes before the interview, gave me the latest instructions and advice. I expected that I would be polled for 6 hours (this was written on Glassdoor), but there was only an hour conversation with two techies. I solved only one task for them, the rest of the time I was asked about my experience, and I asked about their project. Then half an hour with HR, she was already interested in motivation, and I had some answers prepared. In parting, I was told that because there is no manager now, he will contact me later - in a week or two. The rest of the day I was wandering around London for my pleasure.
I was sure that I was not screwed up, and in general everything went well. Therefore, upon returning to Moscow, I immediately signed up for the nearest IELTS exam (needed for a British work visa). For two weeks I practiced writing
Amazon
When I was just going to London, I was recruited by Amazon recruiters and offered to participate in their hiring event in Oslo. So they recruit people to work in Vancouver, but this time they interview in Oslo. I don't need to go to Canada, Amazon, judging by the reviews, is not the most pleasant place, but I agreed. I decided to gain experience if I had the opportunity.
First, the online test - two simple tasks. Then the actual invitation to Oslo. A Norwegian visa is several times cheaper than a British visa and is made 2 times faster. This time I paid everything myself, Amazon promised to refund everything after the fact. Oslo was surprised by the high cost, the abundance of electric cars and the general impression of a big village. The interview itself consisted of 4 stages for 1 hour. At each stage - one or a couple of interviewers, a conversation about my experience, a task from them, questions from me. I did not shine and in a few days I received a logical refusal.
From my trip to Norway, I made a couple of new findings:
- You should not try to solve the problem using static polymorphism, if you are interviewed by an engineer writing in Java (and, it seems, only in Java).
- if compensation for expenses in dollars is expected, indicate a dollar bill. My bank simply did not accept a dollar transfer to a ruble account.
UK and Ireland
I signed up for a couple of UK sites with technical vacancies. Oh, what were the salaries there! But no one answered my responses on these sites, and no one looked at my resume. But I was somehow found by British recruiters, spoke to me, showed some vacancies and even forwarded my resume to employers. In the process they tried to convince me that 60 thousand pounds a year is a lot, no one will take me with such Wishlist. It also turned out that by resume I am a job hopper, since I changed 4 jobs in 6 years, but at least 2 years should be spent on each.
I did not regret 50 pounds and sent my resume for revision to professionals. A professional gave me some result, I made a couple of comments, he corrected. For another 25 pounds, I was offered to write a cover letter, but I, not impressed by their previous result, refused. I used the summary itself later, but its effectiveness has not changed. So I am inclined to consider such services a divorce of gullible and insecure candidates.
By the way, British and Irish recruiters have a bad habit of calling without warning. The call can overtake anywhere - in the subway, at lunch in a noisy dining room, in the toilet, after all. Only if you reset their call, they write a letter with the question "When will it be convenient to talk?".
Yes, I started sending resumes to Ireland. The reaction was very weak - 2 ineffectual calls and a polite letter with a refusal in response to a dozen and a half or two resumes sent. I got the impression that there are 8-10 recruitment agencies for all of Ireland, and in each I wrote at least once.
Sweden
Then I decided it was time to expand the geography of the search. Where else speak English well? In Sweden and in the Netherlands. I have never been to the Netherlands before, but in Sweden I had to. Delight the country did not cause, but you can try. Here are just vacancies in Sweden in my profile was even less than in Ireland. As a result, I received one video interview with HR from Spotify, which was not further, and a short correspondence with Flightradar24. These guys quietly merged when it turned out that I was not going to work on them remotely with the prospect of ever relocating to Stockholm.
Netherlands
It's time to get to the Netherlands. For a start, my wife and I went to Amsterdam for a few days to see how it was there. The whole historical center is tightly smoked with weed, but on the whole we decided that the country is decent and you can live. So I started watching vacancies in the Netherlands, not forgetting, however, about London.
