Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]


Dominic is American and lived twelve years in Poland.


Do you work at an international primary or secondary school that can give the OP documented experience points that will be officially recognized by employers back home in the UK?

Classifieds / Looking for Help to set up a Back office in Wroclaw, Poland [4]

If you're looking to cut costs, wouldn't someplace like Białystok, Lublin or Rzeszów make more sense than Wrocław? Cost of labor, cost of living and rents are much lower in these cities, and the unemployment rate is much higher. Unlike Warsaw and Kraków, Wrocław does not have an extensive hinterland from which to draw a unskilled or semi-skilled workforce, and a good deal of people work in nearby Germany. You'll pay premium price, by Polish standards, for skilled labor. Substantially more than in the cities in the east. I got the impression that Wrocław had outpriced itself on the outsourcing market long ago. Even the IT outsourcing companies are resorting to bringing in workers from India because they cannot afford to pay the local Poles anymore.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]


Sometimes you need a good punch in the gut in order to get out of a rut and actually start doing something productive to improve your lot. And my little love tap is trivial compared to the harsh awakening that awaits her in Poland.

I cannot imagine why you think that further namby-pamby feel-good mollycoddling would help in this case. She is clearly suffering from an overdose of that already, and the only antidote is a gut-wrenching encounter with stark reality.

The reality is that she made some truly ghastly educational choices, which rendered her essentially unemployable or, at best, minimally employable, and her stupid plan of running away from reality to be with her "boyfriend" in Poland is stupider than stupid can be, and will certainly end in dismal failure with dire consequences for the rest of her life. But, if she wants to improve her lot, there is nothing standing in her way except her own laziness and delusions. At her age, reschooling to acquire more salable qualifications is well withing her reach if she stays in the UK. In Poland, however, there is nothing she can do to improve her miserable lot. Anyone telling her otherwise is full of it.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]


Unlike all the "cheerleaders" here, I was the only one who offered the OP any practical advice on how to substantially improve her lot. Sounds more like a ray of sunshine.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]


That's right, although most schools would want more than one year of experience. Without any experience at all, the OP doesn't stand a chance. NQTs are dime a dozen.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]


You would have thought wrong. Very wrong. This is someone who took the easy way out, who consciously and deliberately avoided having to do real studies, and will be treated by future employers accordingly. There ain't no point in putting lipstick on that there pig.

Moving to Poland to be with her boyfriend nails the coffin shut on any possibility that she is in any way responsible. She is trying to run away from the dire consequences of her extremely poor decisions. Granted, the responsibility for making those decisions should not have been solely hers to bear, and there is probably a good deal of irresponsibility on the part of those whose job it was to provide her with prudent guidance, including her parents. The consequences, though, do fall squarely upon her, though.

I was kind enough to point out that she can do a lot to redress her deficit of useful qualifications, something that I notice that none of the "cheerleaders" here on this forum ever do.


Nor would I want mine to, either. By the way, I have two degrees in humanities, both completely worthless on the job market, but very valuable to me nonetheless. It is the science degrees that I hold that butter my bread, though.

That doesn't have anything to do, however, with the fact that holders of arts and humanities degrees are in little demand on the job market, and that the supply outstrips demand by a wide mile. We live in a technocracy, and that's going to be even more the case in future generations.

People may (rightly) want their kids to study non-science subjects in school, but when it comes to paying the taxes to pay the teachers to do just that, they are suddenly a lot less enthusiastic, and governments follow in kind.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]



Those four letters signify nothing in themselves, because there is no such thing as a PGCE certificate. Rather, there are a bunch of certificates that go under that heading, some very much in demand (secondary math and science, except chemistry) and others less so (secondary chemistry, geography, social studies and primary general education). Drama and performing arts, in particular, is often singled out as the field that has no or little shortage of job applicants. I presume that the OP holds one of the less salable ones.

A PGCE in primary general education or secondary drama and performing arts does not open near as many doors as ones in secondary math and science, and candidates with recognized experience points would be at a great advantage over those with no officially documented experience.

Travel / Is it safe to travel to Poland? [194]


Your mistake is in thinking that you have a legal right to a visa, and that Poland has some kind of obligation to respect that right. In reality, Poland has no obligation whatsoever to issue you a visa, for whatever reason of the consul's choosing, with no explanation required in cases of refusal.

Since you have no legal rights, you have no basis to make a complaint or pursue legal action. The fact that you are unhappy with the treatment you received at the embassy is solely your problem. No one else cares, nor should they.

The rest of your rant sounds like sour grapes, and your letter is laughable.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]

Not much good news, I'm afraid.

