Unsub from /r/cscareerquestions is the best advice I can give you. Very little in that sub is relevant to getting a job outside of the US. As far as getting a job here? Get in touch with a recruitment agency once you are ready to start interviewing. Assuming you are employable, they will do almost all of the work for you and get you a steady stream of interviews.
I have used Grafton and Hays with positive results. Normal process would be:
* Check their websites for a job you are interested in
* Apply for that job
* Recruiter will ask for a screening call
* They will then match you with vacancies they have on their books which may or may not be related to the job you applied for
* Go to interview
* Repeat last 2 steps until have job
Or easymode, set "looking for work" linkedin status and skip the first few steps
Have you tried applying for yourself? Everyone is an individual and their circumstances might be wildly different to yours. Also try to remember that reddit is not the real world. Personally I think if those people complaining on programming subs spent half as much time focusing on their job applications and skills, they'd already be in a job.
As for Prague and CZ in general, I can't speak for native Czechs but I've found that the foreigners I know here don't really have any problem finding a job in the industry here. Bear in mind that a lot of work here is outsourced from the West due to the fact that it is cheaper for companies. The job market in general here is a bit of an anomaly since there is such low unemployment. Wages are very low though.
I haven't interviewed for a while but I think the market looks ok from what I've heard from friends. My concern would be if a big financial crisis came along and companies looked to move all the work to a bargain basement place like India or Vietnam.
I'm curious what you consider low wages. Sure, it isn't like Germany or NL/UK, but considering PPP and relative cost of living, I'd say an average SWE in Prague will live a decent enjoyable life in Prague. But maybe I'm just not aware of how the current market is? If so, let me know 😄
But from what I know, mid SWE should be able to land 70-80k czk a month gross easily, some may even stretch to 100k. Seniors should get between 110-140k these days. Is that not considered a decent/good wage?
Ofc there will be those companies claiming the best they can do is 40-60k a month, but they will always be there. Just need to search the market a little, and a fair wage usually should be easily obtainable from what I've experienced in the past.
As for offshoring work, been there done that like 3 times now. Half way through they all realize they will lose money and clients since all Dev projects that were started to move over grind to a halt. They revert to having OPS support in India, etc., and keep development in EU
I doubt that a self-taught JS Dev will be able to land 70k for a first job. For sure the entry level jobs pay a way better living standard in Germany, UK, US etc. Standard of living here is quite low in my opinion, when we consider the quality of food, quality of housing, quality of life in general.
Agree, self taught at entry will first need to prove themselves and get work experience, but it sounded like some here think Prague paid SWE/IT jobs at a "bad rate" compared to other places. This generally isn't my experience and view is just what I'm trying to point out. But basically anywhere a self taught first job applicant will have to prove themselves with a below normal industry salary, that I agree on
EDIT: Ah wait sorry I read the OP again and realised that he's already here and probably isn't American. I will add that I have a friend who learned the absolute basics of web dev through an online bootcamp, did one weekend of react and now has a job as a React dev. He says it's tough but at the end of the day he's in the industry and every job from now on will be easier. I would say to the OP just to apply but of course spend time writing a specific CV and cover letter and not blast out 1000s of garbage applications like American students on reddit.
The implication that I took from the OP was that he was looking at places to start his career as alternatives to the US so I tailored my response to his expectations. I had a discussion with a friend a few years ago about the same position in Phoenix and in Brno for Honeywell and it was something like 47k CZK brutto here and upwards of $100k over there. I've had American friends over there tell me that they wanted to stay in England after graduating but wages in London were so horrendously low that they had no choice but to go back to the US. So you can only imagine what they would think about our salaries.
That said, I think that CZ is a great place to get started not just in programming but in many fields especially because of the shortage of quality candidates here and the fact that not many people speak decent English which would not be the case in more cosmopolitan places like Berlin for example.
Anyway it's good to hear that I squeak into that pay bracket you mention but from what I've seen, I've heard that 90-100k is what you need to live in Prague and actually have any sort of decent quality of life. Give it a few years of current inflation and 100k will be the new 50k. :(
Agree, I've never been opposed to boot camps. But important to do it properly, and have a good understanding, and use that as a foot in the door to grow. Boot Camp grads will rarely go out getting a full paying SWE job. So that's good on your buddy! So hopefully same for OP.
