We continue a special series of materials about the relocation of programmers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia to other countries. Developers tell how to find a job abroad, move and adapt locally. Our third hero is David Javakhishvili. In 2020, he moved to the capital of Ireland, Dublin. I have been interested in computer science for as long as I can remember. As a child, I had the “Professor Fortran Encyclopedia”, which taught the basics of programming for children. It seemed to me then that the topics of interest to me were not explained in depth there. In my youth, I studied in Russia, at the Taganrog Radio Engineering Institute ( now it is the Engineering and Technology Academy of the Southern Federal University - ed.). I graduated there with a master's degree in programming: I purposefully received an education in order to work as a programmer in the future, since I could not imagine myself in another profession. Immediately after graduation, he worked in an unsightly office in Taganrog: in fact, we were engaged in looking for orders on a freelance exchange and fulfilling them. At one fine moment, I thought: “Why should I go to work from 9 to 6, if I can do everything myself?” At that time, official employment did not bring me any additional bonuses, so I decided to try myself in freelancing. Over time, for personal reasons, I moved to Ukraine. I never aspired to Ukraine as to the IT Mecca of the entire CIS: it just so happened that I ended up exactly where outsourcing is quite developed. In Ukraine, I changed several employers among outsourcing companies: I started out as a Python developer, then chose Scala as my main development language. At the time when the invitation for an interview at Amazon was received, I was listed in one of the outsourcing companies in Ukraine, but in fact I was in the team of a Belgian customer and often went on business trips to Belgium.
Job offer at Amazon
At one point, a recruiter from Amazon wrote to me on Linkedin with a job offer in the company's Dublin office. Then I thought: “Why not go and see this city? It won't get away from me." In my case, there were two stages of recruiting. My understanding is that my hiring happened much faster than usual. Apparently because they invited me, and not I applied myself. First there was a phone screening. It took about a week from screening to an invitation to an on-sight interview. Next was the issuance of a visa for a trip to Ireland, since it is not included in the Schengen agreement and I could not use the charms of a visa-free regime with my Georgian passport. Bureaucracy took up most of the time in this process. Initially, I was invited to Dublin only for the duration of the interview - for a day or two. But I told them, "Before we move, I want to at least walk around the city and see if I like it here or not.” So I came for a week. We agreed that all additional days would be at my expense, but then they even compensated me for all the days of my stay. In Dublin, a series of interviews awaited me: 5 different development teams “tortured” me throughout the day with a break for lunch. A week passed after the interview and they sent me an offer. Thus, the whole process of hunting stretched for a month. Why did I decide to move? I thought it was quite an interesting experience to live in another country, improve my English, work in a different cultural environment. In Dublin, a series of interviews awaited me: 5 different development teams “tortured” me throughout the day with a break for lunch. A week passed after the interview and they sent me an offer. Thus, the whole process of hunting stretched for a month. Why did I decide to move? I thought it was quite an interesting experience to live in another country, improve my English, work in a different cultural environment. In Dublin, a series of interviews awaited me: 5 different development teams “tortured” me throughout the day with a break for lunch. A week passed after the interview and they sent me an offer. Thus, the whole process of hunting stretched for a month. Why did I decide to move? I thought it was quite an interesting experience to live in another country, improve my English, work in a different cultural environment.
moving
In Ireland, for valuable specialists, that is, not only programmers, but also doctors, auditors, accountants and other professions, there is a Critical skills employment permit ( work permit in Ireland - ed.). For him, there are a number of requirements that the profession of a programmer corresponds to. With permission, you can avoid most of the bureaucratic delays, to a greater extent this applies to the employer. From the point of view of an employee, it came down to the fact that I filled out a questionnaire, sent scans of diplomas, a resume, and after 1.5 months they sent me a Critical skills employment permit by courier, with which I can apply for a work visa. Which, in fact, I did. The work permit was issued by the employer: I sent all the documents to Amazon. I just had to submit a package of documents for a visa, but the employer also helped - filled out the application form and provided the necessary documents. There was not a lot of golovnyak, the main thing was just to wait. The documents were ready in 1.5-2 months. It took about 4 months from receiving the offer to my arrival in Ireland. From the very beginning of the hiring, I warned the company that I had unfinished business in Ukraine, so I was not ready to go to work right now. In the end, I just wanted to relax: because of the constant trips to Belgium and the Netherlands, the year turned out to be very difficult. My wife and I moved to Dublin at the end of January 2020. The company provided us with housing for the first month. When moving to Dublin, Amazon offers two assistance packages to choose from: either pays 7,000 euros for all costs, or provides services to the company that handles the move. The second option includes the transportation of things, assistance in finding an apartment, and the payment of a certain amount (about 3 thousand euros). Air tickets were provided in both cases, regardless of which package we would have chosen. We chose the second option and, in general, in the end it turned out, that they didn’t win and didn’t lose: how much money was before the move, how much was left after we were paid all the promised amounts. By the way, if someone wants to move with animals, then this is real, you just have to tinker with the documents a little. We took two of our cats.
Housing
With housing in Ireland, the situation is very tense: people are looking for apartments for a very long time. Either I was very lucky, or when there is an offer from Amazon in my pocket, the process is greatly simplified, because we found an apartment in less than a month in a good area of Dublin. To be honest, after reading the reviews about finding accommodation in Ireland, I was preparing for something much worse. I spend a third of my salary on rent after taxes. In good areas, you should count on 2-2.5 thousand euros for rent.
