From Babylon to Europe

Moving to a neighboring country and getting to know a new company is a “reset” of consciousness? Adventure? Or both? System engineer Artyom Bychkov managed to find out the answer to this question, gain freedom on the project and make sure that two languages ​​are good and three are better.

Let's recall your work before moving to Minsk.

Before EPAM, I worked on a project for Deutsche Bank. It was called Financial Data Warehousing, that is, a repository of financial data. We introduced a new version of this system. We had a very cool team: guys from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland, three DevOps engineers, including me, from Moscow. Customer representatives were located in Frankfurt.

How did you start moving towards Belarus?

After the end of the project, I decided to try relocation, first within my company. As a result, I got two options: either moving to the Polish city of Lodz, or to the capital of Romania. After carefully considering everything, I refused in favor of an “external” alternative - EPAM Minsk. And now I’m sure that I did the right thing.

I have been to Belarus before, not only in the capital, but also in Vitebsk, Brest, and the Brest region. Belarus is closer both geographically and culturally, residents speak Russian, the border is not so strict that, not least, it became an argument “for”.

EPAM managed to surprise you with something new and unfamiliar upon arrival?

There were no surprises in terms of organizing processes. Unless pleasantly surprised by the internal system: as a reference web design, and its excellent functionality.

When working on a project there is quite a bit of freedom, space for development, proposals, ideas, initiatives. The client does not mind at all if I want to learn something new, then apply it to our system and improve internal processes. It's great!

And who provides such opportunities?

One of EPAM's largest clients is Thomson Reuters, in particular TR Legal, UK and Ireland. They have a site practicallaw.com - a database of turnkey solutions for lawyers around the world. The site is quite old and is a curious tangle of diverse technologies, tools and services. I support this site together with my colleagues from London, and the developers and testers are located in Minsk and Poland (Krakow).

I have already managed to visit England and get acquainted with the team, they are all very nice and funny people, and the level of their professionalism and technical competence is simply exceptional.

So, in addition to freedom and a wide range of technologies, here I like the opportunity to communicate directly with customer representatives. Working with the British is a wonderful experience both culturally and linguistically.

Workdays EPAM Minsk

And what pleasant surprises did Minsk bring?

Firstly, the lack of transportation problems, and therefore significant time savings. You can devote more time to the family, additional activities both at work and around the house, on hikes or trips, and on the cultural life of the city. Over the weekend, and you can completely redo a bunch of things!

Secondly, the city is better suited for pedestrians and cyclists than Moscow. The capital of Russia is the level of London. The huge metropolis, the real Babylon. And Minsk is a large city, but without problems with traffic and the number of people. I like him comfort and environmental friendliness. You go outside in the evening - and you smell honey, linden, freshness (even in the center!). There is clean air, trees in bloom, despite the developed industry of the city.

I try to learn a little bit of the beloved Belarusian language, because knowing Belarusian, Russian and English is much cooler and more interesting than just English and Russian.

And in general, according to my feelings, Minsk is in many ways a more European city than, say, Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Gazebo for outdoor work, mitaps and barbecue in the Minsk EPAM office

What, in your opinion, does this “European character” manifest?

First of all, in the rhythm of life. Indeed, in Europe, especially North and West, people value their time. On weekends, stores work up to three hours, and then everyone goes home and spend evenings with his family. The city in terms of service sector does not buzz 24 hours a day, here you do not go to the hairdresser at 2 nights or to fitness at 3 in the morning. So my balance of sleep and wakefulness finally returned to normal. True, Minsk should definitely borrow late movie shows from megacities.

The geographical proximity to Europe is also felt: it is worth coming to Grodno, and there the city center is more like Lithuania, but in Brest you can feel the strong influence of Poland. Minsk itself, of course, is not like any other city in Belarus! The architecture here is majestic, monumental, far from only Soviet. Modern Minsk is a bio-tech and deconstructivism of intricately shaped buildings made of glass and metal, which is quietly adjacent to the Stalinist empire and the cute "gingerbread houses" of the Trinity suburb and the Upper city.

There are also incredibly many parks, water, and in the area remote from the center you can find street art tall in a multi-storey building!

This is what I understood and saw in three months. Of course, you need to live here for at least a year, and preferably two, to feel the city, learn it better and fully integrate into the new rhythm of life.

And what was three months earlier? How was the relocation?

I didn’t have any fundamental preparation, except that I was oriented at prices, necessary formalities and the exact distance from Moscow to Minsk. Yes, and EPAM has provided significant support!
Many thanks to Alexandra Zamkova, who led the entire relocation process before and after the move. I also want to thank my managers Dmitry Ivashkevich, Dmitry Chopko and team leader Vladimir Portugalov for organizing the work process.

The most difficult thing when moving is to make a decision. Packing things and getting started is easier. Relocation, change of company, place of residence, country - this is an interesting adventure.

Why was it hard for you to decide?

I mean the standard reluctance of a person to change the usual range of things, leave home, a “warm” place in Moscow and get used to a new country. But this way out of the comfort zone allows you to better understand yourself, give yourself a shake-up, “filter out” priorities and move on. A kind of 'reset' for consciousness and even worldview.

I had no such experience, and I do not regret my choice. I did not expect Belarus to be so cool, a sort of hidden gem between Russia and Europe.

What prospects does EPAM offer you?

I plan to develop extensively, that is, to master more technologies and working tools (there are opportunities for this on the project). In terms of intensification, or a qualitative transition to another level, a well-developed system of personal development is very valuable to me - the Grow portal, where you can set professional goals and track their achievement.

In the future, in addition to technical knowledge and a set of competencies, I would like to shift to managerial and organizational tasks. Among the additional features of the company are the availability of language courses and Language Level Assessment. So I will strive to grow professionally and improve my language skills.

It’s great that EPAM provides the ability to relocate to offices around the world. Not the fact that I will ever use it, but I like the potential chance. After all, this means that the company, for example, in the case of the completion of the project, takes care of its employees and is looking for them options to their liking.

And my wife is now preparing for testers' courses at EPAM, and I hope that we will soon work in the same company!