7 ms·
If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities
by msadowski 8y ago
If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities there (PK and AGH for technical schools, UJ for humanities, medicine and some tech too and UE for economics). The tech scene seems to be constantly growing, with lots of international companies having their offices there. As a senior dev in Poland you can earn somewhere between 12-20k PLN a month. Renting a flat will be between 1.5-3k PLN(~400-800USD) depending on thr standard. Additional perks you can enjoy is free(as you pay it on your taxes) healthcare, amazing food, great nightlife and proximity of other European countries (the flights are super cheap).
- 0ld 8y agoThere's one word that immediately negates all the good things you mentioned. Smog.
- sawmurai 8y ago+1 for Poland. I am not living there but very time we visit my fiancée family we literally see how the economy is thriving. Exciting times for Poland.
- pzduniak 8y agoAvoid working for local companies in Poland unless you like low pay. Just find yourself a nice remote gig (there's plenty of them if you know how to find them) and live like the top .001% of the country or whatever. There's a good reason why being a "digital nomad" is becoming more and more popular. Healthcare starts at ~$130/mo if you manage to not pay for the retirement fund scam (rarely possible), goes up to like $350/mo if you run your own company (not 100% sure, I can thankfully avoid it). The income tax is 19%.
- Udik 8y ago> find yourself a nice remote gig (there's plenty of them if you know how to find them Any starting point?
- flippyhead 8y agohttp://weworkremotely.com http://weworkremotely.com
- _mrmnmly 8y agoagree. I'm from Poland but since the beginning of my programming career I've been working mostly for abroad companies (because of earnings). And about the politics... Only people that want to play into 'politics' game really cares what's happening here - other people just don't care and live happily.
- morsch 8y agoStick with that attitude long enough and you, too, will care about the "politics game".
- _mrmnmly 8y agoI've noticed that many people comment my attitude like this, but I've noticed that the less I care, the more happy life I live (and my friends as well). Caring about politics is a total waste of time and energy - in my opinion it's just better to turn these resources into e.g. earning more money than e.g. thinking how much politicians are "stealing" it from us - I think that's the main reason why people are so angry these days and live unhappy lifes
- sukruh 8y agoYou might not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.
- fatamorgana 8y agoCurrently working for a local Polish company as a dev, how would you go about finding a remote gig ?
- pzduniak 8y agoLook for openings on various sites, apply on sites like Upwork. Initially it'll take a lot of effort to get a gig, eventually you should be able to just use your network to find projects.
- xchaotic 8y agohealthcare + mandatory pension contributions are $130 for the first two years of running the business here. After two years you should get a good feeling of whether you can make the larger $350 payments. IMO with any decent income, the relatively low tax rate 19% makes up for the fixed costs of healthcare. $130 is still peanuts compared to a medical insurance in the USA
- flavor8 8y agoYou'd have to be quite apolitical to consider a move to Poland right now.
- reacharavindh 8y agoThis is what my Polish friend said as well, that they're growing like crazy, and drastic negative politics alongside with it as well.
- odiroot 8y agoWhy throw politics into it?
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoIf you live in the country you have citizenship in, with a right to be there, you might be lucky enough not to worry about it. This doesn't spread to all citizens of all countries: African Americans couldn't comfortably just move anywhere in the states in the 1950's, for example. If you are moving to another country, it becomes even more important. Not only can the politics affect your life greatly (being gay might be illegal, for example, with harsh punishments), but in many places, you won't have a say in said politics. You can rally folks together, but most places won't let you vote. Even if the laws at the present time fit your lifestyle, the political trends might be geared towards changing this. It really pays to pay attention to such things. Politics and culture are important to pay attention to, especially when moving to another country.
- CalRobert 8y agoBecause the rise of anti-immigrant parties and sentiment is rather relevant to prospective immigrants.
- fastbeef 8y agoToo true. I’ve been eyeing ditching my polish citizenship for a while now.
- jnaina 8y agoWarsaw is a beautiful city with quite an active and thriving tech community. I thought of moving there after a visit recently, until I heard about a recent city sanctioned far right rally attended by 60K people demanding a "White Europe". Any dreams of moving to Poland ended after that
- whitef0x 8y agoHow bad is it there for sexual/gender minorities (aka gay/trans people). Is it livable if you are visibly transgender?
- galfarragem 8y agoEast Europe is the most traditional family oriented area that I know. Politics and mentalities follow that trend. Despite being a piece of heaven to a lot of people, I wouldn't recommend it to everybody.
- krn 8y agoSeconded. Poland is probably the most religious and conservative country in the EU.
