Google-Zurich through the eyes of a Siberian freelancer

Tell me half the truth, like a half-elf to a half-elf ...

Almost all articles about life and work abroad in general and in Google in particular have a strong emotional component. For some, this is connected with rose-colored glasses, and for someone, with psychology. In any case, such a vision is somewhat one-sided in my opinion.

In no way considering himself to be something outstanding (well, perhaps, a belly), I decided to answer the questions “what’s up there?” and "why there?" although subjectively, but as objective and as informative as possible.

Do you remember how it all started?

Once during the cold winter season (in March 2013), when nothing was foretelling anything, a letter from a Google recruiter appeared in the mail saying that they were looking for people and would like to talk about their proposal. They asked for a resume. The whole trick is that, as a freelancer, I didn’t have a ready resume, at most there was a different level of relevance filled profiles on different freelance exchanges and linkedin. Especially, nothing was filled out anywhere, so why and where the proposal came from - I won’t say for sure (at that time I didn’t have any acquaintances in Google). In principle, this was not the first company whose HR they wrote to the post office, but not often any of the companies contacted either. Since I had neither a passport nor a desire to move anywhere, so I answered.

A year later, in the spring of the 14th, I wanted to travel to Europe, so a passport was obtained. However, getting out of the middle of Siberia is somewhat inconvenient - 4 hours of flight to Moscow + 3 hours from there to Europe + 2-3 hours for transplants at least actively discourage the desire to do this. Therefore, having discussed the option of “flying from point A to point B and a month and a half in a car, cut a circle” and “moving point A to point B”, suddenly in the summer, at a family council, they leaned toward the second option. So I drew a resume (finding the first template that came across in the internet) and answered a letter a year ago. Agreed to start the process along the waycotopsSRE: mix 50% admin and 50% programmer. What is SRE is a difficult question, for me it is still not entirely clear, but it sounded like my case.

Let the clumsy candidates run through the puddles

The interview consisted of: a self-assessment table, a “rough” questionnaire by telephone by HR, followed by 2 telephone (hangout's, more precisely) interviews. After it was proposed to go through a face-to-face round of interviews in Zurich from 5 different interviews. It is difficult for me to compare the interview process with other companies (I had never been interviewed before), but the goal of all interviews is the same: to determine the level of comprehensibility of a person, to evaluate his truthfulness and behavior beyond the usual framework of comfort.

Interesting thing: I have never used English in my voice. At school, I had problems with him, because in one school there was only a written one, after moving to another, it turned out that everyone there already had pretty good (in my opinion at that time) English - I ended up not having practice, plus I observed mental block on the use of injection. Despite this, my language was not an obstacle to the interview, although all the interviews were conducted in English. If you misunderstood - you can ask again, if you do not understand - they will also ask again.

The company provided tickets, a hotel; after the interview, the costs of visas and food were offset. I don’t know how important it is to have a reserve of funds for obtaining a visa (perhaps the letter from the company that the receiving party would pay would suffice), I provided my IP declaration as proof of solvency and a written explanation that the tickets will be bought after receiving the visa. The process of obtaining a visa took exactly 5 days: on Monday morning I took the documents to the TLS Contact office in Novosibirsk, on Friday morning I took the envelope with the passport containing the visa. After a telephone interview, a little more than a month passed before a full-time interview: firstly, it was a reserve for the time for obtaining a visa; secondly, it was a reserve of time for the selection of people who will conduct interviews. The interviews themselves are packed on the same day - 3 before lunch,

While preparations were being made for full-time students, they also asked me “how much I want.” The answer was simple: current income is approximately X, according to Numbeo this corresponds to Y. Including taxes, Z is gross.

Since I have never been at interviews, I acted on the basis of “how I would like my interviewee to act”, so I chose the maximum range from the options for choosing interviews, evaluated myself as honestly as possible, answered what I think. My goal was, rather, to find out your market value, rather than "google" - I did not have such a goal, since the IT market in Europe is quite wide, plus there were offers from previous projects to switch to full time, including moving .

A week and a half after the face-to-face interviews, HR said that all the recruiters' feedback had been collected and were ready to make an offer, only I need to first make a choice in which office. They asked if I really wanted to limit myself to Europe, and from European offices they offered me a choice of London, Dublin, Zurich. Initially, I generally asked Munich, but there was no place for me there. After thinking, they decided to choose Zurich. First of all, due to a higher level of Swiss medicine (at least compared to the two alternatives). Secondly, the purity of air and water (I think that the Novosibirsk people, and the Muscovites, will understand). The rest of the turn is calm and central position for the original goal.