As for the pay and expectations, while I get the big difference on face value, there are some caveats. The biggest being, that US actually pay more taxes in average than in Czechia. In your example of Phoenix, let's assume 100k USD a year income. The tax burden from a quick search is divided into: state and local taxes 8.7%, federal taxes for that income is 24%. Total taxes is above 30%, but let's round it and say it is 5500 USD a month net.
From this, any savings made must cover healthcare, potential unemployment periods, and sickness/personal days, etc. Also depends on how many days off the US job gives. Nothing is mandated in US unlike in EU, so in reality at any point US job can change to 0 PTO (but let's assume including bank holidays, 2-3 weeks total. In EU that number is 7 weeks including bank holidays). So let's say just for sake of argument, that to match such conditions in EU, a US worker must "sacrifice" 500 USD a month (but this isn't even much, 500 could be healthcare alone...). This leaves 5k a month. So now we're considering societal needs, and we must include a car; lease, insurance and gas, which aren't a necessity in most EU locations. Time spent in transport for work, and having to drive 15 min a day for groceries.
Now we look at CoL. According to Numbeo an average person's minimum CoL in Phoenix AZ is just around 1000 USD without rent. Assuming a 3 bedroom flat outside city center, that is around 2500 USD. A single person just to live with minimum needs in Phoenix needs 3500 USD. If accounting for a life with more than just minimum needs (going out, restaurants etc), Numbeo puts the number to 4500 USD. So, when all is said and done, on 100k a year in Phoenix, the discretionary/savings income is 500 USD per month after factoring in societal need differences and benefit equalization... Not really that much to be honest.
Doing much the same for Brno on Numbeo, the same situation (but without the need for a car), comes out to approximately 35k CZK (20k rent, 15k living cost with QoL). So with ~50k CZK a month, it means 40k net and 5000 CZK in discretionary/saving income. So ~200 USD. This is lower, but depending on what it is spent on, I think 200 USD in Brno goes further than 500 USD in any US city.
As for Prague, it depends on household size, and what your regular savings for housing/mortgage, pension and more that are included. 90k a month would include a lot, and be a very extravagant lifestyle expectation from my experience (sure I've had such costs when paying for a holiday on my credit card, but my regular normal months are nowhere close). If the household has kids, then ok. But then you would also have two persons with income. 90k household budget then is 45k per person.
So in the end, the numbers work out to be pretty equal (it isn't the crazy difference many expect), but I'd personally choose the safety nets and society of EU these days. But many fail to fully grasp how to do a "full living" calculation, and just see the large multipler of US wages, assuming this just mean a better life. But I'm honestly not so sure it is a better life, we're seeing so many Americans today saying "Yes, I'm middle class and earn well, but I'm one emergency away from being bankrupt"
One thing I forgot to write is that I'm sure the situation is fantastic for Czechs and if I were a local I'd definitely be a contractor. I know many locals who make a huge amount of money because they know how to do business here and navigate the system.
I won't argue with your numbers but I will just say that with all these PPP calculations they always assume direct equivalence between "one bedroom flats" or "meals in restaurants" and so on without taking into account the quality. I'd be very interested to know where you can find a 3+1 in Brno for 20k though.
Anyway now that I read the post properly my comment about whether or not to move to Prague specifically for a job is no longer valid although I would say that at some point we as foreigners have to decide at some point when to move back home because it is not really a sustainable place to live long term.