There were not many vacancies compared with Moscow or London, but more than in Sweden. Somewhere I was denied right away, somewhere - after the first online test, somewhere - after the first interview with HR (Booking.com, for example, it was one of the strangest interviews, I still don’t understand what they specifically wanted from me and in general), somewhere - after two video interviews, and in one place after the completed test task.
The structure of interviews in Dutch offices differs from that in Bloomberg or Amazon. Usually, everything starts with an online test, where you need to solve several (from 2 to 5) technical tasks in a couple of hours. Then the first introductory interview (by phone or skype) with technical specialists, a conversation about experience, projects, questions like “What would you do in such a case?”. This is followed by either a second video interview with someone of higher rank (architect, team leader or manager) or the same, but already in the office, face to face.
It was these stages that I went through with the companies, from which I eventually received an offer. In December 2017, I decided to solve 3 problems on codility.com. And by that time, I almost remembered solving such problems by heart, so they did not cause any problems. This is me to the fact that the technical part is about the same everywhere (except Facebook, Google and perhaps Bloomberg - see below). A week later, a telephone interview took place, it lasted an hour instead of the promised 15 minutes. And all this hour I stood in some corner of my openspace, trying not to look suspicious (yeah, speaking in English). A week later, I had to beat out at least some answer from HR that turned out to be positive, and I was invited to an on-site interview in Eindhoven (they paid for the flight and accommodation).
I arrived in Eindhoven a day before the interview and managed to walk around the city. He struck me with cleanliness and warm weather: in January it was about the same as in the warm October in Moscow and the Moscow region. The interview itself consisted of three hourly stages, with 2 interviewers at each. Topics for discussion - experience, interests, motivation, answers to my questions. Purely technical part ended on an online test. One of the interviewees, apparently, decided to try a fashionable technique - a joint lunch. My advice, if there is an opportunity to avoid such a thing - use it, and if you yourself are having an interview - do not do that, please. Noise, din, tinkling of instruments, in the end, I barely heard a man a meter away from me. But in general, the office and people liked me.
After a couple of weeks, I had to kick HR again to get feedback. He was again positive, and only now we began to discuss the actual money. I was asked how much I want and offered a fixed salary and an annual bonus depending on my personal success, the success of my division and the company as a whole. In total, it turned out somewhat less than I requested. Remembering all sorts of articles about how to beat out a big salary for myself, I decided to bargain, despite the fact that the articles described mainly American realities. I knocked out a couple of thousand more gross for myself and at the end of January 2018 I took the offer with no hesitation (see below).
Yelp
Somewhere in October 2017, I still got some kind of positive reaction from London. It was the American company Yelp, which is gaining engineers in its London office. First of all, they sent me a link to a short (15 minutes, not 2 hours!) Test on www.hackerrank.com . After the test followed with a difference of a week and a half 3 interviews on Skype. And although I didn’t go further, these were some of the best interviews for me. The conversations themselves were relaxed, including theory with practice, and conversations for life and experience. All 3 interviewers were Americans, I understood them without any problems. They did not just answer my questions extensively, they really talked about what and how they were doing there. I could not even restrain myself and asked if they were being prepared somehow specifically for such interviews. They said no, they just recruit volunteers. In general, I now have a video / skype interview standard.
Facebook and Google
I will describe my experience with these well-known offices in one section not only because their processes are very similar, but also because I interviewed them at almost the same time.
Somewhere in the middle of November a recruiter from Facebook office in London wrote to me. It was unexpected, but understandable - I sent them my resume in July. A week after the first letter I spoke with the recruiter on the phone, he advised me how to prepare for the first Skype interview. I took 3 weeks to prepare, assigning an interview to mid-December.
Suddenly, a couple of days later a Google recruiter wrote to me! And I did not send anything to Google. The fact that such a company itself has found me, greatly raised my CSF. However, it quickly passed. I understand that this giant can afford to vacuum the whole world in search of suitable employees. In general, the scheme with Google is the same: first, an assessment conversation with HR (she suddenly asked me the complexity of some sorting algorithm in average and worst cases), then HR issues recommendations on how to prepare for interviews with technical specialists, the interview itself takes place in a few weeks.