It is noteworthy that in Switzerland everything is more expensive, but at the expense of a lower tax, if you take the gross salary, deduct taxes, average housing, insurance and food, there is more than would be the case with the same salary in Munich. So to solve the original problem, Zurich was also more profitable.

Two days later, an offer was sent, taking into account the city office. To my surprise, the figure was even more than I answered the question "how much I want." In short, they are not looking for a beaver from a beaver, he accepted the offer, and the second phase began.

Prepare your sleigh in summer ... ride in winter

Before signing the contract, another question was asked: they suggested choosing the option of compensating for the move. I was offered the following menu of choice: one-time subsidy (and then all by myself); compensation for moving + month of housing + transportation of things + month of storage of things; compensation for relocation + 2 months of housing. Since there were few things taken, and the approximate cost of transportation fit into the proposed amount of compensation for transportation, the option of 2 months of housing was adopted. (Of course, depending on the distance of moving, your position, technical level and salary, specific numbers and available options may vary).

It is important to understand that the move is not organized by Google, but by a company providing transportation services for employees. For me, a misunderstanding of this subtlety cost a certain bundle of nerves.

Entrance to work takes place every first Monday of a new month, so the choice was either January 5th or December 1st, depending on the availability of the visa. In Novosibirsk, you cannot get a visa to enter work / housing in Switzerland. Anyway, you can get it only in Moscow. Therefore, almost all of the documents were sent in advance, but it was necessary to fly in two stages, through Moscow, which was supposed to stay for a couple of days to get a visa. To complete the picture, we went with the whole family in one package - me, my wife and a cat.

No assistance was provided in transporting the animal; I had to search for information on vaccinations and papers myself. However, everything is simple here - in almost any veterinary clinic they will put a chip and issue an international passport, it will cost from 300 to 1500 rubles. But the pass on board is done first in one of the state clinics, and not earlier than 3 days before the flight. It costs something about 250 rubles for inspection and a piece of paper with a hologram and a seal. Then at the airport you need to go to check, where they will give out a boarding pass for a cat. You will have to go to the front desk in person to pay extra for the belly (on the Novosibirsk-Moscow flight it was for the actual weight, on the Moscow-Zurich flight there was just a fixed amount). The second important point: tickets for the flight must be taken in advance, since after the purchase it is usually impossible to cancel it, and guarantees, what the animal on board will confirm, no. In the cabin you can carry no more than two animals of the same species - either two cats or two dogs. If a dog has already been allowed on board, the cat will be refused and coiled. Here was the first bundle of nerves - I didn’t have any contact from a third-party company (I don’t know why), and HR said that they should provide tickets (the same as with the interview). As a result, I bought tickets on the night before departure, and the reservation at the same time online only for an hour. Confirmation of a cat - from 4 hours and only in the afternoon. As a result, I received confirmation in about fifteen hours, and my reservation had already flown. I rebooked the ticket, called, and the confirmators had already gone home. By phone, the tickets were rebooked until the morning, they left a new application indicating that the past had already been approved. In the morning I got through - there is no information yet. Generally, in the last 5 minutes he bought tickets and after 10 minutes received a confirmation. (Fuhhhh, it’s gone). And I already acted wisely on Moscow-Zurich - I bought tickets immediately, as soon as I found out the exact date of the visa, the reservation was automatically there for 24 hours. Immediately applied for a cat, after 3 hours received a confirmation and bought tickets. Simple and no problem.

But back to the visas. To obtain a visa, all documents were sent to the company, which carried out the translation and sending of documents to the relevant departments. Switzerland accepts apostilled documents, so I advise you to immediately put an apostille on the maximum available documents - then it will be more difficult or longer. If my diplomas are generally unimportant, then an apostille is required on a marriage certificate. As a result, on December 1st, I only received confirmation from me and an apostille request for my wife. It was possible to make an apostille in 1 day. I would know before - did not lose 2 weeks! Documents are considered for about 3 weeks + 1 week to receive a response. Moreover, in fact, after 3 weeks the answer is at the embassy in Moscow, but the company will receive a paper answer after another almost a week ... In general, in mid-December we received confirmation of the wife. Now we had to make an appointment with us at the Moscow Embassy. This is also done by the company that issues visas, but for this it was necessary to plan when I can fly out. Since I never received any information, I said to write down on the nearest possible. I really wanted to slip through to Christmas, because before Christmas they just give out ready-made passports, they don’t work for Christmas, and after it the Russian New Year’s scores for everything begin. To be in time by January 5th, it was worth moving ideally in mid-December. On Thursday, the 11th, the Moscow Embassy said that they had received the documents. On Friday, the 12th, we were recorded on Wednesday, December 17th, so we had to fly out on the 15th or 16th. On Monday, the 15th, on a European morning (about 19 o'clock in my local time) I received a confirmation from HR to buy tickets and hotels myself, I did not expect anyone, since the company involved in the transportation did not hear anything. As a result, in a wild rush I was looking for a hotel that allows cats and is not far from the embassy, ​​since it was supposed to be there at 9 in the morning ...

