We continue a special series of materials about the relocation of programmers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia to other countries. Developers tell you how to find work abroad, move and adapt locally. Our eighth hero is developer Alexander Smeshkov from Donetsk. Having worked for several outsourcing companies and released his own application in the AppStore, in 2019 Sasha decided to move abroad. And a year later I realized my idea. I am originally from Donetsk. While still at school, I became interested in programming and participated in competitions. I entered the university to study programming. By the way, it was 2002, and programming was not yet a trend: you could say I chose my profession intuitively. As I progressed through my studies, I even thought that I wouldn’t find a job in my profession. By the end of university, it turned out that the IT market in Ukraine had grown and there were vacancies. During my master's degree I did not have to constantly attend the university, so I found a job in my specialty. I got a job at a small outsourcing company called XITEX Software. After working for about 9 months, I received a job offer in Kyiv and moved there. In Kyiv, I worked for about 4 years for the outsourcing company Lohika. Back in those days, I started working on my project - an application for iPhone/iPod Touch. Then the AppStore had just appeared and it was relevant. I created a multimedia application for playing videos, photos, music from home servers. The user could buy himself a so-called NAS (Network-Attached Storage) and install it on his network, store multimedia data there, and then log into it from iOS and play music or video remotely. By 2012, I decided to completely focus on my project, quit Lohika and worked only on it until 2019. But everything has its own life cycle, and by 2019 I realized that the application was not generating income, and I did not see any way to change this. When I started making it in 2010, according to the specifics of my application, there were at most 5 projects in the AppStore, but now there are thousands of them, so somehow it became quite difficult to stand out. As a result, I finished my project and went back to the office, this time to the Ring company. I worked there for about 6 months, and then my wife and I had the idea to move abroad from Ukraine. At that time we had two children (now we have three): we wanted to give them more security, a good education, and better opportunities in life. Ukraine did not seem like a good place to raise children at that time.
Job searches and coronavirus
In 2019, I started looking for work abroad. At first we wanted to go to Canada because it is a friendly country for migrants and it is easier to obtain a residence permit. By the new year, I received a job offer to Canada with a small company in Vancouver and began preparing documents for a visa. But, as you remember, in 2020 the coronavirus came, and Canada closed, no one was allowed there, no visas were issued. As a result, after some time, the company that invited me withdrew the offer. I didn’t give up and continued to look for work.
Offer from Facebook
Around the time I accepted an offer at a Canadian company, I received an offer on LinkedIn to do an interview on Facebook. Then I didn’t want to risk an offer to Canada and thought that my chances of passing the interview were low, so I refused. But when the Canadians withdrew their offer, I wrote on Facebook and it turned out that the vacancy was still relevant. In total, I passed 5 interviews to get a job at Facebook. The first is the screening technical interview, where the interviewer decides whether to continue the screening process. The following interviews are two technical interviews on algorithms, one behavior interview and one interview on system design. For me, these interviews took place within one day. In pre-Covid times, you would have had to fly to one of the offices and have an interview there. Was it difficult during the interview? I was well prepared by the time of the interview. During my career, I failed many interviews at top companies: the first time I got an interview at Google in 2008 - they didn’t take me, in 2010, again, at Google - and again they didn’t take me. Then they didn’t take me to Shopify and they didn’t take me to Amazon. I was ready to communicate with Facebook. But this was preceded by a long and extensive preparation.
Documentation
The main issue is obtaining a work visa. As a rule, to obtain a visa you need an offer and Certificates of sponsorship (the company receives this document - permission to hire a foreign specialist from the UK government). When applying for a visa, in addition to these documents, of course, you need a birth certificate, education certificate and an IELTS UKVI test for English proficiency. To get a work visa in Britain, you need to pass IELTS with 4 points - this is somewhere around the level of language proficiency B1 (I passed with 7 points). My wife, children and I applied for a visa together as a family. That is, it was also necessary to attach the children’s birth certificate and marriage certificate. My visa is tied to a company, so I cannot change jobs. The wife can work in any company. Her visa is tied to mine, and if I lose my visa, so does she. After submitting the documents, we waited about three weeks for a response on the visa: we received an SMS saying that we could come to the visa center and pick up the documents.
Moving
Facebook completely helps with relocation. The company partners with other companies to help with the move, and Facebook pays for it. A moving company came to our home, packed all the things in boxes, took them away, we wrote a power of attorney for customs clearance, they cleared them, transported them to London, and left them in a warehouse. Facebook also pays for plane tickets, helps with documents and looks for an apartment for the first time. I don't know how much money was spent on our move because Facebook paid for everything.