First of all, the academic year is starting now, and most positions are already filled. There aren't many vacancies at other times of the year, although there is a small chance that you can get hired to replace a dissatisfied teacher who did not come back from Christmas vacation or otherwise didn't work out. That's a double edged sword, though, as there is often something wrong with school who cannot retain employees or hires the kind of teacher that doesn't work out.

Second of all, geography is working against you. Warsaw and the other big cities popular among aspiring English teachers (Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań and Gdańsk/Gdynia/Sopot) are awash with inexperienced candidates fighting desperately for any job available, and schools can afford to be rather choosy about whom they hire. Your chances of finding work would be a lot higher if you cast your net very wide, especially in small towns off the beaten path, where competition is a lot less fierce, rather than restricting yourself to Warsaw and the big cities.

Next, I assume that you are looking for teaching experience that will increase your chances of finding a job as a teacher back home. The bad news is that teaching experience is awarded points on the basis of official documentation, and teaching English abroad rarely results in documentation that is recognized and rewarded points. The only exceptions that come to mind are teaching in a state-approved primary or secondary school and teaching under the auspices of an officially recognized volunteer program like EVS. Otherwise, it is highly unlikely that any experience you gain will be recognized back home.

Teaching in a state-approved primary or secondary school or in an institution of higher learning is almost certainly out of the question. First of all, you'd be coming at the wrong time of the year. More importantly, the wages are downright abysmal, far too low for you to survive on.

Approaching businesses is out of the question, too, especially in big cities like Warsaw. They are approached daily by your competitors, who, frankly, have more to offer than you do.

Teaching in private language schools is probably the only realistic option open to you. Getting a job in one in a popular city in January, though, is very unlikely. Furthermore, the experience you gain will be worth nothing to your future employers, who will consider it, at best, a extended vacation and, at worst, a sign of flakiness. You will be awarded exactly zero points.

If it's points that you are after, then you might be able to find work at a state-approved private elementary or secondary school that teaches in English. The problem there is that these schools are flooded with applicants and are very selective about whom they hire. Recent grads don't stand a chance.

That leaves EVS and other officially recognized volunteer programs that may provide documentation that is recognized back home. In my opinion, that's about the only chance you have of earning experience points.

Personally, you have made some very, very bad educational decisions, and you are severely crippled as far as finding gainful employment and job satisfaction are concerned. Whoever was supposed to provide you with guidance in these decisions was seriously remiss in their duties to the point of being criminal. To be blunt, you've completely wasted the last four or five years of your life. Fortunately, all is not lost. You are still young and able to reschool to gain qualifications that are worth something on the job market, which is what I suggest you do, rather than grasping for straws to postpone the inevitable by coming to Poland.

Make an appointment with a qualified and experienced academic counselor and explore what what you can study to make yourself salable. Otherwise, you're going to end up stocking the shelves on night shift at Tesco for the rest of your life, or lining the gutter clutching a bottle of cheap wine and belching out the show tunes you learned in your drama program.

You could have a great future if you decide to turn your life around right now while you are young and still have the chance. But with your current qualifications, "great" is far beyond your reach, and "barely tolerable" is the best you can hope for.

Food / Krówki -- crumbly or chewy? [5]

If they're "soft and crumbly", then they're old. They should be gooey on the inside with a somewhat crunchy crust.

This is the best description of the ideal:

Genealogy / Genealogy - Cecylia Lisinska Family, Szczutowo, Poland [9]

The information I gave is for the one about five miles southeast of Brodnica:

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczutowo_%28powiat_brodnicki%29

Genealogy / Genealogy - Cecylia Lisinska Family, Szczutowo, Poland [9]

Actually, your pretty lucky to have a probable relative in Poland who has the power to help you enormously, if he is so inclined.

He is the chaplain for the city police department in Gdańsk, and he was born in Szczutowo or very, very near.

His name is Fr. Franciszek Lisiński

And you can address a letter to him at this address:

Parafia rzymskokatolicka pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP i Św. Katarzyny
ul. Gdańska 3
84-240 Reda

Chances are slim that he would know English, though, so you'll have to have the letter translated into Polish.

Polonia / BRAZILIAN POLISH PEOPLE [21]


Listen to a Belarusan pronounce names like Krasiński, Krawczuk or Grodski, and you will clearly hear Karasiński, Karawczuk and Gorodski. It's pretty hard to miss. By the way, you will find Poles with the surnames Karawczuk and Gorodski.

Classifieds / Partnership to introduce new products in Poland [6]

In the almost two years that you have been (very, very) sporadically posting here, you have provided exactly zero useful information about yourself, your qualifications, your experience, your resources or your plans that might possibly pique the interest of a possible collaborator, except, now, that you have a Polish wife, which, while important, is nowhere near the top of the list of things that potential want and need to know. There is absolutely nothing that distinguishes your "plan" from any old silly, impractical fantasy, or you from any other silly joker with pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams.