Having given the documents on the 17th morning, after lunch they received their passports back with visas valid from Monday 22nd. So calmly bought tickets with cat support on Monday and found the hotel closer to the airport (more precisely, closer to the express train), where they got over until Monday.

Do not confuse tourism and accommodation ...

In principle, English alone is enough for a start - in state institutions they understand English almost everywhere, in a pinch, they will be sent to an employee who knows him. There are no such guarantees in stores, you may have to either leave or switch to sign language. Therefore, I advise you to take at least a basic course of German A1 (I highly recommend the Goethe German center in Novosibirsk, which is located at NSTU) even before you leave: sometimes you get out very well when you speak English, they understand you, but answer in German.

The most important thing you need to know: your relationship with the local authorities after entry is entirely your personal one. You can hope for help and a hint at the office or a relocation consultant, but any responsibility is on your conscience. Therefore, check the information: they follow quite strictly. And also note that if 2 weeks are given, it means 14 days from the current moment, and it is your task to find the time when they work in these 2 weeks and come. Actually, you should be able to register in 2 weeks after entering. And therefore, if you enter earlier than 2 weeks from the start of work - do not rely on a hint at the office, but go and register immediately upon arrival. Especially if the holidays are ahead. For registration at the place of temporary residence I only had enough addresses - even a printout of the reservation from the letter was not needed. Later,

A visa that allows you to enter the country is valid for 3 months. During these 3 months you must enter and register. Within a month and a half after, local documents will be sent. First you get Permit L. This permit allows you to stay in the country for a year while you are still working. In a year, it needs to be extended, and in a year, it will be replaced by Permit B, which already allows you to stay in the country for 5 years and, if you wish, change your employer.

And now for the fun part. Initial housing is provided for 1 or 2 months (more precisely, 30 or 60 days), during which you need to find a permanent home, for which the help of a hired realtor is provided. Not quite a realtor in our understanding: here it is more likely an assistant for search and registration, plus he / she can tell you about many issues that arise at the beginning. The real estate market in Zurich is simply striking in its unusualness: unlike Russia, no one is waiting for you with open arms. Having chosen an apartment that you liked, you absolutely cannot be sure that you will receive it. Demand for rental real estate always exceeds supply (one of the apartments apart from us was watched by at least five more applicants), as a result, the entire market works to minimize the costs of renting efforts. Therefore, the priority for the most long-term shooters: having Permit L, you are not very interested, since there are no guarantees that in a year you will still be in the country. If there are two people - one local (or European) and you with Permit L - they will give the apartment more stable. Viewing the apartment is also organized, simplifying the costs of the renter: at the appointed time (often during business hours on weekdays), everyone comes, examine, ask questions and take a review form, which they fill out and send to Landlord (the owner / renter), who then one of the candidates to whom the apartment will be rented, or another viewing date will be assigned to the will and opinion.

Most contracts allow you to leave an apartment without fines only twice a year - by April 1st and October 1st. It is to these dates that the most affordable apartment options are available on the market, but it is to these dates that most people want to rent. Given that you are at the end of the line, I don’t know if this is a plus or minus. By an incomprehensible miracle, we managed to rent an apartment, which we could enter on February 16th. And on February 20, the temporary placement ended ...

In addition, there are unspoken rules stemming from the desire to minimize the surrender of the surrender. For example, one-room young couple most likely will not surrender. Based on the assumption "they will give birth, more space will be needed, and they will move out." Even the two-room apartment is in question. So the pair should be considered from 2.5 and higher (actually - 3-3.5 rooms). Also, not all houses in principle accept foreigners. Sometimes they don’t want to let the young go. And, which was especially important to us, not everyone is allowed to keep animals in the apartment. A realtor usually has good experience, so listen to his advice - he does not receive any percentage of the transaction, his task is to find you a home, and realtors work for salary, and therefore on your side.