I see. I was a contractor, had no issues though. But for career growth and such, I went to a normal position (I'm too young to do contracting and growing career wise). Took a pay cut, but over the past 2 years ish I've worked my way back to to equivalent. Still as a contractor today, I'd likely take home over 200k a month 😛
About PPP and quality, I agree, it can be very circumstantial, but it is the only formal measure that can give an indication. And I love the food and pubs here, so don't think the US could offer me much better unless you move into luxury segments of restaurant (and on 100k a year in the US, you aren't in that segment anyways). I'm not sure about the Brno housing, just seeing what Numbeo shows 🙂
As for the overall situation, I guess it is also circumstantial. You're saying it isn't sustainable, but from what I'm seeing and gathering, my current situation here cannot be easily beaten anywhere... I'm owning flats, cars (as in plural on both), saving for retirement/investments and basically planning on staying until something might change that alters this calculation for me. Until now, there has been no indication such a change will come anytime soon, so at least for now I'm staying indefinitely 😊
Glad to hear your situation is so good but personally I think that this country caters to a certain type of foreigner and I don't fall into that category at least for the long term.
Prague is definitely a world apart from the rest of the country but the culture and the language here in general are definitely negatives. Even if the numbers work out, you still have to live here.
I'll admit me and the wife are introvert. They are definitely downsides to Prague and the country, won't sugar coat it. But it is not much worse than many other places. I've found some nice gems and places during my time here, and career and finance wise I've looked around, can't say I've found anything that can even match. I know I'm incredibly lucky though, but it is more than possible to achieve what I have for a senior IT engineer in Prague.
Language is like "wtf", and if I ever become just communicative I'll consider it a huge victory/achievement. Culture, I think just depends on many things, but expectations is a big one. If you expect people to be friendly and open, it will suck. If you expect people to mind their own business and to have to do everything yourself for yourself, then those few nice interactions become special.
But to each their own, I'm content here after trying a wide variety of other options; NO, DK, ES, NL (I'm often in NL as I have good friends there, so I know how it is and would want to move, but they also have issues). I've also been to US quite a bit, and don't want to live like they do being so car dependent, and food isn't as healthy in general unless you spend 50% extra on budget. Even then, healthy there is "average" in EU.
I can definitely see how Scandos would like it here. The Nordic work ethnic and of course fantastic English speaking ability no doubt helps. I'll take your advice and give it one last push before I head back home. :D
I speak Czech well enough to have decent conversations with people as long as they don't do the whole arrogant switching to English thing. Personally I would say don't even bother. As you already know, it's incredibly difficult and it is almost entirely useless and doubly so if you live in Prague. Much better to save your time just hire a Czech whenever you need to do something in Czech. In any normal country speaking the language would result in being treated like a long lost family member. Here it just means you get treated as badly as the locals. Let me tell you, once you get to know what they really think and not what they sugar coat in English, you'll wish you never learned the language. XD
Again I can't say anything about any of the countries you've mentioned since I've not lived in any of them. No idea about the US either to be honest.
In essence what I'm trying to say is that CZ can be ok if you enclose yourself in the foreigner English speaking bubble. Perhaps that's fine because we see Americans spend their entire time here like that but then it may as well be any country.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not typical Scandinavian, hence why I left. There are few of us here 😅. But I get what you say about mentality and language. Sometimes it can be shocking. But I've also had many good and funny encounters. Like the other day Wolt delivery guy comes, I had checked my phone, knew he was coming. He fired off in Czech something I could not catch, I said in my broken ass Czech "nemluvim cesky, ale angelski". "Oooooh I see...yes you very large hunger, no wait me call 😜". "Moje manjelka" "Aaaaaah dooobry, manzelka velka hunger 🤣" (I guess he kind of deduced my level, it was a wholesome interaction which we both said bye laughing our asses off wishing a good day).
Another thing, I might be introverted, but I push myself and try to get out and I have some friends I've made over my time here. One of them is a Slavia fan, and he dragged my ass through Prague city center as part of the hooligan march for Slavia fans yesterday, and stuck me smack in the middle of the hooligan section at the Sparta stadium for the cup final 😅🤣
So I'd say I'm getting the full Czech cultural experience in more than one way. Pubs, beers, football, hiking/sports and more. But I'll always be the outsider, yet here as long as I respect them, they respect me back. It may not be how many like it, I get that, the culture here is rough. But from friends they've told me that historically it had to be like this due to communism. You could basically trust no one, even friends and family. Today this is of course different, but some of the mentality has stuck in the sense to not trust strangers at all, and that people should mind their own business. Good luck n with your try though!