Work culture
In Ireland, you feel much better about the protection of your rights as an employee. Here there is confidence that even if something happens, there is time for maneuver. Since in Ukraine almost all developers are registered as private entrepreneurs, this form of cooperation essentially cancels the terms of the labor code in relations with the employer. In Ireland, worker rights are much better respected, but on the other hand, this is offset by much higher taxes. As for perks at work, Amazon provides health insurance, 25 days of vacation.
Salaries and taxes
The salary of a developer is enough for me to rent an apartment in a good area, close to the center, afford traveling and buying everything you need and save 1-1.5 thousand euros per month. There is nothing to complain about: it’s just that in Ukraine, income can be higher due to lower taxes. If the developer wants more money, then the Ukrainian model is probably more preferable, because after moving to Ireland we won nothing - after taxes and rent, I get about the same amount as in Ukraine. Taking into account the fact that life here is more expensive, we can say that the financial situation has even slightly worsened. So those who plan to move to Ireland should understand why they are doing this and not count on an increase in earnings. Taxes depend on the salary, because there is a progressive scale of taxation. There is an income tax: its rate is either 20% or 40% depending on income. Moreover, 20% is subject to some basic amount, and 40% is everything that is higher. I cannot say that a fixed percentage goes to taxes: I personally spend about 35% of income on taxes.
Medicine and social sphere
Medicine is one of those areas that are traditionally scolded in Ireland due to long queues. You have to wait in line for narrow specialists from several months to six months. In theory, everything is quite good: medicine will never take too much money, no matter what happened to a person. Under the terms of the permit, insurance is required, but even without insurance, medical expenses are limited: they cannot exceed a certain level. In practice, I did not have to test this. I like the roads here, it's very nice to drive on them. Public transport in Dublin is quite good, but if you go anywhere else, you need a car. The railway exists, but it is rather undeveloped. By the way, the state provides a bike to work service: you can buy a bike from your salary before taxes.
Leisure and communication
Restrictive measures during the lockdown in Ireland are quite strict. Right now there is a concept of isolation levels depending on the severity of the restrictions. Now across the country there is a 5th level of restrictions (the most stringent) - this means that nothing works and you can’t leave a 5-kilometer radius from your home without a good reason. The first months after the move, before the lockdown, there were many worries due to the search for an apartment and arrangement, after that, the lockdown was already introduced. But in the summer we managed to travel around the country: it was interesting and beautiful. Like the local nature. We have already seen deer and seals, and I have never seen so many species of birds as here in my entire life. Ireland is quite calm, somewhat provincial: you may not like it, but I tend to consider it rather as a plus.Those who move to Ireland are advised to register at https://www.meetup.com/ - it has many interest groups: from book clubs, beadwork to piloting an airplane. When the lockdown is lifted, I'm going to join the local community, which is digging in pieces of iron - make a weather station by hand or practice lockpicking. I am a fairly introverted person, so I have not yet been able to establish friendly ties with the local population. Perhaps, after the lockdown is lifted, the situation will change. The wife communicates with expats who also moved to Dublin.
English language
Ireland has a large number of different accents of English: some very clear, some not at all. In general, the further into the outback, the less understandable the language becomes: sometimes I can’t even understand whether people speak English or Irish. There is an opinion that there is some special English in Ireland, but this is fundamentally wrong. Yes, different slang is used here, but in the business environment everything is the same as everywhere else. At work, people from many countries, so the average accent of the English language is in use.
conclusions
It is better to move to Ireland for the sake of new experience, expansion of horizons, for the sake of learning the language, for the sake of career advancement (there are many representative offices of the world's leading companies in Dublin, not only in the field of IT, but also in other areas). For the money, it's not worth it.
I have been interested in computer science for as long as I can remember. As a child, I had the “Professor Fortran Encyclopedia”, which taught the basics of programming for children. It seemed to me then that the topics of interest to me were not explained in depth there. In my youth, I studied in Russia, at the Taganrog Radio Engineering Institute ( now it is the Engineering and Technology Academy of the Southern Federal University - ed.). I graduated there with a master's degree in programming: I purposefully received an education in order to work as a programmer in the future, since I could not imagine myself in another profession. Immediately after graduation, he worked in an unsightly office in Taganrog: in fact, we were engaged in looking for orders on a freelance exchange and fulfilling them. At one fine moment, I thought: “Why should I go to work from 9 to 6, if I can do everything myself?” At that time, official employment did not bring me any additional bonuses, so I decided to try myself in freelancing. Over time, for personal reasons, I moved to Ukraine. I never aspired to Ukraine as to the IT Mecca of the entire CIS: it just so happened that I ended up exactly where outsourcing is quite developed. In Ukraine, I changed several employers among outsourcing companies: I started out as a Python developer, then chose Scala as my main development language. At the time when the invitation for an interview at Amazon was received, I was listed in one of the outsourcing companies in Ukraine, but in fact I was in the team of a Belgian customer and often went on business trips to Belgium.
Those who move to Ireland are advised to register at https://www.meetup.com/ - it has many interest groups: from book clubs, beadwork to piloting an airplane. When the lockdown is lifted, I'm going to join the local community, which is digging in pieces of iron - make a weather station by hand or practice lockpicking. I am a fairly introverted person, so I have not yet been able to establish friendly ties with the local population. Perhaps, after the lockdown is lifted, the situation will change. The wife communicates with expats who also moved to Dublin.
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