> Will you pay for my travel to London?
No.
> Can you help me get a work permit?
No. You need to be able to work in the UK.
If they're not paying for travelling to interview in London, that's again worse than expected, since pretty much all companies, startups and corporations alike, do.
Single flight Krakow to London :130 Zloty or about 29 UKP
One week travelcard zones 1-6 - 55 quid.
* http://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flights/krakow-to-london-sta... (Airport tax not included) * http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.htm
1) EU travel is really cheap - London is one of the most frequented destinations for the low-cost airlines (EasyJet, RyanAir, WizzAir, ...), so it shouldn't be more than 200EUR return from just about anywhere in EU.
a) I haven't really heard of you. A few words here and there over the years, but how much do you get out there and tell the geek community you exist? I'm guessing it's specific to a few specific tech areas - which I haven't seen. b) You're in London, you talk about "working hard" and being in your "Clerkenwell office". I've worked round there before, but really? I want a company who's more about working smart - and not in one place all the time. How much do you really need to physically see me? Commuting, plus a little bit of a tiny hint of "macho hard work culture" (probably unfair, but...) is enough for me to take a place off my list. It's a sellers market, generally. c) Also... money. London is expensive. Everyone knows London is expensive (and they're right). You don't say anything about money - no hints, etc. My reaction (being picky) is that it probably isn't enough to make it worth my while (and also that you may try and make me the lowest offer you think you can - I'm assuming you don't have open pay scales). d) Effort. You talk about your tough hiring - multiple rounds, tests, a day working with you (you don't say whether you'll pay me for this...) Why would I do this? If I'm smart, capable, good at what I do, I probably know people who want to work with me already - why jump through these hoops for a possibly good job then?
These may be unfair points - I hope not, but perhaps - but finding good people right now is about attracting them, not throwing up barriers or making them work for it.
a) If you have any advice on how to get our name out in the geek community then let me know. You are right that a lot of our community stuff is Perl or Geo focussed, but that's where our expertise is so that's where we can contribute the most. How well received would we be at a Python or Ruby event? Or are there more generic events we should be aware of?
b) When it comes to interns and more junior roles we really need to physically see you, every day, with face to face interaction. You just get more bandwidth and more effective communication that way.
Your point about working smart is 100% right. Internally we have 'work smart not hard' as one of our mantras, and that's not well reflected in the job ad at all. Thanks!
c) We don't say anything about money precisely because London is expensive and getting more so every year. One way to work smart is to write an intern job ad that we've hardly touched since 2006, despite the fact that intern salaries have increased consistently every year since then. We also like to be flexible based on people's experience - is it really worth putting on a job ad "£25K - 50K" when that's the range we're willing to consider for different candidates?
d) We're a small company of ~15 people with 4 engineers. That means if we hire you as our fifth engineer you're immediately making up 20% of the engineering team! You're damn right we want to make our interview process intense. I think it's fair to forewarn candidates about that.
Thanks again for your feedback. I hope you'll share some more, especially on point (a) about getting our name out there more.
Come speak about something interesting at HN London. 400-500 people a month in the heart of London. http://meetup.com/HNLondon
My contact info is in my HN profile if you're interested.
Yes. It anchors your offering quite a bit. £25k is somewhat north of the UK mean income (not the London one, though), and especially as a foreigner allows me to get an idea on what my budget might look like. £50k is somewhat less what your competitors are paying for decent talent (no, not just finance, although it's a dumb career move to write off finance wholesale), so if I'm making £50k somewhere else and looking to level up, I know that I'll be wasting both yours and my time, on the other hand, if I'm making £30k, and my boss tells me it's a good salary, I know that that's a good chance I could make more.
Also, I plainly enjoy the honesty. "£Competitive" my ass.
> Is this for real?
> Yes.
Also:
> You're in London
> That's where we are. We're not hiring remote workers.
We're looking forward to some intense and fast paced face-to-face
brainstorming sessions. You need to be in London.
Even if, as it sounds, you've lived here for years and you've gotten a bit tired of it, surely you can agree that if somebody hasn't ever lived in London they would be crazy not to try it out? :-)
I am living abroad since 2003 (FR, CH, D), and still meet people that moved back, even with the crisis, or tell me that they can't imagine themselves living abroad.
Here is a sample of excuses my Portuguese friends (SW Engineer related) gave me to not even consider job opportunities in London:
- can't leave my family now, I have a girlfriend and don't want to leave her
- my English is not good enough
- I don't like the weather there (sounds stupid, but I hear this one a lot)
Also right now in Portugal there is bullshit talk from employers that younger people should stay and help revamp the economy (by working extra hours for free) and the situation is so bad that in some areas like Design/Architecture people do internships for free and the interns keep being replaced with new ones after 3 months or so.
... and don't forget to bring your mobile phone - we'd like to get to know each other a little better:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10177765/Travellers-mo...
I believe you cannot underestimate the impact it makes on London geo scene. Without Lokku, London will be a rather dull place from geospatial perspective.
If I were in the Uni now (I graduated in Hungary), I would definitely apply.
Come again? I don't care how successful these guys are- I hope whoever crafted this page isn't judging the communication portion of the interview. To whom is this kind of language supposed to appeal?
Developers, hell, almost all office workers, should think remote working first then worry about relocation.
The comments all through here are quite right - it is hard for anyone to move country, even talented, young, healthy, unattached interns.
In the future workers will be able to work with any company in the world. This will scare the hell out of all companies and they will improve the pay and conditions.
On the other hand, I strongly urge anyone with developer skills and no family ties to move to any major city in Europe and live and work for a few years. Just go. The job is far far less important than simply being there.