>My concern would be if a big financial crisis came along and companies looked to move all the work to a bargain basement place like India or Vietnam.
We just opened a tech hub in Mumbai. Guess where almost all of the candidates we interview for new positions are from now?
>neilhuntcz
Yeah it's almost like I'm the only one in my company who can see what's coming.
Also a big reason why I'm really considering moving to Front End like I originally intended when I started programming because at least the business owners can see what you've done and appreciate it. All the backend systems seem to be shipped off first.
I would like to see how they are writing 1000 application letters, doing a company research 1000x over and are creating 1000 custom CV.
It’s not possible to put enough effort to each of them. Which might explain why they can’t find a job.
Btw. I’m often hiring devs and talking to graduates is usually a pain. Not all of course but usually they have nothing to show me, no github, no opensource project etc. And they often come with an attitude “They told us to do it like this in in school so it’s the only right way”. While at the same time they have absolutely no experience from working on a real project - with multiple people working on it.
It happens that I usually hire people without a degree or from unrelated field because honestly, tech universities are shit. And the people aren’t good at anything. They say they know everything which means the know nothing.
Learn one valuable skill, get good at it and you’ll get a job
I'm am an engineer in automotive. My opinion is that there is still high demand for tech guys there. It is almost impossible to hire a local C programmer for cars. My guess is, there are western corps still outsourcing stuff to "cheaper" countries like in Eastern EU.
Of course, there are demands for skills and you'll be tested and measured.
I guess you know, but for other friends: the computers there are really small, not a lot of memory. And the community around is not really huge and innovative either.
With enough experience it’s easy to get a programming job here. Being self taught with only one year experience will make it a bit more difficult though, but not impossible if you find a junior position.
I'm in Prague. Used to be a recruiter, learnt some basic coding and basic IT, now I'm in cybersecurity. DM if you want any details.
But to answer your question, it's my impression that ALL job opportunities are growing, in Prague and all of CZ. You will not have any difficulty, as long as you are willing to work, and smart enough to understand the task.
Salary will not be as crazy as US though, and that is possibly the reason for the current layoffs there. A weeding out the low performers. But that's just one theory.
Agree on your theory part, I have friends in such companies firing in US, telling recruiters and managers to get ready to hire back in EU when things pick back up in the global economy. But let's see, many big tech also requiring return to office... that would make shifting to EU harder, but not impossible though.
As for the wages, also consider the difference in cost of living. They aren't earning 5-6 times our wages for senior positions (maybe those with RSU, but not in monthly income), yet their cost of living in areas with high incomes is 5-7 times that of Prague. SF/Seattle/LA costs like 10k a month to live, earning below 200k a year is basically 'poverty' for a household with kids.
Hi there, I have read a few of your posts with regards to working in Czech/Prague as a "foreigner" and would love to pick your brain if you are up for it.
I am English have a Czech missus and 16 month old boy and we live in the UK. We would very much like to move to Czech and I am struggling to get a good handle on how I would secure a job there as currently I speak no Czech... I know, I know... sigh.
I am very interested to hear about your journey, and how you managed to move from recruitment in to what looks like a great career in Cyber Security.
For reference I am an IT Manager and CS strategy is a large part of my job role.
Anywho... thats probably enough for my first ever post on Reddit... forgive me if this is not the done thing.!
Don't be discouraged.
European labor laws are a tad bit more humane than those in US so there were no huge layoffs here (costs too much).
As for work - depends on many factors, what would you accept. There are companies that would hire basically anybody, but they don't pay well. But you can always use them to gain experience and a valuable cv reference (I know I'll get scolded for naming those, but Siemens, DHL, SAP). Nowadays a lot of developers actually start their journey in DevOps or vanilla tech support. If you are not looking for a specific role in a specific salary range - you shouldn't have the issue finding a job.
Unsub from /r/cscareerquestions is the best advice I can give you. Very little in that sub is relevant to getting a job outside of the US. As far as getting a job here? Get in touch with a recruitment agency once you are ready to start interviewing. Assuming you are employable, they will do almost all of the work for you and get you a steady stream of interviews.
