October 28, 2013 at 11:46Uzbeks and IT
I always respect the opinion of the habrasociety, I like that so many smart people have gathered here who are worthy of imitation. But comments on this article ... In order to bury myself even a little deeper to dispel the stereotypes about the Uzbek programmer, I decided to write about our life.
We try to be quiet.
There are few IT specialists here. 90% are concentrated in Tashkent, the rest are by regions working in the industrial sector, or by freelancers.
Here, as in other countries, there is a shortage of personnel. If with programmers it is still possible to solve the problem of poaching or training, then with QA and PM it is a disaster. Few people see value in them, and our team and I have not been able to find a sensible QA for six months.
Recently , a decree was issued to stimulate the IT market ; programmers were exempted from taxes. But I am wary of this news (a bunch of ideas came up with why and not a single good one).
When I worked in a branch of a Russian company, it was my responsibility to conduct interviews with programmers. Towards the end of my career, I looked at the list of candidates who went through me. There were more than 30 of them. And this is for 2 years of work. I can honestly say that there was not a single Senior among them, all of them were mostly average and lower. But I was interested in the leading developers, whom you’ll get the hell out of their places, who would bring new knowledge and experience to our company. Not to say that there are no cool specialists here, I invited them to my place, introduced them to our director, but they could not agree on a salary. The authorities did not hear my “prayer” and I went to the Americans (in Tashkent) - to the team of my dreams (Senior FullStack, Senior Back-End, Front-End Ninja and UX).
Basically, all of the local offices are outsourced. There are government agencies involved in the modernization of state structures. Branches of large IT companies. Programmers here, as in one boiler - many know each other, or heard. The probability of meeting a colleague you know is 80% when you transfer to another company. Freelance is popular.
My team and I love to make fun of the style “I pressed the button, spinamer pashchel-pashchel, iff-if, shaitanamana,business loading!”. They are, but they are very far from IT. People from kishlaks speak poor Russian (village). You see them on your streets, they are the ones who go to work. And you will not even notice us, you will not even guess that we have something in common with that person with a broom. In big cities everyone knows Russian.
In general, if we talk about the ethnic composition, then the majority of IT-people are Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Jews and Russianized Uzbeks. In my story there was only one person who does not know Russian. We spoke in Uzbek. He did not pass because he did not know basic things in his specialty (and the authorities could not figure out how to communicate with him (the authorities from Moscow)).
Some are afraid that the comments in the code will be in Tajik and Uzbek. Rave. We ourselves would have neigh if we had come across such a comment. Everywhere (of which I know) English and Russian are accepted as the standard. I can’t answer for everyone, because there is also another “league” about which it’s better to remain silent, because “us” still have access to the hub without a proxy.
Many are leaving. To Moscow - for money, to St. Petersburg - for brains. The most talented have left for Peter. But basically everyone is trying to blame the United States and Canada. This year some of my friends left (Israel, California, Ireland). Next year, several more people gather (Ukraine, New Zealand). Nobody wants to go to Russia with my team, but they are considering this option as a spare or transshipment point to Europe. Remain mostly family people, indigenous people or who fell in love with this country on sunny days. It is generally not customary for Uzbeks to leave for a long time from their families. And believe me, being away from their homeland is far from high. People here are tolerant (of their own free will or not), they are imprisoned unconditionally for insulting on national grounds. Now in Tashkent they even put for their beloved Tashkent word, insulting visitors from the regions.
The fact that our programmers in Russia will work for 20k is nonsense. Everyone understands that different regions have different living expenses. For example, my classmate went to St. Petersburg, works in a company known to each of you. It would be funny if he agreed to a salary of less than 100,000 rubles.
By the way, 20k in Uzbekistan is a good salary that you can really live on.
I live alone, rent a one-room apartment in a good area. I get to work about 15 minutes by bus, or 30-40 minutes on foot. Vegetables, fruits are cheap. I am distributing my approximate expenses per month:
Housing rental (incl. Services) - 6,000 rubles.
Food - 4,000 rub.
Transport - 400 rub.
Exercise machine - 200 rub.
Pool - 1000r
6,000 for a one-room apartment is considered expensive in the area, even though the apartment has everything. On average, such an apartment will cost 4,500. There are also additional costs - there are many extreme lovers among IT-workers, and we often go to the mountains (70 km from Tashkent). In summer, Mountain Bike (DH), Charvak (reservoir among the mountains), paragliders, hiking. In winter, every weekend we go skiing (Chimgan, Beldersay). Over the weekend, this costs us an average of 2000 rubles, we multiply by 4 -> 8,000 rubles.
I think that you were all so frightened for your salaries and for your programmers. My opinion on this program is that no one will go. There is a program for the resettlement of compatriots, more often it is used by those people who find it difficult to adapt in a new country. Our programmers will never disappear anywhere. If we want to leave, we will leave ourselves, without the help of others.