Housing
For the first two months we lived in temporary housing until we found a permanent apartment. Since we had two children at that time ( the third child in Sasha’s family was already born in the UK - editor’s note ), we were given an apartment with two bedrooms and a living room. Interesting point: I have never been to the office before. When we arrived in September 2020, the second level of lockdown was announced in the country, the office was completely closed. The apartment was close to the center, near Hyde Park and literally within walking distance from the office. This summer the office has already been opened and you can travel if you wish. After temporary housing, we rented our first house for a year, but it became too small and not very comfortable for us, so this year we looked for new housing again. Whether you're moving from another country or are local, landlords will check on you. You must provide information about your income, bank accounts, and attach a letter from work. When signing a lease, there is a requirement that it does not take more than 40% of the income (before taxes) from earnings. The owner, of course, wants to be sure that you are solvent and there will be no problems with payment. After checking, the landlord decides whether he wants to accept the offer or not. The offer can be made a little cheaper, especially if you are ready to move fairly quickly. The only negative is that the contract is signed for at least a year. Just in case, you need to pay a deposit worth five weeks' rent. The deposit is needed in case something happens to the apartment. Literally a couple of days before moving into an apartment, you have to pay the first month's rent. When your rental ends, this deposit will be returned minus any broken items, if any.
Working at Facebook
I was hired not for a specific team, but for a company, so my work began at the bootcamp. The first few weeks I studied the general work at Facebook and the company culture, and then I chose my team. In the end, my choice fell on Workplace (it's something like Facebook for business). This service is not very popular here, but abroad it is a serious player in the market. I didn't notice any significant differences in the approach to work between the companies I used to work for and Facebook. International companies, which employ people from different countries, are similar in structure.
Taxes, salaries and expenses
Taxation here is progressive: part of the earnings is not taxed (this is the first 12 thousand pounds sterling). The remaining income is taxed depending on the amount of salary: from 20 to 45% of earnings. On average, a third of income goes to taxes, two thirds remain for the person. Facebook is a good company that pays good salaries, so we live comfortably in Britain. We spend mainly on housing, utilities, monthly council tax (this money goes to improving the area, schools), food and household expenses. Utilities typically include gas, electricity and water. In the current apartment, the cost of heating is included in the price of housing. I manage to save some money. In the UK, big companies pay better, ordinary companies pay a little less, but there is no such thing as anyone being poor and lacking money. On average, the salary level is quite comfortable for almost any person of any profession: both a plumber and a programmer earn good money here. A person can do what he loves, whatever it is, and provide for himself normally.
Medicine
If insurance medicine is developed in the USA, then in Britain there is the NHS system - National Health Service. This system assumes that medicine is financed from people's taxes. It's essentially freeware, but I don't like that term because everyone pays taxes to support the NHS. Each person registers with a general practitioner (GP) - this is an analogue of a Ukrainian family doctor. A person is attached to his family doctor, and if there is any problem, the first thing he does is make an appointment with the doctor. If the family doctor believes that additional consultation with a specialist is needed, then he gives a referral to a specific doctor. If this problem is urgent, then a referral is given for the near future (maximum two weeks). If the problem is not urgent, then they can accept it even after a few months. If a critical health problem arises, you can call an ambulance. The ambulance arrives very quickly: all the cars make room for it, literally jumping on the curbs. If the problem is not critical, then you can call 111, and they will direct you to the nearest hospital, where you will have to wait in line. Immediately after moving, I broke my toe, called 111, they booked me into the hospital, I took a taxi, came to the hospital, they looked at me, gave me a toe brace and a crutch. I didn't pay anything for it. I have health insurance through work. Its advantage is that it allows you to quickly get to certain specialists. The insurance also has its own family therapists with whom you can talk via video conference, and they can also provide a referral to a specialist if necessary. Essentially, insurance simply adds convenience. There is dental insurance, also provided by the company: it covers dental treatment. You need to choose a doctor who cooperates with the insurance company, get treatment from him, and then send documents to the insurance company to reimburse these expenses. My wife gave birth to her third child in the UK, and we didn’t pay anything for that either. All services, medications and stay in the ward are free. In addition, I took 3.5 months of maternity leave from work and helped my wife with their youngest son. This is one of the best benefits on Facebook.