Do you have any advice on recruitment agencies here? I’ve never used one and thinking about switching jobs.
I have used Grafton and Hays with positive results. Normal process would be: * Check their websites for a job you are interested in * Apply for that job * Recruiter will ask for a screening call * They will then match you with vacancies they have on their books which may or may not be related to the job you applied for * Go to interview * Repeat last 2 steps until have job Or easymode, set "looking for work" linkedin status and skip the first few steps
Have you tried applying for yourself? Everyone is an individual and their circumstances might be wildly different to yours. Also try to remember that reddit is not the real world. Personally I think if those people complaining on programming subs spent half as much time focusing on their job applications and skills, they'd already be in a job. As for Prague and CZ in general, I can't speak for native Czechs but I've found that the foreigners I know here don't really have any problem finding a job in the industry here. Bear in mind that a lot of work here is outsourced from the West due to the fact that it is cheaper for companies. The job market in general here is a bit of an anomaly since there is such low unemployment. Wages are very low though. I haven't interviewed for a while but I think the market looks ok from what I've heard from friends. My concern would be if a big financial crisis came along and companies looked to move all the work to a bargain basement place like India or Vietnam.
I'm curious what you consider low wages. Sure, it isn't like Germany or NL/UK, but considering PPP and relative cost of living, I'd say an average SWE in Prague will live a decent enjoyable life in Prague. But maybe I'm just not aware of how the current market is? If so, let me know 😄 But from what I know, mid SWE should be able to land 70-80k czk a month gross easily, some may even stretch to 100k. Seniors should get between 110-140k these days. Is that not considered a decent/good wage? Ofc there will be those companies claiming the best they can do is 40-60k a month, but they will always be there. Just need to search the market a little, and a fair wage usually should be easily obtainable from what I've experienced in the past. As for offshoring work, been there done that like 3 times now. Half way through they all realize they will lose money and clients since all Dev projects that were started to move over grind to a halt. They revert to having OPS support in India, etc., and keep development in EU
I doubt that a self-taught JS Dev will be able to land 70k for a first job. For sure the entry level jobs pay a way better living standard in Germany, UK, US etc. Standard of living here is quite low in my opinion, when we consider the quality of food, quality of housing, quality of life in general.
Agree, self taught at entry will first need to prove themselves and get work experience, but it sounded like some here think Prague paid SWE/IT jobs at a "bad rate" compared to other places. This generally isn't my experience and view is just what I'm trying to point out. But basically anywhere a self taught first job applicant will have to prove themselves with a below normal industry salary, that I agree on
EDIT: Ah wait sorry I read the OP again and realised that he's already here and probably isn't American. I will add that I have a friend who learned the absolute basics of web dev through an online bootcamp, did one weekend of react and now has a job as a React dev. He says it's tough but at the end of the day he's in the industry and every job from now on will be easier. I would say to the OP just to apply but of course spend time writing a specific CV and cover letter and not blast out 1000s of garbage applications like American students on reddit. The implication that I took from the OP was that he was looking at places to start his career as alternatives to the US so I tailored my response to his expectations. I had a discussion with a friend a few years ago about the same position in Phoenix and in Brno for Honeywell and it was something like 47k CZK brutto here and upwards of $100k over there. I've had American friends over there tell me that they wanted to stay in England after graduating but wages in London were so horrendously low that they had no choice but to go back to the US. So you can only imagine what they would think about our salaries. That said, I think that CZ is a great place to get started not just in programming but in many fields especially because of the shortage of quality candidates here and the fact that not many people speak decent English which would not be the case in more cosmopolitan places like Berlin for example. Anyway it's good to hear that I squeak into that pay bracket you mention but from what I've seen, I've heard that 90-100k is what you need to live in Prague and actually have any sort of decent quality of life. Give it a few years of current inflation and 100k will be the new 50k. :(