The second joyful moment with real estate is that in 90% of cases housing is rented unfurnished. Any apartment must have: plumbing in the bathroom; cooker, fridge and sink in the kitchen. There is also a place for washing and drying clothes, either in the apartment, or in the basement. This is all the minimum required. But, as a rule, there is a dishwasher. If the place allowed - then there is also the oven, but this is already in question.

And the most important final chord: which is quite logical, but for some reason does not occur on time, you will receive a salary at the end of the first month of work. And when renting an apartment, you have to pay not only a month in advance of your stay, but also add the cost of 3 months of stay to a special account. Total, at the time of renting the apartment you should have your own funds for 4 months of its cost plus the purchase of initial furniture, because you need to sleep on something and have something. Well, or you can take it. I don’t know how everyone, but my team decided to informally occupy a newcomer to an apartment. Anyway, at the end of the year, with an annual bonus, anyone can repay this debt without any tension.

Now let's talk about the good: about the costs. To rent a temporary housing (that is, a place where there is all the necessary furniture, and a temporary stay in units of weeks and / or months is permissible), if for the first time it was not possible to rent an apartment - from about 2000 per month. To rent 2.5-3 apartment for 10-15 minutes walk from work - from 2500 per month. To rent an apartment in 30 minutes by public transport - from 1800 (really the average price for 2.5 - 2200-2300). About 1,500 are spent on food for a family of two per month, taking into account what you yourself eat in the office on weekdays. The monthly transport pass within the same zone is 84 francs per person. If you decide to save on an apartment and are located in the neighboring zone, then the monthly pass is already 124 francs. One year cheaper than monthly, but if there is no thick supply, it is only a year later, when all debts are repaid, and local savings will appear. Another medical insurance - from 300 to 700 per person, depending on the insurance company and the options selected. Plus, if you turn to doctors, insurance covers only in excess of a certain amount per year (deductible). The franchise is two-stage - at the first stage you pay 100% yourself, the size of the stage of your choice is from 300 to 2500 francs. After the first stage of the franchise, you still pay 10% of the costs until you get another 700 francs. Total, with a minimum deductible over insurance for the year, the maximum will be another 1,000 francs (300 deductible 100%, + 700 deductible 10%). It also depends on the insurance company how the bills are paid. The cheapest insurance will compensate your expenses by sending you money, for example, once a quarter, according to the accounts. The most expensive ones pay for everything themselves, billing you, evenly distributing for the year. To select some insurance options, you may need to fill out a medical questionnaire. In German, of course. You are considered insured from the very beginning of entry into the country. You must choose an insurance during the first 3 months, if you don’t do it yourself - you will be assigned an insurance at random in the minimum required form. Not the fact that this will be the best offer. Without insurance on hand, you will have to pay the first bills yourself for some time or choose an insurance one and send these bills to her for payment. if you don’t do it yourself, you will be assigned insurance at random in the minimum mandatory form. Not the fact that this will be the best offer. Without insurance on hand, you will have to pay the first bills yourself for some time or choose an insurance one and send these bills to her for payment. if you don’t do it yourself, you will be assigned insurance at random in the minimum mandatory form. Not the fact that this will be the best offer. Without insurance on hand, you will have to pay the first bills yourself for some time or choose an insurance one and send these bills to her for payment.

Prices for everything in the shops are high, but the salary is consistent. For myself, I have developed a rule of assessment of “expensive / cheap” - you multiply the price by 20. This is the approximate equivalent of the price in rubles in Novosibirsk. (At least, the figures obtained correspond to the feelings of 2014 prices). The easiest way to get this figure is to recalculate the proportion of old and new salaries and use this coefficient to estimate the cost. For everyday expenses, for the first time it’s enough, but over time you get used to the fact that 1 franc is just 1 franc and not a single ruble. In principle, many save by traveling to Germany, buying there. This is about a third cheaper than in Switzerland, but the question is added: what to drive (in the first year it is unlikely that there will still be a car, and renting is still expensive) and how to return the tax and pay the Swiss tax upon import. Generally,

The tax is paid compulsory plus a pension of choice of 3 options (less-more). In general, with the minimum pension tax selected from the “gross” accrued, 30% is deducted. By the way, there is still a tax on radio and TV, which you always actually pay, regardless of whether you listen / watch radio and TV.

