Mechanical design engineer, no Polish, will company like GE hire me?

Hey peeps!!

This is my first post on here so take it easy and be nice please. I'm just after some info :-))

I met a Polish girl half a year ago (although she met me approx. 3 years ago but I was drunk and can't remember so it doesn't count :-) and we're getting on really well. She's a lawyer in Warsaw and I'm a mechanical design engineer in Wales. I've been in the same place for 13 years so have plenty of engineering experience and feel it's time for a change and there's nothing stopping me from looking at a possible move to Poland.

I don't speak Polish which I know is a major problem but I wonder if the foreign companies like GE employ native English speakers even if they don't speak Polish (obviously I would try to learn as quickly as possible) and are there any other foreign but English speaking companies that I could look at?

I'm also a qualified snowboarding instructor so I'm curious about the possibility of finding employment in Zakopane teaching the English speaking tourists? I know that Zakopane is about a 9 hour journey from Warsaw but it would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone as I always intended to move away and instruct.

So any serious comments and information would be appreciated.

Apologies for the large first post :-))

Chris

Note - When I say foreign companies I mean "international companies".

I've also read through this site and proof reading seems to be an option. Again, any info on this would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Chris.

Hi Chris

Might be able to help. Just sent you an e-mail. Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers Jay,

Just replied to your mail.

Fingers crossed :-))

I'm looking for somone for a car restoration job??

Many Thanks

Mark

The question is what can you bring to their table which a Polish speaker can not?


Good luck with that. Getting into proofreading is a very long business and if you can't even spell the word (it's either hyphenated or just one word), you might want to look at other options.

Why don't you just do the four-week CELTA course and teach English in Warsaw? There's a huge demand and not enough supply. If you're here in mid-September with newly-won CELTA in hand, you'll be picking and choosing between jobs.

Hmmm, you slate me for putting a space in "proof(pedant)reading" and imply that I am incapable of this but then suggest that I teach English.... That's a pretty average post to be honest bud.

The CELTA costs £995 so is hardly won. It is a plan b option though so thank you for the suggestion.

Chris....here is how it will go: For the first 6 months you will love it...meeting her friends and family, drinking at dinners and seeing all the "new" stuff. The the drag starts...you may or may not give teaching English a shot but you will quickly be put off by how things are done here...you will miss actually using your mind for engineering etc. and rather being a one trick pony "trainer"...you will get grumpy and either drink or argue more because you feel limited by what Poland has to offer...etc etc

Yeah some people come here and have decent lives...but the story above is ridiculously common. She will change once you live with her in her culture...you will likely give up on your quest to learn Polish beyond basic words you need to exist...you will get sick of huge queues for shopping...endless requirements for documents to do the simplest of tasks...total absence of some products you are use to unless you pay 5x the going rate at a the one or two import shops in the city...

Many a Polish woman brings a foreign guy over here only to have him hating the place after a while...and you cannot judge it on "visits". It takes a while living it to really get how miserable it can be. Beware...or don't. Everyone thinks they are 'different" and their love is "stronger".....hehe....ok.....good luck.

And dont mind Harry....he has lived here too long and is turning into one of them..though I am sure he was a git back home before.

Haha well fortunately Warsaw has a rugby team and you shouldn't underestimate the therapeutic properties of smashing people up for 80 minutes :-)) Follow that with a few well earned jars of beer and wow, no more stress!! :-))

Sadly none of the people I would like so much to smash would ever be there. But honestly man...think twice about changing your whole life and giving up a career for a woman from here...from anywhere really. Usually these stories end up with tears in beer and regret.

You really do not want to be in Poland without a job and now is not the time to be giving up a good check.

I hear you brother and I appreciate your concern. It's early days and there's no harm in testing the water, hence this thread. I am not about to move to Warsaw tomorrow :-))

You hit the nail on the head when you said "from anywhere really" - I don't think these problems you mentioned are unique to Poland and they can be applied in most instances. Especially where women are involved :-)) Life is going to knock you down, it's expected and so you shouldn't wrap yourself in cotton and live in fear of something bad happening.

Never regret the things you did, only the things you didn't have the courage to do :-))

I can appreciate your positive outlook but I don't agree...I do not regret things I didn't do...only the things I did that turned out bad for me. Had I listened to people with wisdom I could have saved myself much grief...I guess it is human...we never listen.

Yeah lots of the problems are going to be with any woman...but slavic women are different in a way you wont understand for a while. You will ALWAYS be second to their family...no matter what they tell you. You will be 'neat' for a while because you are Western...but eventually that will become a negative in her eyes. Can things work? Sure and they do sometimes...again sometimes...people here would have you believe I am bitter or some such nonsense...I am simply experienced and have observed it happen with others over and over. It is luck to get a decent one here...low odds gamble...

You sound like you know in your heart what I am saying is true...good luck either way.

Proofreading (or at least doing it well) is a far harder job than teaching EFL. That is why proofreading pays a lot better than teaching.


a) It costs a lot less than that in Poland.
b) It is very hard. It's like fitting a semester of university into 26 days. The degree of difficulty is not hard but the workload makes for a very intense course.

I really do have no idea at all why you stay in Poland. Oh, actually yes I do: it's because back in the States you're even more of an abject loser than you are in Poland.


So why don't you p!ss off back to the USA now.


The problem has nothing to do with Polish women, or any women at all: the problem is that you are a complete and utter prick.

Projecting again Harry? You are kind of a nasty man you know that?

