Portugal. Best beaches and thousands of startups per year

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Here is the place where WebSummit is held:


Parque das nações

And this is exactly the first time I saw Portugal, arriving here in 2014. And now I decided to share with you what I have seen and learned over the past 5 years, as well as what is remarkable for an IT professional country.

Let's start with ...

I decided not to write the pros and cons in the expanded version. All this is very subjective, so everyone decides for himself.

I came to Portugal on a study visa to the University of the Algarve (Universidade de Algarve).
The Algarve is a region in the south of Portugal, where there are many tourists, beaches, hotels, etc.
The university itself is quite good and is located in a picturesque place and looks like this:



The cost of training in the direction of informatics engineering was about 1,500 euros per year, which by the standards of Europe is nothing. The quality of education is specifically in this direction and at that time - from “very good” to “so-so”. Very good, because some professors were current employees of companies who know modern things, plus they were very interesting, alive and gave a lot of practice. So-so, because not all professors spoke English (in 2 subjects the training was in the form: take lectures in English, read and at the end of the year there will be a test) and the organization of training for foreigners left much to be desired (the person responsible for our course was only called responsible, in fact, to get something from her was a bit heavy). A study visa gives you the opportunity to work if you supplement it with a work permit, the main thing is that work does not interfere with your studies. Master's studies are mostly evening, and in a couple of months I found a job in a small company that installs television and the Internet for hotels and private villas. It was not so easy to get documents, but if the employer does his part, then everything must pass without any special adventures. In the Algarve, there are several companies that are engaged in development, but the salaries are low, about 900-1000 euros net for the Java middle. I lived for about a year in Faro - a city in the Algarve. There are very beautiful beaches, cozy cities, palm trees, resort sensations, very pleasant and friendly people. The only problem is that in winter life stops and there is nothing to do, absolutely nothing. Everything is closed or closed at 6 pm. In addition to one shopping center. Transport runs on weekends every 3 hours. In general, in winter there you can go crazy with nothing to do, especially if you do not have a car to go somewhere. After a year, I got tired of it all. By the time I finished Java programming courses and started looking for a job in Lisbon.

Lisbon

Searches took some time, about 2 or 3 months. Basically did not fit the salary or conditions, or did not want to take without the Portuguese language. As a result, I got a job as an intern in one big bank that has a development office in Portugal. Next I had to find accommodation. With this in Lisbon everything is very bad.


Lisbon itself is a controversial city. On the one hand, the city is very beautiful, quiet, comfortable and safe. On the other hand - dirty, graffiti walls, a bunch of immigrants and homeless, some of which are not the most pleasant.

Now, actually, about IT

IT in Portugal is growing by leaps and bounds. That is, about a thousand new startups per year, some of which are quite successful in both Portugal and the world. Also, every year big companies come to Portugal, like Siemens, Nokia (who doesn't know, Nokia is not only Chinese mobile phones, but telecommunications, 5G, etc.), Ericsson, KPMG, Accenture and so on. etc. Now talking about Amazon and Google, but it is not clear when. Every such company that hires a lot and immediately gives good tax preferences for 5 years, and then how you agree. Local IT people have a good education (in Portugal, in general, education is good. By the way, do you still know that Gary Potter wrote off Portuguese students from Coimbra?). Recently, they began to create their own hubs for development here and smaller players, like Mercedes, BMW, and so on. In general, there is a company in any field that you may like.

But all this excitement is not just. Despite a good education, the Portuguese are in no hurry to ask for big salaries, so the middle with a salary of 1,200 euros net in Lisbon is quite a frequent occurrence.
About taxes and salaries.
Also, Portugal has fairly high taxes, with an income of 30 thousand per year - 34.6% will go to the state. If you increase the amount, the percentage of tax will increase indecently. It will rise not only for you, but also for an employer who pays social insurance and other taxes for each employee. At what will increase will be even more obscene. But cunning accountants are not only in Russia, so there is a tax avoidance scheme here. Now there are about 200 consulting companies in Lisbon. In fact, this is not even a consulting company, it is such a laying between you and the company in which you work. A large company will not cheat with taxes, because it is difficult for a large company, but a small "gasket" - please. It looks like this: you go to an interview at company X, which then tells you that you will have a contract with company Y, which in turn receives money for you from company X as for the provision of services. And you are paid a low base amount plus bonuses, compensation for "travel" and so on. All this allows everyone to remain happy and not pay high taxes, with the exception of ordinary people, who are paid pensions and unemployment compensation with the same basic amount. But who cares? The main thing is that here and now you get more money, and they pay less taxes, so everyone is happy.

And how much do they actually pay?

Difficult question, but the approximate amounts such. 1-2 years of experience and good knowledge in Java is 1200 euros clean (get 14 times a year), 2-4 years experience 1300-1700 euros clean (also 14 times a year), 4 or more years of experience 1700 - 2500 euros . More not yet met. At some point, people go to managers inside the company or wherever ...

What's up with the newcomers?