So, I had lists of links to articles / videos / other resources from Facebook and Google, and they overlapped in many ways. These include , for example, Cracking the Coding Interview, www.geeksforgeeks.org , www.hackerrank.com , leetcode.com and www.interviewbit.com . I know the book for a long time, and, as it seems to me, it is not very relevant. Now the questions at the interviews are more difficult and interesting. On a hacker, I have been solving problems since the preparation for Bloomberg. But www.interviewbit.com was a very useful discovery for me - a lot of the things listed there came to me during real interviews.
In the first half of December 2017, with a difference of a week, I had a video interview with Facebook and Google. Each of 45 minutes, each had a simple technical task, both interviewers (one - the British, the other - the Swiss) were polite, cheerful, and naturally had a conversation. It's funny that for Facebook I wrote the code on coderpad.io , and for Google - in Google Docs. And before each of these interviews, I thought: "Just an hour of shame, and I will take up other, more promising options."
But it turned out that I had successfully completed this stage in both cases, and both offices invited me to London for on-site interviews. I received 2 invitation letters for the visa center and at first even thought of combining all this in one trip. But he decided not to bother, especially since the UK issues a multivisa immediately for six months. As a result, in early February 2018 I flew to London twice a week. Facebook paid for the flight and one night at the hotel, so I flew back at night. Google - flight and two nights in the hotel. In general, organizational issues Google solves at the highest level - quickly and clearly. By that time I already had something to compare.
Interviews in the offices took place according to the same scenario (the offices themselves are also located close to each other). 5 rounds of 45 minutes, one interviewer per round. An hour or so for lunch. Lunch is fed free of charge, for the whole lunch break they are provided with a “guide” - someone from not older engineers, who actually shows how to use the dining room, leads around the office and generally supports conversation. At my conductor on Google, I wondered occasionally what was their average programmer work time. And then, they say, we have 2 years in Russia - this is normal, but here you will sit down for a job hopper. He replied that in Google the first 2 years only delve into how and what to do, and the employee begins to bring real benefit in 5 years. Not quite the answer to my question, but it is clear that the numbers are different there (and do not tally with the latest data ) .
By the way, not one and, it seems, not even two engineers said that they transferred to the London office from California. To my question “Why?” They explained that in the Valley, life outside of work is boring and monotonous, and in London - theaters, art galleries and civilization in general.
The questions themselves on all rounds are all as described on www.interviewbit.com and hundreds of other sites / videos / blogs. They give the choice of where to write the code - on a blackboard or on a laptop. I tried both, and that, and chose a board. Somehow the board is more conducive to voicing your thoughts.
On Facebook, I performed much better than on Google. Perhaps, general tiredness and overwhelming pofigism had an effect - even before these trips, I received and accepted an offer from the Netherlands, pessimistically assessing my chances. I do not regret. Plus, in Google one of the interviewers had a powerful French accent. It was terrible. I didn’t understand almost a single word, constantly asked again and surely made an impression of a complete idiot.
As a result, Google quickly refused me, and after three weeks, Facebook wanted to conduct another interview (via Skype), citing the fact that they couldn’t figure out how I approached the role of Senior Engineer. Here I have a little bombanulo, to be honest. For the last 4 months I’ve only been doing interviews and preparing for interviews, and now again ?! I thanked politely and refused.
Conclusion
Offer from a not very famous office from the Netherlands I took as a bird in the hand. I repeat, I do not regret. Russia's relations with the United Kingdom have deteriorated noticeably since then, and in the Netherlands not only I received a work permit, but also my wife. However, about this later.
The narrative is suddenly a long one, so I’ll break here. If it is interesting - in the following parts I will describe the collection of documents and relocation, as well as the search for a wife in the Netherlands themselves. Well, I can tell a little about everyday aspects.
Part 2
Part 3
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/454662/
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