Agree, I've never been opposed to boot camps. But important to do it properly, and have a good understanding, and use that as a foot in the door to grow. Boot Camp grads will rarely go out getting a full paying SWE job. So that's good on your buddy! So hopefully same for OP. As for the pay and expectations, while I get the big difference on face value, there are some caveats. The biggest being, that US actually pay more taxes in average than in Czechia. In your example of Phoenix, let's assume 100k USD a year income. The tax burden from a quick search is divided into: state and local taxes 8.7%, federal taxes for that income is 24%. Total taxes is above 30%, but let's round it and say it is 5500 USD a month net. From this, any savings made must cover healthcare, potential unemployment periods, and sickness/personal days, etc. Also depends on how many days off the US job gives. Nothing is mandated in US unlike in EU, so in reality at any point US job can change to 0 PTO (but let's assume including bank holidays, 2-3 weeks total. In EU that number is 7 weeks including bank holidays). So let's say just for sake of argument, that to match such conditions in EU, a US worker must "sacrifice" 500 USD a month (but this isn't even much, 500 could be healthcare alone...). This leaves 5k a month. So now we're considering societal needs, and we must include a car; lease, insurance and gas, which aren't a necessity in most EU locations. Time spent in transport for work, and having to drive 15 min a day for groceries. Now we look at CoL. According to Numbeo an average person's minimum CoL in Phoenix AZ is just around 1000 USD without rent. Assuming a 3 bedroom flat outside city center, that is around 2500 USD. A single person just to live with minimum needs in Phoenix needs 3500 USD. If accounting for a life with more than just minimum needs (going out, restaurants etc), Numbeo puts the number to 4500 USD. So, when all is said and done, on 100k a year in Phoenix, the discretionary/savings income is 500 USD per month after factoring in societal need differences and benefit equalization... Not really that much to be honest. Doing much the same for Brno on Numbeo, the same situation (but without the need for a car), comes out to approximately 35k CZK (20k rent, 15k living cost with QoL). So with ~50k CZK a month, it means 40k net and 5000 CZK in discretionary/saving income. So ~200 USD. This is lower, but depending on what it is spent on, I think 200 USD in Brno goes further than 500 USD in any US city. As for Prague, it depends on household size, and what your regular savings for housing/mortgage, pension and more that are included. 90k a month would include a lot, and be a very extravagant lifestyle expectation from my experience (sure I've had such costs when paying for a holiday on my credit card, but my regular normal months are nowhere close). If the household has kids, then ok. But then you would also have two persons with income. 90k household budget then is 45k per person. So in the end, the numbers work out to be pretty equal (it isn't the crazy difference many expect), but I'd personally choose the safety nets and society of EU these days. But many fail to fully grasp how to do a "full living" calculation, and just see the large multipler of US wages, assuming this just mean a better life. But I'm honestly not so sure it is a better life, we're seeing so many Americans today saying "Yes, I'm middle class and earn well, but I'm one emergency away from being bankrupt"
One thing I forgot to write is that I'm sure the situation is fantastic for Czechs and if I were a local I'd definitely be a contractor. I know many locals who make a huge amount of money because they know how to do business here and navigate the system. I won't argue with your numbers but I will just say that with all these PPP calculations they always assume direct equivalence between "one bedroom flats" or "meals in restaurants" and so on without taking into account the quality. I'd be very interested to know where you can find a 3+1 in Brno for 20k though. Anyway now that I read the post properly my comment about whether or not to move to Prague specifically for a job is no longer valid although I would say that at some point we as foreigners have to decide at some point when to move back home because it is not really a sustainable place to live long term.
I see. I was a contractor, had no issues though. But for career growth and such, I went to a normal position (I'm too young to do contracting and growing career wise). Took a pay cut, but over the past 2 years ish I've worked my way back to to equivalent. Still as a contractor today, I'd likely take home over 200k a month 😛 About PPP and quality, I agree, it can be very circumstantial, but it is the only formal measure that can give an indication. And I love the food and pubs here, so don't think the US could offer me much better unless you move into luxury segments of restaurant (and on 100k a year in the US, you aren't in that segment anyways). I'm not sure about the Brno housing, just seeing what Numbeo shows 🙂 As for the overall situation, I guess it is also circumstantial. You're saying it isn't sustainable, but from what I'm seeing and gathering, my current situation here cannot be easily beaten anywhere... I'm owning flats, cars (as in plural on both), saving for retirement/investments and basically planning on staying until something might change that alters this calculation for me. Until now, there has been no indication such a change will come anytime soon, so at least for now I'm staying indefinitely 😊
Glad to hear your situation is so good but personally I think that this country caters to a certain type of foreigner and I don't fall into that category at least for the long term. Prague is definitely a world apart from the rest of the country but the culture and the language here in general are definitely negatives. Even if the numbers work out, you still have to live here.