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but definitely not in this case. If you do have a realistic plan and serious qualifications, experience and resources that you'll need to fulfill it, for cries ache, elaborate on them in abundant detail if you want to capture anyone's serious interest.

Polonia / BRAZILIAN POLISH PEOPLE [21]


Much more likely to be a Ruthenian or Russian influenced version of the Polish name Krasińśki. Sounds very Byelorussian.

Food / Where can i find turnips (rzepa) in Poznan? [8]

Then the daikon radishes are what you are looking for. They are often pickled in China, Japan and Korea. Pickled daikon is a must have at every Buddhist meal.

Food / Where can i find turnips (rzepa) in Poznan? [8]

They're pretty rare, but you see one that is similar to a small rutabaga occasional in the winter in supermarkets, but they appear not to be popular at all. The radish-like purple and white ones are unknown, but the oriental radish "daikon" is available everywhere, and makes a passable substitute, either raw or cooked, although Poles eat them raw.

Another thing your never going to see is parsnips (pasternaki in Polish). They are completely unknown. You will, however, see these things that look deceptively identical to parsnips, but beware. Parsnips they ain't. They are actually roots of the parsley plant (pietruszka in Polish), and are used in making chicken soup. They taste, to quote Douglas Adams, "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike parsnips". In other words, just plain awful.

Life / Indian community in Poland [43]

Yes, there are a few. Most working in IT or accounting, plus a few students. You'll bump into some from time to time. There are not crowds of them by any means. And they don't seem particularly interested in socializing or going out. I'd estimate that there are on the order of a couple of hundred in the whole city of close to a million people. Since they mostly keep to themselves and travel only between work/school and home and back, they are not very visible.

I remember being in a Chinese restaurant, and there was a group of about twelve Chinese IT workers at the next table, with one Indian guy in the group. They were speaking in Chinese, and I was thinking the poor Indian guy didn't have a clue what was being discussed. Poor guy. But then he started speaking in what I took as pretty fluent Chinese" not hesitant, but comfortable and quickly. The Chinese seemed to accept him as part of the group. So that's what I mean about not limiting yourself to only fellow Indians. Poles and other foreigners can be valuable friends, too.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


In other words, you learned it because it was useful to you, especially in a significant economic and social context that justified the significant investment of time and effort. That's why by far most people learn a foreign language to the point of fluency. A few do it for fun or out of intellectual curiosity, or because they are forced to in school, but these pale in comparison to those with more utilitarian motivations, and few of them become fluent.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]

Which is about the same as the number of Polish universities that have departments that teach, say, Farsi. Now compare that to the number of universities in Poland that have German departments, or to the number of young Poles that are fluent in German. And then think about why that is the case.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


Very few, of course. About the same percentage of young Poles that are fluent in Lithuanian, or maybe even Czech. Of course, since Russia does not border on Poland (except for the small and closed off Kaliningrad enclave), a fairer comparison would be to how many young Poles are fluent in Croatian, Serbian or Bulgarian. Or to how many young Germans are fluent in Polish.

Life / Information on medications and prescriptions in Poland; Rivotril / RELANIUM / DIAZEPAM [6]

Not legally. Diazepam is a serious psychiatric drugs and legally controlled. You will need a prescription, and doctors nowadays are wary about giving benzodiazepines out because of their potential for abuse.

Work / Cost of living in Gdańsk, average salary for experienced software engineer in Poland [64]

Read my tips about finding a good job in a richer country in this answer:

https://polishforums.com/work/find-warsaw-speak-32708/3/#msg1503941

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


I gave you the best advice you will get. You're still young, and reschooling in a more salable field is still possible and will make a huge difference in your quality of life.


If it's not an actually engineering degree, with title, then it's not all that useful. And no, I don't consider even engineering degrees in IT all that super-duper unless they are from top-notch research universities. There are engineering specialties that are much more lucrative, like the ones I listed above.

Now I'll give you some advice on how to find a job. First of all, any job that you see advertised on internet job boards or hear about from unsolicited "recruiters" is most likely a lousy job for lousy pay. Good jobs are advertised almost entirely by word of mouth, especially in the real world between real people talking face to face. Build up and exploit your network of valuable real world contacts in the Ukraine, especially those who are working or have worked in richer countries.