The monthly salary is 1/13 of the agreed annual plus various compensations (travel expenses, medical insurance, etc.), from which you will pay 30% of the tax, then give it back for the apartment (see above for the cost), then for cell phones ( ~ 30 francs per month), the Internet, medical insurance (see above about the cost - this amount can be both less and more compensation on medical doctors), transportation costs, electricity, food. All that remains is to spend or save. At first, it goes to furniture and to repay a loan for an apartment. The received 13th salary and annual bonus are used to compensate for the tax for this same bonus and for accumulation, which will be needed at least to rent the next apartment, when you need to move, because the previous contribution is spent on bringing it to its original state,

Every day is not Sunday

Let's approach the sweetest part: to life and work in the office. How many fairy tales are told about working in Google and other large "human-oriented" companies. The harsh truth of life is that most of all this beauty is for the guests of the office. You do not notice the colorful design of floors in everyday life, since you mainly see a huge monitor (s) and the code on it (them). Game rooms? Mostly used in the evenings or on Fridays. During working hours I did not meet people in them. However, it is extremely infrequent and I pass by. But the rooms for sleeping are quite in demand, mainly right after lunch - when so sleepy.

Speaking of dinners. In the office on weekdays, a zavbegin is available. There is one dining room for breakfast, as many as three dining rooms with different cuisines work (for the simple reason - not everyone gets up so early to eat breakfast, and not everyone sits so long to eat dinner; but there is a pandemonium at lunch. ..). I don’t know who how, but personally I am not happy with food every day. In principle, you can go to some other paid cafe-restaurant, if you wish, but, firstly, this is a waste of time, secondly, money. I personally do not make a cult of food, so if I don’t see anything that looks appetizing, I eat something from the “food” category and stomp to the workplace. In general, my personal satisfaction with food is about 40%. But this is still personal. But on the weekend, there’s nothing but an incomplete assortment of mini-kitchens. They have nuts and cereals bread (already a stone on Sunday), sausage, cheese, yogurs, coffee machines, tea and a source of boiling water, fruits. Sometimes - snack vegetables. In general, there is no full-fledged food on weekends, and you have to either go home or take it with you, but it’s quite difficult to find a microwave, I only know the location of one, and that one is in the building opposite.

Under the contract, working hours are 40 hours a week, "up to 45 if necessary." Since this is a large company, this “required”, as a rule, does not happen. Work above 45 hours is paid only if the prior consent of the manager has been obtained. In general, no one watches the time, this is your responsibility. The main thing is to do your work on time and in the amount that is expected of you. Also, if required, you can take time off. There are some categories of holidays, pre-agreed with a certain limit. Firstly, for family reasons: there is a day for a wedding, a divorce, in the event of a relative's death, for the birth of children and to help a pregnant wife, even for moving. Secondly, time off, compensated by insurance: due to illness, injury. Thirdly, you can take time off on vacation - the balance of vacation time is taken into account, in some cases, it grows if you work beyond the norm. When you take time off - the most important thing is that you do not create problems for anyone, notify people in advance or surrender, as far as possible, before time off. The same with vacation - it is advisable to plan a vacation in the quarter before it starts, so as not to disrupt the planned schedule. But in general, all these issues are quite easily resolved with a direct manager.

Instead of accounting for working time, there is an accounting of “expectations”. You are doing work that should correspond to your qualifications and position in the team, as well as in the amount that you plan yourself for the upcoming quarter. If you do not want to strain - you plan the work according to your abilities, perform it as planned. While coping, it is useful to the team and does not bother anyone, there will be no problems, however, you will “rot”, because without setting long-range goals, it is impossible to achieve and grow them. A rare specialist who is still interested in professional growth works in a relaxed rhythm.

As a result, the “relaxed background” in the office is almost invisible. Yes, people come, it happens, for dinner. But they leave much later than sunset. I personally like to work without a lot of biomass nearby, so sometimes I work on Sunday instead of Wednesday (the additional profit is that on Sundays almost nothing works in the city except stations and railway stations, so that you can safely go on weekends inaccessible on weekends shops / museums / etc) ...

Well, about the managers. I will not say for all the teams, but the tendency, as far as I know, is just this: the direct manager in the team is one of the techies of this very team. In our team, the manager continues to work on the code, and also participates in the general rotation of duties. In general, he does everything the same as other techies, only in less time, since meetings, meetings, meetings and discussions with the higher authorities eat up a considerable amount of time.

Speaking of eating up time. A good amount of time is spent reading mail, including all sorts of internal digests that let you know what’s going on; various discussions; all kinds of lectures to increase awareness of internal practices, capabilities, products, the intricacies of google's device and the universe, as well as meditation and maintaining stress levels. In general, almost all of them are optional, but everything that can increase your productivity in theory is available, and then it is up to you (and possibly your manager) to decide. There are a lot of various TechTalks available, which many look at x5-x10 speeds, switching to x1 in the most interesting places.