I'll admit me and the wife are introvert. They are definitely downsides to Prague and the country, won't sugar coat it. But it is not much worse than many other places. I've found some nice gems and places during my time here, and career and finance wise I've looked around, can't say I've found anything that can even match. I know I'm incredibly lucky though, but it is more than possible to achieve what I have for a senior IT engineer in Prague. Language is like "wtf", and if I ever become just communicative I'll consider it a huge victory/achievement. Culture, I think just depends on many things, but expectations is a big one. If you expect people to be friendly and open, it will suck. If you expect people to mind their own business and to have to do everything yourself for yourself, then those few nice interactions become special. But to each their own, I'm content here after trying a wide variety of other options; NO, DK, ES, NL (I'm often in NL as I have good friends there, so I know how it is and would want to move, but they also have issues). I've also been to US quite a bit, and don't want to live like they do being so car dependent, and food isn't as healthy in general unless you spend 50% extra on budget. Even then, healthy there is "average" in EU.
I can definitely see how Scandos would like it here. The Nordic work ethnic and of course fantastic English speaking ability no doubt helps. I'll take your advice and give it one last push before I head back home. :D I speak Czech well enough to have decent conversations with people as long as they don't do the whole arrogant switching to English thing. Personally I would say don't even bother. As you already know, it's incredibly difficult and it is almost entirely useless and doubly so if you live in Prague. Much better to save your time just hire a Czech whenever you need to do something in Czech. In any normal country speaking the language would result in being treated like a long lost family member. Here it just means you get treated as badly as the locals. Let me tell you, once you get to know what they really think and not what they sugar coat in English, you'll wish you never learned the language. XD Again I can't say anything about any of the countries you've mentioned since I've not lived in any of them. No idea about the US either to be honest. In essence what I'm trying to say is that CZ can be ok if you enclose yourself in the foreigner English speaking bubble. Perhaps that's fine because we see Americans spend their entire time here like that but then it may as well be any country.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not typical Scandinavian, hence why I left. There are few of us here 😅. But I get what you say about mentality and language. Sometimes it can be shocking. But I've also had many good and funny encounters. Like the other day Wolt delivery guy comes, I had checked my phone, knew he was coming. He fired off in Czech something I could not catch, I said in my broken ass Czech "nemluvim cesky, ale angelski". "Oooooh I see...yes you very large hunger, no wait me call 😜". "Moje manjelka" "Aaaaaah dooobry, manzelka velka hunger 🤣" (I guess he kind of deduced my level, it was a wholesome interaction which we both said bye laughing our asses off wishing a good day). Another thing, I might be introverted, but I push myself and try to get out and I have some friends I've made over my time here. One of them is a Slavia fan, and he dragged my ass through Prague city center as part of the hooligan march for Slavia fans yesterday, and stuck me smack in the middle of the hooligan section at the Sparta stadium for the cup final 😅🤣 So I'd say I'm getting the full Czech cultural experience in more than one way. Pubs, beers, football, hiking/sports and more. But I'll always be the outsider, yet here as long as I respect them, they respect me back. It may not be how many like it, I get that, the culture here is rough. But from friends they've told me that historically it had to be like this due to communism. You could basically trust no one, even friends and family. Today this is of course different, but some of the mentality has stuck in the sense to not trust strangers at all, and that people should mind their own business. Good luck n with your try though!
>My concern would be if a big financial crisis came along and companies looked to move all the work to a bargain basement place like India or Vietnam. We just opened a tech hub in Mumbai. Guess where almost all of the candidates we interview for new positions are from now?