Usually, when it is necessary to bring a foreigner, Brazilians or EU citizens are being brought in, for whom it is easier to help with documents ... But the rest have to go through 3 circles of the bureaucratic local system hell, with which companies do not want to get involved. Local companies do not know how to work with immigrants, but it is getting better and they invite them to work from third countries too. As elsewhere, the employer needs to prove that you are irreplaceable, get a stack of documents for you, which is very slow and so on, so most likely they will not bother with the inexperienced.
Also, the problem may arise in your family, if any. The problem with the work. If your other half is a representative of the profession of non-IT and non-service industries, then finding a job will be problematic. In general, with a variety of trouble here. 20% of vacancies are IT, managers and HR for IT. 60% is tourism, cafes, restaurants, hotels, and that’s all. The rest are single vacancies for accountants, engineers, economists, financiers, teachers, etc.

Transport

Transportation in Portugal is both pain and joy. On the one hand, you can drive to the right place. Even remote beaches and tourist facilities are served by public transport. In the suburbs of Lisbon go buses, trains, trains and river transport. All this in the mornings, in consequence of the mentioned problems with real estate, of course, is crowded. And late. With delays at work, no one is soaring, and the most frequent excuse is stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge, the bus has been waiting for a long time and stuff like that. At the same time, if you want to come by car to the city, then you need to think three times where to leave your car. There is no space for cars, and prices bite (up to 20 euros per day, depending on the zone). Parking companies in the parking lot are usually raffled between employees. Managers receive automatically.

Medicine in Portugal

Here you can say a lot of things, but the main thing is: the state is slow and free. The queues to the doctors last for weeks, with operations still worse. Private - quickly and not very expensive, if with insurance. In 99% of cases the company will make insurance to you. in 60% of cases will make your family too. In other cases, you can buy it for yourself and / or your family from the insurance company that the company you work for cooperates with. (20-30 euros per month, if you have an affiliate, 30-60, if any other). These prices include dentistry. Usually, consultation with insurance in a private clinic costs 15-20 euros. Blood test and the like - 3-5-10 euros.

Life in general

The Portuguese are very good at normal immigrants. That is, if you are not rude, do not throw garbage and do not plump under the windows, then you will be helped, advised what to do and so on. The Portuguese can be very slow. Connect the Internet - a week or two. Standing in line at the store for half an hour, while someone is discussing with the cashier the birth of her granddaughter - easily. But at the same time, many services are rendered online, which allows you to do many things conveniently and quickly. For example, you can execute contracts for utilities, file income declarations, get insurance, register your company, and so on. The vast majority speaks good English. Films are not duplicated, menus are made in English including so on. The weather is good, it will rain and gray sky for 20-30 days a year. Almost all these days are concentrated in the month of April. In most apartments and houses there is no heating. At night, the temperature in the capital can drop to +6. Therefore, a heater and a warm blanket for the winter is a must. During the day, winter temperatures range from 14 to 18 degrees. Sunny. In the summer, it can be both cool and good (+25) or slightly hot (+44). Hot is rare, 5-6 days over the summer. Beaches in half an hour from Lisbon. Wide and not very crowded with people, even on weekends.



If you want to learn Portuguese - to find state courses is not a problem, where you will be taught to explain yourself and understand almost everything that your interlocutor says for the lowest price.

About the local bureaucracy and the queues are already legends. For example, if you want to apply for a residence, then you need to register for the submission of documents for six months. If you want to change the rights, you will have to wait about 5-6 hours in the queue in the morning:



Also, in Portugal, a developed banking system. All banks are tied together with a rope, so now you can send money from a mobile phone to another person’s account in 2 clicks for free, you can withdraw money from an ATM of any bank without a fee, and also pay for services and purchases from your mobile phone or through an ATM.

You can open your company and not pay the first year taxes. If you want to create a startup, then you will be helped at all stages. Starting from the opening of the company and ending with the search for funding, they will give a place in the incubator, etc.

By the way, if you live legally in the country for 5 years, without interruption, you can apply for citizenship. You will need to prove that you did not leave for a long time and pass the exam in Portuguese.

And a couple of lines about the Portuguese. What makes them very tolerant and welcoming probably makes them very tolerant of all kinds of homeless people and so on. This is quite normal when, in the middle of one of the main squares, volunteers distribute food to homeless people. At the same time, homeless people do not go far from food, so this is quite a normal situation for Lisbon when a bum is at the window at the entrance to the billionaire company. The government even passed a law banning supermarkets from throwing out food. Now all food should be delivered to food banks, from where it is distributed to homeless and poor people.

In general, Portugal and Lisbon, in particular, are very convenient for living. In Lisbon, you never get bored, because there is always something going on, and there is always a place for the weekend where you can go or go. The climate is very good, cold or very hot is rare. You are in Schengen, so much of the EU is open to you. From an environmental point of view, everything is very good. There are also disadvantages - these are salaries and taxes. But that's how you get settled.