- nathell 8y agoIt's the fastest secularizing one, though [1]. And, with recent sexual abuse reports and the success of a related movie [2], I sense we're on the verge of an outbreak of an unprecedented wave of anticlerical rage. [1]: http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/13/young-adults-around-the-world-are-less-religious-by-several-measures/ http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/13/young-adults-around-the-w... [2]: https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2018/10/06/church-in-poland-disturbed-by-success-of-anti-clerical-film/ https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2018/10/06/church-in-po...
- xchaotic 8y agoWhile that's true, there's a long tail of older people still trusting the Church a lot and there's a knock on effect where children are still sent to learn 'religion' at school. I think it will be some decades before the society becomes truly secular and not sure if that's better, the only thing that's replacing religion right now is consumerism, which IMO is even worse for keeping the society as a whole...
- 8y ago
- the_clarence 8y ago+1 for Poland. Haven’t been to Krakow but Varsaw is awesome. I think I would prefer moving there compared to Prague. I’ve heard good things about Budapest as well.
- jayalpha 8y agoI take the chance of being downvoted but I strongly feel Poland. Xenophobic. Czech Republic. VERY Xenophobic. Budapest is much more welcoming.
- stef25 8y agoSalary-wise, surely anything in W-Europe is better than E-Europe?
- ur-whale 8y agoWeather and outdoors aren't great in Krakow. Language is also a pretty big problem: true, some educated youngsters will speak English, but the bulk of the population doesn't speak a word. Would not recommend.
- xchaotic 8y agohave you actually been around Krakow much? There's climbing spots in the city itself, skiing slopes 1-2 hours away, Tatra mountains 100km away and beautiful Jurrasic valleys to the North-West, lots of green areas in the city and huge forests to the East, perfect for cycling or running. Weather is a mix - some snow in the winter, some lovely sunshine in the 6 warmer months and lots of rain and in-between weather on the bright side it does give you some time to work where you don't mind being indoors and you get to appreciate when it's nice outside.
- ajuc 8y agoKraków has a big problem with smog in the winter. Most Polish cities do, Kraków is one of the worst.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoSo learn Polish? Why is it up to the locals to adapt to you?
- ajuc 8y agoPoland is very cheap, English is common (among 35 and younger), and in university cities the atmosphere is nice. Deoending on what you value more I recommend: - Kraków (biggest startup scene, biggest city out of these, most active cultural scene, but also crowded with tourists, worst air quality and slightly more dangerous than the others because of football clubs violence) - Wrocław (almost as big tech scene, less tourists and smaller city, but still expansive for Poland, safe and good air) - Lublin (smaller city with smaller tech scene but still OK, very active culturally but mostly targeting students so in summer holidays it's a ghost city, few tourists, very cheap, highest percentage of students per capita, safe and ok air) I'm biased because I live in Lublin, but I've lived in Kraków for a short time and in Warsaw for a few years too, and I prefer Lublin. Compared to Kraków a flat will be about 1-2k PLN (2k is very good standard or strict center, median is about 1.5k), and you can earn 10-15k PLN as a senior dev. Food and services are also very cheap because it's basically a surprise university city in otherwise poorest countryside part of Poland. In all of these cities there's lots of foreigners, in Kraków it's mostly tourists, in Wrocław it's mostly Ukrainians who migrated for work, in Lublin it's mostly Ukrainians and Asians who are studying there and go back afterwards. Also - all of this is nice, but be warned that Poland has its own Trump-like revolution going on right now, so far it mostly stays political, with few real-life consequences, but it is making business more risky because of government breaking the constitution and the courts wondering which law is actually binding. Also xenophoby is increasingly used as a political tool.
- foxreymann 8y agoI'm Polish and after living in the Netherlands and London can't stand Poland. Xenophobic, homophobic, antisemitic nation. You're rightly warning about the Trump-like revolution. But it is much worse now. For example you can't become a school director if you're not catholic. All national TV is just a fake news brainwash directed by governing party. Don't go to Poland. P.S. If you're muslim they will lynch you.
- cpfohl 8y agoMy (American) parents moved to all to Wroclaw when I was 5 for 6 years. I have been back several times. Each time it's like a time machine racing forward. I love Wroclaw, I'd move back in a heart beat if it weren't for family here in the states.
- astrodev 8y ago*top in Poland, of course, since the academic record of a typical Polish professor resembles that of a decent-but-not-great grad student in the US (Google some profiles and check on Google Scholar if it sounds like an exaggeration) Krakow can be really nice and interesting, but you should probably be white and Western. Otherwise, you may be setting yourself up for a tough time (not because of any recent events).