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Posts by frd  

Joined: 3 Feb 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 3 Jan 2022
Threads: Total: 7 / In This Archive: 6
Posts: Total: 1379 / In This Archive: 632
From: welcome to the house of fun
Speaks Polish?: can I have your liver?
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Displayed posts: 638 / page 2 of 22
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frd   
7 Nov 2014
Work / Storage Admin 3 years experience in field IT - salary in Poland [36]

I haven't seen such temperatures for a long time. During the last winter in Wrocław it was around 0 all the time. We had snow with rain on 2 occasions through the whole season. Which is a bummer. So the winter is more wet and dirty than cold and snowy.. at least that's how it was last time.

So you're more of a hardware guy, I'm afraid I have no knowledge on this subject.
frd   
6 Nov 2014
Work / Storage Admin 3 years experience in field IT - salary in Poland [36]

What do you mean by storage administrator? If it's 3 years of experience in Oracle administration for instance then you could probably get 8k - 12k gross in Warsaw.

For comparing different polish cities you can check Numbeo: numbeo.com/cost-of-living
Whether Poland is nice place to live or not is very relative it depends what are you main indicators for the quality of life...
frd   
6 Nov 2014
Work / Is it worth for a 27 yo game artist to move from Moscow to Katowice? [14]

In South Poland you can find IT companies - both enterprise and game studios mostly in Kraków and Wrocław. Katowice is gaining on them but it's still not there. In terms of living in the city - Katowice is behind, not a lot of old nice buildings, places to visit and cultural events. Definitely not so many foreigners as in Kraków and Wrocław. On the other hand Katowice is much cheaper in terms of house prices/rent, price of living. 8-10K is a very good salary for any big city. And as for foreigners, from my experience there's many more Ukrainians than Russians around here. Katowice is also growing up to be a bit of a Polish center of competitive computer games, there's a big annual event called IEM in March.

You're in a good spot - it doesn't sound like you have set your roots very deep, so coming back is always an option. And being in IT it is very easy to move around at least until you settle down.
frd   
5 Nov 2014
Work / What is the scope of computer programing in Poland (job related) [15]

There's a lot of programming jobs in Poland. Mainly because a lot of companies is selecting it over Asia in terms of cheap work force. You get slightly more expensive workers but you get better work ethics, better quality and less time zones between you and your workers which causes polish IT sector to grow substantially. As long as your English is ok you shouldn't have any problems with getting a good salary.

Nowadays it terms of being a coder - if you're anything around senior software developer experiences in any of the enterprise programming languages you will have a better life than most in any of the bigger cities.There's a lot of foreigners coming from India or Ukraine..

Good luck.
frd   
5 Oct 2014
Life / Are there any launderettes in Katowice? [5]

This company has 4 laundry places in Katowice: pl.5asec.com/pl/taxonomy/term/66604

I've only been to the on in Silesia city centre: silesiacitycenter.com.pl

There are no self-service ones as far as I know. And I haven't seen them anywhere outside of shopping malls.

I've found one self-service one actually ( the description says "entrance through the yard" ): facebook.com/PralniaSamoobslugowaKatowice
frd   
1 Oct 2014
Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

I hope they'll start falling faster, a 90 sq meter apartment at a secured complex is still very expensive for me ;/ considering moving to UK for like 2 years to gather some money for the flat...

which is funny considering I've moved to Wrocław to earn more ;o
frd   
6 Aug 2014
Real Estate / Best residential areas in Wroclaw to live in? [27]

I can concur.. Biskupin is really nice, green and good communication ( though right now . I like the surroundings of the Hallera street near the Grabiszyński park as well.
frd   
25 Jul 2014
Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

I really like the new flats at ogrody hallera in Wroclaw.. Really good flat layout and a perfect location. I've notice many apartment projects being build in Krzyki the thing is each is in different colour and shape it creates a real cacophony and chaos for the eyes, especially cause they are usually built 3 meters from one another. The prices vary as well but the further away along the Krzycka the worse the public transport and the surrounding and so many building with max size under 60 sq meters.. Ridiculous.
frd   
24 Jul 2014
Life / Cost of living in Wroclaw (rent price too) [119]

1. Tax deductions in Poland - this would help me with finding net monthly salary
2. Apartment rent cost in Wroclaw
3. Living cost in Poland
4. What is the salary appraisal period in Poland in general

1. You'll most probably need to include the basic tax of 18% which will net you an 7380 income. If you're a programmer, or generally an IT person you could ask the company if they use increased tax deductible expenses as the part of the creative work. Many IT related companies do and this would mean your net salary would be increased depending of the % of creative work being done. It's best to ask them what would be the net salary you'd be receiving.

2. Depending on the location in Wrocław you'd be spending between 1500 to 2200 for a flat for one person.
3. Well launch every day means between 10 - 20 zł depends on the quality. Plus similar amount fo the rest of the meals daily. Good restaurant is between 50-80zł per visit. Monthly public transport ticket aprox. 100zł. These are really vague numbers I've posted...