We have a lot of brainy developers who are snapped up, who have already been taken away, who are still being hunted from other countries. There are also crooked developers. There are prudent ones who break prices for ridiculous experience and knowledge. And as one of the participants in the Habr said in the comments to this news : "From the native Petersburgers they differed only in appearance." Apparently, the thing is tanning.
Programmers in Uzbekistan
We try to be quiet.
There are few IT specialists here. 90% are concentrated in Tashkent, the rest are by regions working in the industrial sector, or by freelancers.
Here, as in other countries, there is a shortage of personnel. If with programmers it is still possible to solve the problem of poaching or training, then with QA and PM it is a disaster. Few people see value in them, and our team and I have not been able to find a sensible QA for six months.
Recently , a decree was issued to stimulate the IT market ; programmers were exempted from taxes. But I am wary of this news (a bunch of ideas came up with why and not a single good one).
When I worked in a branch of a Russian company, it was my responsibility to conduct interviews with programmers. Towards the end of my career, I looked at the list of candidates who went through me. There were more than 30 of them. And this is for 2 years of work. I can honestly say that there was not a single Senior among them, all of them were mostly average and lower. But I was interested in the leading developers, whom you’ll get the hell out of their places, who would bring new knowledge and experience to our company. Not to say that there are no cool specialists here, I invited them to my place, introduced them to our director, but they could not agree on a salary. The authorities did not hear my “prayer” and I went to the Americans (in Tashkent) - to the team of my dreams (Senior FullStack, Senior Back-End, Front-End Ninja and UX).
Basically, all of the local offices are outsourced. There are government agencies involved in the modernization of state structures. Branches of large IT companies. Programmers here, as in one boiler - many know each other, or heard. The probability of meeting a colleague you know is 80% when you transfer to another company. Freelance is popular.
Ravshans and Jamshuts
My team and I love to make fun of the style “I pressed the button, spinamer pashchel-pashchel, iff-if, shaitanamana,
In general, if we talk about the ethnic composition, then the majority of IT-people are Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Jews and Russianized Uzbeks. In my story there was only one person who does not know Russian. We spoke in Uzbek. He did not pass because he did not know basic things in his specialty (and the authorities could not figure out how to communicate with him (the authorities from Moscow)).
Some are afraid that the comments in the code will be in Tajik and Uzbek. Rave. We ourselves would have neigh if we had come across such a comment. Everywhere (of which I know) English and Russian are accepted as the standard. I can’t answer for everyone, because there is also another “league” about which it’s better to remain silent, because “us” still have access to the hub without a proxy.
Come in large numbers
Many are leaving. To Moscow - for money, to St. Petersburg - for brains. The most talented have left for Peter. But basically everyone is trying to blame the United States and Canada. This year some of my friends left (Israel, California, Ireland). Next year, several more people gather (Ukraine, New Zealand). Nobody wants to go to Russia with my team, but they are considering this option as a spare or transshipment point to Europe. Remain mostly family people, indigenous people or who fell in love with this country on sunny days. It is generally not customary for Uzbeks to leave for a long time from their families. And believe me, being away from their homeland is far from high. People here are tolerant (of their own free will or not), they are imprisoned unconditionally for insulting on national grounds. Now in Tashkent they even put for their beloved Tashkent word, insulting visitors from the regions.
Self esteem
The fact that our programmers in Russia will work for 20k is nonsense. Everyone understands that different regions have different living expenses. For example, my classmate went to St. Petersburg, works in a company known to each of you. It would be funny if he agreed to a salary of less than 100,000 rubles.
By the way, 20k in Uzbekistan is a good salary that you can really live on.
Costs
I live alone, rent a one-room apartment in a good area. I get to work about 15 minutes by bus, or 30-40 minutes on foot. Vegetables, fruits are cheap. I am distributing my approximate expenses per month:
Housing rental (incl. Services) - 6,000 rubles.
Food - 4,000 rub.
Transport - 400 rub.
Exercise machine - 200 rub.
Pool - 1000r
6,000 for a one-room apartment is considered expensive in the area, even though the apartment has everything. On average, such an apartment will cost 4,500. There are also additional costs - there are many extreme lovers among IT-workers, and we often go to the mountains (70 km from Tashkent). In summer, Mountain Bike (DH), Charvak (reservoir among the mountains), paragliders, hiking. In winter, every weekend we go skiing (Chimgan, Beldersay). Over the weekend, this costs us an average of 2000 rubles, we multiply by 4 -> 8,000 rubles.
Total
I think that you were all so frightened for your salaries and for your programmers. My opinion on this program is that no one will go. There is a program for the resettlement of compatriots, more often it is used by those people who find it difficult to adapt in a new country. Our programmers will never disappear anywhere. If we want to leave, we will leave ourselves, without the help of others.
We have a lot of brainy developers who are snapped up, who have already been taken away, who are still being hunted from other countries. There are also crooked developers. There are prudent ones who break prices for ridiculous experience and knowledge. And as one of the participants in the Habr said in the comments to this news : "From the native Petersburgers they differed only in appearance." Apparently, the thing is tanning.