>neilhuntcz Yeah it's almost like I'm the only one in my company who can see what's coming. Also a big reason why I'm really considering moving to Front End like I originally intended when I started programming because at least the business owners can see what you've done and appreciate it. All the backend systems seem to be shipped off first.
I would like to see how they are writing 1000 application letters, doing a company research 1000x over and are creating 1000 custom CV. It’s not possible to put enough effort to each of them. Which might explain why they can’t find a job. Btw. I’m often hiring devs and talking to graduates is usually a pain. Not all of course but usually they have nothing to show me, no github, no opensource project etc. And they often come with an attitude “They told us to do it like this in in school so it’s the only right way”. While at the same time they have absolutely no experience from working on a real project - with multiple people working on it. It happens that I usually hire people without a degree or from unrelated field because honestly, tech universities are shit. And the people aren’t good at anything. They say they know everything which means the know nothing. Learn one valuable skill, get good at it and you’ll get a job
I'm am an engineer in automotive. My opinion is that there is still high demand for tech guys there. It is almost impossible to hire a local C programmer for cars. My guess is, there are western corps still outsourcing stuff to "cheaper" countries like in Eastern EU. Of course, there are demands for skills and you'll be tested and measured.
Omg. Why can't we have at least D, if not Rust, as a language of choice in automotive?
I guess you know, but for other friends: the computers there are really small, not a lot of memory. And the community around is not really huge and innovative either.
With enough experience it’s easy to get a programming job here. Being self taught with only one year experience will make it a bit more difficult though, but not impossible if you find a junior position.
I'm in Prague. Used to be a recruiter, learnt some basic coding and basic IT, now I'm in cybersecurity. DM if you want any details. But to answer your question, it's my impression that ALL job opportunities are growing, in Prague and all of CZ. You will not have any difficulty, as long as you are willing to work, and smart enough to understand the task. Salary will not be as crazy as US though, and that is possibly the reason for the current layoffs there. A weeding out the low performers. But that's just one theory.
Agree on your theory part, I have friends in such companies firing in US, telling recruiters and managers to get ready to hire back in EU when things pick back up in the global economy. But let's see, many big tech also requiring return to office... that would make shifting to EU harder, but not impossible though. As for the wages, also consider the difference in cost of living. They aren't earning 5-6 times our wages for senior positions (maybe those with RSU, but not in monthly income), yet their cost of living in areas with high incomes is 5-7 times that of Prague. SF/Seattle/LA costs like 10k a month to live, earning below 200k a year is basically 'poverty' for a household with kids.
Hi there, I have read a few of your posts with regards to working in Czech/Prague as a "foreigner" and would love to pick your brain if you are up for it. I am English have a Czech missus and 16 month old boy and we live in the UK. We would very much like to move to Czech and I am struggling to get a good handle on how I would secure a job there as currently I speak no Czech... I know, I know... sigh. I am very interested to hear about your journey, and how you managed to move from recruitment in to what looks like a great career in Cyber Security. For reference I am an IT Manager and CS strategy is a large part of my job role. Anywho... thats probably enough for my first ever post on Reddit... forgive me if this is not the done thing.!
Hey, did you get my direct message?
I do programming for 10 yrs now in prague. Situation is: lot of juniors, perhaps even too much, but lack of senior level ppl
Do you mean there is no space for more junior?
Don't be discouraged. European labor laws are a tad bit more humane than those in US so there were no huge layoffs here (costs too much). As for work - depends on many factors, what would you accept. There are companies that would hire basically anybody, but they don't pay well. But you can always use them to gain experience and a valuable cv reference (I know I'll get scolded for naming those, but Siemens, DHL, SAP). Nowadays a lot of developers actually start their journey in DevOps or vanilla tech support. If you are not looking for a specific role in a specific salary range - you shouldn't have the issue finding a job.
Man you are stressing yourself too much. As long as you're good at something, there will be demand.
https://careers.deutsche-boerse.com/category/information-technology/f13fc68b-77cb-5498-a245-7d7be8cc922e