4. It really depends on the company, there are companies which will hold your entry level salary and a change of employer will be required to change the salary. There are those who have an appraisal every year but the actual change happens much less frequently. 9000 pln sounds like a senior position salary and it means you'd probably need to get a promotion to get a bigger salary and that depends on a lot of things, how proactive you are, and a lot of other general corporate bs. I don't think it differs from other countries.
frd   
30 Jun 2014
Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

Somehow I've omitted the fact that they are selling all these ales for peanuts... when I've noticed that indeed they are selling them during the British week it was already too late. They were twice cheaper than what would you need to normally pay in Tesco or Alma.. shame

I did buy some shortbread biscuits though..
frd   
25 Jun 2014
Life / Cost of living in Wroclaw (rent price too) [119]

The important thing many people omit here is the seclusion of the second half. It will be always difficult for your other half to find work. And, if she doesn't find one and doesn't have a child to focus on she'll lead a secluded life, which can leave quite a strain on the relationship...
frd   
22 Jun 2014
Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

Is shortcake the same as shortbread ( slightly salty - sweet biscuits ) ? If so how to they compare to Walkers from Alma and the ones they have in Marks and Spencer? It'd be good to know, cause the ones in Alma taste really good.. they cost 25 zlotys per small packet though
frd   
25 May 2014
Travel / Travelling to Wroclaw from Bratislava ( safety advice needed ) [12]

Katowice train station has been completely rebuilt in the recent years. I'd say - it's actually a nice place now. Before it was quite seedy, throngs of homeless people sleeping everywhere.

I'd say you'll be perfectly safe.

Here's a small youtube clip of the insides of the station building: youtube.com/watch?v=lI2TrU_CL44
frd   
13 May 2014
Life / Quality of life in major cities in Poland - cost, culture, work and modernization [11]

From what I know at the moment in regard to IT Krakow is still above Wroclaw at least when it comes to the maximum salary you can get as a coder or pm. I have friends both in Krakow and Wroclaw in different companies and in Krakow you can get salaries for senior at around 15-16k, as far as I know it's near impossible for such salary in Wroclaw, rather something around 11-13k
frd   
1 Apr 2014
Travel / How to get from Wroclaw airport to Gliwice? [9]

You can also check: wroclaw.jakdojade.pl

In one text field you enter Lotnisko - odloty in the other Dworzec PKP Wrocław Główny
you can enter the date, and it'll list all best bus connections.
There's a bus line 406 that goes quite often.
frd   
26 Mar 2014
Love / Help me plan my wedding - in church in Poland, with a 2 day wedding party - Zabrze [24]

All weddings I've been to were a one day event, and I don't know personally anyone who had a 2 day wedding. Some time ago I only connected these 2 day weddings with families from the countryside, like highlanders for instance. But I heard about some city folks who had a 2 day. I'd say 1 day weddings are a more usual thing, but I don't have a very in depth knowledge of the subject...

Buying booze separately happens most of the time, people find their own places for that, and usually can buy it for a much smaller price in for instance supermarkets or wholesellers...
frd   
25 Mar 2014
Love / Help me plan my wedding - in church in Poland, with a 2 day wedding party - Zabrze [24]

Hi Axwell,

I'm from Zabrze and have been to several weddings during this year. I'd say the nicest church is St. Mary's, it's quite big and really nice looking. But I suppose you guys have already something selected. I don't want it to sound like an advertisement but the one I liked most was the one in paniowki.restauracja-bialydom.pl

One of my closest friends had his wedding there and from what I know they were really happy. He said though that they got the cakes and the main wedding cake from separate confectionery stores same with the dj ( That restaurant can provide most of the stuff if someone wants to ). The wedding was ~40k. It's actually a straight road from St. Mary's church which was really fortunate.

A thing to remember is that most of the good wedding places you'd need to book 1,5 year before to make sure you'll get it.

Reread your post and noticed that you plan a 2 day wedding - not sure if 40k would be enough, all depends on the number of guests, the one I mentioned has around 70-80.
frd   
25 Mar 2014
Work / NO JOBS IN POLAND FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE EXCEPT TEACHING? [44]

Also, there are native teachers and there are native teachers. The company I work for got us some additional English lessons here in Wrocław, and the teacher is not very good. Late every time 5-15 minutes ( once even 30 minutes ). On top of that has no idea how to setup an interesting lesson. Every lesson starts with half an hour of chit-chat about who has been doing what, with the more introvert people not participating at all. I'm not saying I'd know better but I think there's a big disparity in quality of learning across the board..
frd   
3 Mar 2014
Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]

I've seen the movie as well and liked it. I don't have a solid point of view on Kuklinski, which is good cause I don't need to get myself into petty squables. I really liked how Polish brass was portrayed - drunk, shabby, podgy bunch of random guys, especially next to the cookie cutter menacing Russians....
frd   
8 Feb 2014
Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]

The salary you'll get doesn't directly correlate with the years of experience you've got. Quality of that experience is important, as well as what technologies you're required to be proficient with.
frd   
29 Jan 2014
Work / Is 104000 PLN (yearly) a fair salary for a Software Architect in Wroclaw? [12]

It depends, if it's a regular position then it's around that. With 10 years experience in whatever they are requiring you could probably get a senior dev position somewhere in Wrocław and that would mean a little bit better salary.

But yeah this amount is just about it.
frd   
24 Jan 2014
Food / Where to buy British mature Cheddar Cheese and salted butter in Poland? [289]

Sorry, but it's too late for an unboxing video ;) It was the first time I tried Valley Spire, have to say though it's gonna be a tad bit better. I definitely prefer the Extra Mature Cathedral, and the ordinary Mature Cathedral also seems to have a better flavour. I don't mean it's bad, it's definitely good, but it seems it got overhyped for me because of all the comments.

There's still a lot of it laying on shelves in Lidl. Next time I'm gonna try the one in Fenix :)