Education
The eldest son is 8 years old, the daughter is 4 years old. The education system here is slightly different; you can go to school from the age of 3-4. We don't pay anything for school. Up to 3rd grade, even meals are free for children. Three-year-olds can be sent to a kindergarten at school, this class is called Nursery. Our school does not have a Nursery, so my daughter went to Reception when she turned 4 - this is a preparatory class before school, they play most of the time, do crafts, but at the same time they learn letters and numbers. My son finished first grade in Kyiv, so in Britain he went straight to second grade. Kindergarten (if you need to place a child under three years old) is paid and costs about a thousand pounds per month. It’s good that this is only until the age of three and at three years the child can already be sent to school.
English language
In Ukraine, when I worked with Americans, calls with them were in English. Communication with colleagues from the Kyiv office took place in Russian or Ukrainian. Here, of course, you have to speak more English. I had an adaptation period, but it was not difficult. Any IT specialist who works for an outsourcing company in Russia or Ukraine and communicates with customers from any other country will feel much the same in Britain, they will just have to communicate in English more often. It was a little difficult for the eldest son. When he went to school, he knew only English, which was taught in the first grade in Kyiv. But at school they tried to help, they read to him, talked to him, and in about six months he could calmly explain himself and say whatever he wanted. It was already quite easy with my daughter, she is now slowly mastering English, but since this is her first trip to school, she does not need to readjust.
Leisure
Walking outside is practically a national sport in Britain. People love to walk, stroll, run, and ride bicycles. We now live near Richmond Park, which even has wild deer. Sometimes we walk in it. Sometimes we go out of town. If you go south from London, then in about an hour and a half you can get to the sea.
Results
It’s comfortable in the UK, people are responsive and friendly. It seems to me that in general people are happier here. They say that many immigrants start wanting to go home after 2 years, but we've only been here for a year, so for me that time hasn't come yet. Or maybe it will never come. It was important to me that the children had a good time. They like it here, and that's the main thing.
I am originally from Donetsk. While still at school, I became interested in programming and participated in competitions. I entered the university to study programming. By the way, it was 2002, and programming was not yet a trend: you could say I chose my profession intuitively. As I progressed through my studies, I even thought that I wouldn’t find a job in my profession. By the end of university, it turned out that the IT market in Ukraine had grown and there were vacancies. During my master's degree I did not have to constantly attend the university, so I found a job in my specialty. I got a job at a small outsourcing company called XITEX Software. After working for about 9 months, I received a job offer in Kyiv and moved there. In Kyiv, I worked for about 4 years for the outsourcing company Lohika. Back in those days, I started working on my project - an application for iPhone/iPod Touch. Then the AppStore had just appeared and it was relevant. I created a multimedia application for playing videos, photos, music from home servers. The user could buy himself a so-called NAS (Network-Attached Storage) and install it on his network, store multimedia data there, and then log into it from iOS and play music or video remotely. By 2012, I decided to completely focus on my project, quit Lohika and worked only on it until 2019. But everything has its own life cycle, and by 2019 I realized that the application was not generating income, and I did not see any way to change this. When I started making it in 2010, according to the specifics of my application, there were at most 5 projects in the AppStore, but now there are thousands of them, so somehow it became quite difficult to stand out. As a result, I finished my project and went back to the office, this time to the Ring company. I worked there for about 6 months, and then my wife and I had the idea to move abroad from Ukraine. At that time we had two children (now we have three): we wanted to give them more security, a good education, and better opportunities in life. Ukraine did not seem like a good place to raise children at that time.
Interesting point: I have never been to the office before. When we arrived in September 2020, the second level of lockdown was announced in the country, the office was completely closed. The apartment was close to the center, near Hyde Park and literally within walking distance from the office. This summer the office has already been opened and you can travel if you wish. After temporary housing, we rented our first house for a year, but it became too small and not very comfortable for us, so this year we looked for new housing again. Whether you're moving from another country or are local, landlords will check on you. You must provide information about your income, bank accounts, and attach a letter from work. When signing a lease, there is a requirement that it does not take more than 40% of the income (before taxes) from earnings. The owner, of course, wants to be sure that you are solvent and there will be no problems with payment. After checking, the landlord decides whether he wants to accept the offer or not. The offer can be made a little cheaper, especially if you are ready to move fairly quickly. The only negative is that the contract is signed for at least a year. Just in case, you need to pay a deposit worth five weeks' rent. The deposit is needed in case something happens to the apartment. Literally a couple of days before moving into an apartment, you have to pay the first month's rent. When your rental ends, this deposit will be returned minus any broken items, if any.
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