And with all this, in the remaining time, the main work should be done. So when drawing up a work plan for the quarter, either don’t plan a lot of things, or don’t waste your time in seminars and events.

In the animal world

Now a little about life outside of work. Zurich is a very beautiful city. I can’t fully compare with large people like Moscow and St. Petersburg (although I was there, I didn’t like both of them), but it’s better not even to compare with Novosibirsk. With separate corners of Tomsk, perhaps.

The city is small, moving even between distant parts of the city is a maximum of an hour and a half by public transport. However, the whole of Europe is small by Siberian standards, since for example the flight of Zurich-Vienna also takes an hour and a half.

The people in the city are athletic: even in winter, a huge number of people go for a run. Even with a baby stroller in front. There are a lot of cyclists, along with children in fastened strollers, children in fastened tandems, children in child seats, children on separate bicycles, as well as adults riding along a bicycle path (roadside, as a rule).

Almost everything in the city closes around 7-8 pm. Rare grocery until 9 and 10. On Sunday nothing works, except for train stations and some restaurants / clubs. On Saturday, in the area of ​​shops there is a big crowd, as they are bought a week in advance, and on Sunday you can meet people more often in the warm season, in winter the streets are almost empty. At Christmas, there’s not even a soul on the streets - everything is at home, life can only be found at the station. Speaking of the station. Surprisingly, the shops and food at the station here are not at all the same as in Russia: really fresh seafood at Nordsee, the usual choice at Coop, prices do not differ by two orders of magnitude from the city and other stores. Therefore, the Hauptbahnhof is quite possible to buy, if you suddenly are here passing through.

The water in the tap is potable. On the streets a huge number of fountains with drinking water. If the Kein Trinkwasser plate does not hang, it is a fountain with drinking water, and the plate is such a rarity.

There is very little garbage in the city: no one throws it apart from ill-mannered visitors and rare children. In addition, finding the urn, as a rule, is not a problem: they are arranged quite often, while not very conspicuous. However, now, in connection with the tourist season, along the promenade and in other especially tourist places are quite noticeable large containers with a large pointer on top. I can’t say how effective it is yet, but there is much less garbage in the city than in Vienna, where there are much more tourists (or are the people themselves less well-educated?). But despite this, near the entrances to large supermarkets and at the station, cigarette butts and mugs of worn-out chewing gums are still common.

Very clean air, to the extent that many cars at traffic lights turn off engines. A huge amount of greenery, bushes, trees, tubs with plants and just plants in the ground throughout the city. The city is generally surrounded by greenery, even in winter. What will happen by summer is scary to think at all - it’s only spring so far, but everything has already become MORE greener. As a result, birds that sing in the morning and call each other in the evenings. In the mornings and evenings, the feeling that you are in the countryside is in nature, despite being in the center of the largest city in Switzerland.

Maybe someone wants something more active, personally, we really like such a leisurely calm of the city.

Comparison of a bulldog with a rhino

To summarize: what is the work in the office on Google in comparison with the work of a simple freelancer from the outback at first glance.

Pros:
- having a vacation and guaranteeing the availability of money even in case of illness (on freelance you must create a buffer in the required amount yourself);
- the payment corresponds to the country of residence, and, in general, is higher than the average for this country (on freelance it is the same, only with a limited selection of possible countries of residence);
- provided equipment for the workplace;
- actually paid opportunities for personal and creative growth;
- almost complete absence of risks in life;
- ample opportunity to choose what to do;
- paid relocation of the whole family;
- the possibility of paid tourism (by the method of business trips to other offices, if such a trip is useful for work);
- The proximity of Europe for tourism.

Cons:
- increased volume of daily communication, including live communication;
- A huge level of background noise during the working day (and especially at lunch);
- limited opportunities for converting time into money (the ability to work “on the side” is limited, and the company itself is more interested in uniform work than in peaks and downturns);
- A huge amount of background information, which at least needs to be filtered, which distracts;
- the inability to proudly say "I did it", since almost all products are orders of magnitude more than the capabilities of one person;
- difficulties in moving from the division of responsibility;
- Dependence in the choice of place of residence on the position of the office;
- a certain limitation in the choice of languages ​​and technologies;
- a certain limitation in the choice of tasks.

In general, I can’t say yet whether I will stay in this office for a five-year perspective, but the next two years or so in the current team will obviously be interesting.