TO RELOCATE A SPECIALIST TOGETHER WITH HIS FAMILY
Our client offers various systems of content storage, delivery, and protection with a head office in Warsaw. In 2016, they started working on new cloud solutions for business. To create a microservice architecture for these systems, they needed an experienced architect. We found one in Kyiv. He loved the project, but wasn’t in a hurry to accept the offer.
The vacancy required moving to Warsaw. The candidate had a family, and it was a huge step for him to quit a stable job in Kyiv and move his whole household to another country. What if the wife and kids didn’t like Poland? Or it doesn’t work out with the company, and he’d have to return in a couple of months?
We had to help him figure it out and make a decision.
WE DID OUR RESEARCH AND OFFERED A COMPROMISE
It was important for an architect that his family wanted for nothing, and that his children grew up in a nice environment. So we researched basic info on Warsaw to create a welcome pack:
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Exact prices for groceries and household goods, from a loaf of bread to detergent;
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The advantages of the local schools and other amenities, the local curriculum;
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Travel options: destination, the costs of flights and travel times to the nearest countries.
But our research wasn’t just dry statistics: we also connected with 11 developers we knew who lived in Warsaw. They explained the details and subtleties that only a local can share: there are no traffic jams in the city, it is easy to find an apartment, the healthcare system is of a high standard and is affordable. However, there was also not much to do in the city and payment systems were acting up.
Warsaw was a win based on several factors. The food is better than in Kyiv because of the farmers markets. Crime rates were lower, the environment was better, and rents were between three and seven times lower. The city has a very strong IT community and lots of conferences for developers from across the CIS and Europe.
The reliability of the company also had its impact. The client had an interesting product, but didn’t have many of the disadvantages common to startup companies. The processes were already built without any room for slackness or recklessness.
To make this leap of faith smoother, we offered a compromise. Our architect was to come to Warsaw for a couple of months, meet the team, look around, and find a place to live, and should he like, then he could move his family there. No risk involved.
SUCCESSFUL RELOCATION
The key to a fair deal is honesty. We never pressured our candidate and never created any false expectations. Instead, we went out there and found the answers to all the questions that bothered him and laid all our cards on the table, the good ones and the bad ones.
The facts assured our specialist that moving to Warsaw was a good decision. He weighed up the pros and cons, accepted the offer, and did not regret it. He moved to Poland and hit it off with the client’s team.