Also, send out hundreds of snail mail cover letters and CVs to department managers in companies you want to work for. Don't waste time on deep research, just find addresses and fire off generic letters to department managers en masse. You don't even have to know the manager's name. DO NOT send letters to HR departments or "recruiters": they will almost certainly end up in the trash. If you have a well written cover letter and CV, it can capture the interest of the manager, and if the manager decides that you will be a valuable addition to the team, you are MUCH more likely to get hired. A response rate of 1 or 2 percent to your letters would be stellar. Much higher than by using the internet or going though HR departments or "recruiters". All the better if you know the managers name and can mention that you heard about their company from a current or former employee.

Make sure your letter and CV are not only "corrected" by a literate native speaker, but totally rewritten by them in native-level English or Polish or whatever. This is one thing you cannot afford to skimp on. And the goal of it is to make you sound like a unique and interesting real person with valuable qualifications and experience, and not just another out-of-work loser still living with mom and dad. Concrete details and tangible enthusiasm are gold, and vague generalities and modesty are $hit, so be as concrete as you possibly can, and blow your own horn. Without rambling or being obnoxious, of course.

If you send out 500 letters, you'll probably get five or ten positive responses. That's incredibly high, and very, very time and cost effective. More so than using the stupid internet. Even today, people take words on paper a lot more seriously than words on the computer screen.

But all in all, if your degree is not a real engineering degree, I think that you would be better off reschooling while you are still young rather than spending the rest of your life regretting that you hadn't. Of you want to make money, you have to go where the money is, and that means probably not in the gaming industry, or in Poland.

Food / Perfect Pierogi? (keen to perfect the recipe) [12]

Personally, I prefer a bit more tooth to the dough, and use about three eggs in a recipe similar to yours. But that's what I grew up with. And yes, I fry mine, too. In butter till they are well browned and crispy. Can't abide plain boiled mushy pierogi. Yuck!

Food / Perfect Pierogi? (keen to perfect the recipe) [12]

Add another egg or two and you've got it about right. Not enough egg, and the dough is going to cook up rather mushy and icky. The more egg, the firmer and chewier the dough. The sour cream has to be full fat, though, as it is the fat that makes the dough silky and easier to work with.

Life / Indian community in Poland [43]

That's fine if you are not shy, but assertive and even a little bit aggressive in seeking out and making contact with strangers. And don't limit yourself to fellow Indians. Most of the Indians I met in Wrocław were painfully shy, however. I invited dozens to come hang out at the English language social group that I used to run, and none ever came.

Life / Cost of living in Wroclaw (rent price too) [119]


If that's the case, you'll do fine as long as you don't overdo it with the recreational spending. Like I said, alcohol and girls are major threats to the budget.

If you are working remotely and don't have to actually be in Wrocław, you might consider living in the cities in the east of Poland: Białystok, Lublin or Rzeszów, or in an attractive small town like Cieszyn or Jelenia Góra or one of many other small towns. The cost of living would be a lot lower than in the big popular cities, especially Wrocław, Kraków and Warsaw, and your earnings would go a lot further.

Life in Wrocław, Kraków and Warsaw doesn't differ much from that in the Eastern cities until you earn substantially more than you will be making and are able to fully take advantage of what these cities have to offer. All of the eastern cities have universities, and there is plenty for you to do there, just about as much as you could on your budget in Wrocław, and perhaps even a bit more when you take the extra money you save on cost of living into account.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


Of all the IT related fields, gaming is the one that most suffers from a glut of job applicants, and wages are very low. Testing is similar. So a job as a tester in gaming would be very poorly paid indeed, and the competition would be fierce. Education related to gaming attracts far more than its fair share of hopeless losers who would be desperate to take any job related to gaming.


I wouldn't recommend that unless you had substantial savings to last you for about six months. And even then, I wouldn't bet the farm on breaking into the Polish gaming industry.


That's not a very useful degree, frankly. Consider upgrading that to an engineering degree, either in IT or, even better, in a much more profitable field like petroleum, geological or biomedical engineering, or even financial engineering, financial mathematics, econometrics or actuarial science. With those fields, you would have little trouble finding well-paid jobs around the world.

Work / Cost of living in Gdańsk, average salary for experienced software engineer in Poland [64]


For a single male with a modest lifestyle, yes. For a couple, it would have to be a very modest lifestyle. For a family, that's poverty wages.

If saving a substantial amount of money is a priority for you, then no. It's nowhere near enough. Even for a single male living a very frugal cabbage and potatoes lifestyle, you would have difficulty saving up 2000 PLN a month, and even 1000 PLN would require discipline. Poland is not the place to come if you need to save up a substantial amount of money or pay debts.

Generally, the biggest problems with working in Poland are very low wages, rather high cost of living compared to wages, and very, very low savings potential. If you got a job in a richer country like Germany, the UK or the US, you would easily be able to SAVE as much as you EARN overall in Poland. I suggest you focus on looking for work in a richer country.