I am betting you have one of those bar girls...about 15 years younger than you and clip clops a lot when she walks...hehe....oh this place is funny.

tj123 - my ex wife was Slovakian. It's pretty obvious that you've had a tough time but it'll get better :-))

Harry - you're actually quite funny but quit the negative vibes please bud.

"Ex" being the key here ;) I am fine now but I have had my battles and have seen the overwhelming majority of expats have the same. If it were only me I'd chalk it up to life but it is way too common to be a coincidence.

Or you may love them. I'm in love with the fact that I can visit the Urząd whatever and get a straight answer to a straight question. Try doing that in the UK - it's next to impossible. I don't have to send off my documents to some obscure address, I can register a car locally, I can pick up a driving licence locally, I can register for residence painlessly and easily at my local Voivode office.


Only those with feeble minds cannot see what Poland has to offer. Certainly, not a day goes by without me realising how many gaps in the market there actually is here.

Tell me you're joking? The UK has no urząd skarbowy in every town, there is no USC, there is no zameldowanie, there is no having to queue up and personally go to some office to simply register a car...

In the UK I applied for my passport via the internet and received it by post. Can I do that in Poland? Of course not! I can't even do a VAT return online in Poland...


Ha ha ha. Tell me another one... :-)

A little jaded maybe but actually I think TJ is just telling it like it is. Kind of refreshing on this forum. Write some more man.. you might help a lot of people.

That is highly unlikely: tj seems to think that his supposed personal experiences are more important than Polish law. Just try going into any office, especially a government office and saying "Well this dude I know from polishforums.com says that when he did it blah blah blah." Then try saying "But from the legal viewpoint, under the decision of the minister of the interior work permits are not required for language teachers who teach at schools specified by the ministry of education, here's a copy of that decision and here's a copy of the schools so specified." Which approach is likely to have more success?

Have you seen how awful the DVLA are getting? With the first round of photocard renewals, they were losing people's entitlement to various categories - and refused point blank to actually do anything about it. The fact that the DVLA is also actively selling people's details to private 'parking' companies who then try and extort money out of people for dubious civil offences is another black mark.

I tried to sort something out when in Essex relating to national insurance payments. My local office from Chelmsford was in Southend, went there, only to be told that they had no drop-in service and that no, I couldn't see anyone. I could call someone, but they were as good as useless on the phone.

Haven't had any fuss with the Zameldowanie at all, nor with the EU version of the karta pobytu. And the UK version of the residence permit for EEA citizens is ridiculous - last I checked, they were processing permits applied for in January 2008!


How about when I applied for a NIP and didn't even have to show my passport?

Maybe things are just much more efficient in Western Poland than in the East ;)

But why is it such a bad thing that you can do all your business in person as opposed to having to deal with faceless offices that you can't even visit? The UK is rapidly becoming a complete nightmare to actually deal with people who make decisions.

Well, he kind of seems to advocate Yanks not living in Poland altogether and gives a lot of examples. This is something a prospective expat might want to look at. Especially that crap about Slavic women. Good looking but a complete f.ucking nightmare a lot of times. I'm glad mine dumped me. Now, all that legal mumbo jumbo with the Polish bureuracry etc I guess you're probably right.

Well, they might if they were American. But it very much appears that the original poster is British


Yes, but when they are good, they are very very good. And when they're bad, they're better!

Lol, alright.. Where the hell are from incidentially?

Poland is not for every one and globalization is not for everyone. Some people should just stay home:)

It's not, it's great that you can go and see someone if you want to. I just don't like being forced to go to the Urząd Skarbowy in person between 0800 and 1500 because I can't deal with simple things via post or the web. I hope that in time this will change....


Yes you're right. My wife waited over 18 months to get her tax returned to her from the Inland Revenue. Months of calling offices in Scotland with people who had no idea what was going on and nobody taking responsibility. But then that reminds me of the time I tried to get a telephone line from TP....

Why not just pay an accountant to do it for you? A good one will save you more than she costs even if you don't factor in the reduced hassle!

You sly devil...but no I will not date you.

I have said and will say again...if you want to live in Poland as an American that is up to you...but do not expect things to be like people such as Harry claim they are, do not expect things to be run as well as they are back home, do not expect to be treated with any sort of decency or kindness in public, do not expect things to be like people such as Harry claim they are, do not believe Polish girls are somehow better gf's or wives because they are better looking in their early 20s than many nations women(it goes downhill faster than most with age to make up for this), do not believe Poland is some oasis of wonder and amazement. Go right ahead...trust Harry's advice..in fact I dare you to...I am quite sure the disinterested bimbo at whatever office you are dealing with will snap to when you mention the Harry and the LAW says she has to do something. You might a well wipe your ass with "the rules" here for all they matter unless it benefits the official applying them. Yeah Harold...I do put more stock in my experiences and the load of expats I know who all agree with most everything I say than your rulebook. What really happens trumps what you think should happen.

Corruption, laziness, indifference, selfishness and apathy...you will get a TON of that from people in Poland. If that is your cup of tea then enjoy.

Which part of "the original poster is not American" do you not understand?


Just go home. You don't want to be here and you certainly are not wanted here either. Goodbye!

Harold...where did you get this idea you have any way in what I do or dont do? You sure get spun up easy.

I may well do so in future, but for the first year or two of running my company I want to do everything myself just to make sure I know what to do and how to do it all. Currently I go to an accountant periodically to check I am not messing up too much along the way.