Electrician seeking work in Warsaw. Is it in demand in Poland?

Hi, I am currently considering moving from the UK to Warsaw and I'm trying to weigh up my options for work. I am a fully qualified installation electrician with additional inspection & testing qualification. I am self employed in the UK and carry out work for my own clients as well as working for larger companies on a sub contract basis.

My question is, is it likely that I would be able to continue in this line of work in Warsaw or is there not a demand for such services?

I currently only speak English which I understand may make things difficult although I have begun learnining the polish language.

Any advice or info is appreciated, thanks.

There's a good reason why qualified electricians from Poland go to seek work in the UK, and not the other way around. Yes, the job market is a lot tighter in Poland than in the UK.

Without knowing Polish, you are going to have great difficulty finding work. Starting your own business is pretty much out of the question. You'll have to take all of the relevant exams in Polish. You probably won't be able to operate as an independent contractor.

Your only chance is to find work with a western company, probably a construction firm. Unfortunately, the construction market in Poland has slowed down, and jobs there are scarce. Consruction firms are generally not hiring at the moment. You could try to find another English speaker who already has his own company and join up with them. But that's not going to be easy.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but by moving to Poland, you'd be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. No matter how bad the employment situation may seem in the UK, it is a lot worse in Poland, expecially for someone who does not know the native language. Your chances of finding gainful employment are much higher in the UK than in Poland. Norway is another possibility you should consider.

Why are you considering moving to Poland in the first place?

I know of someone who runs an engineering firm in the Warsaw area. If you are trained to use an oscilloscope and power meter for analyzing motor-driven machines, I could ask if they are looking for someone. Your job would pretty much consist of reporting any data you find and reporting it to the engineers in excel format.

Thanks for both your replies,

DominicB, your right about many moving to the UK for work but I was unsure if that was due to the lack of jobs in Poland, or for a higher wage offered in the UK, and I do agree that its not going to be so easy without me speaking polish but will keep an eye out for western companies/English speaking electricians

The reason I'm considering the move is to be with my polish girlfriend, who is willing to move to the UK if I wish but she has a decent job in warsaw and I wouldn't want her to give that up to come over here and end up in a low paid, dead end job, as this will eventually make her feel miserable and cause problems.

I may have to go down the teaching English route for a while and keep an eye out for electrical opportunities while learning polish
to broaden my chances.

McDouche, I think this line of work is more for electrical engineers as I am not familiar with it and although I would be willing to train for this type of work If need be i doubt I would be considered for such a job with no experience of it.so it probably wouldn't be something I could do more or less immediately. But thanks for offering.

If you want to be together, one of you will end up in a low paid dead end job...

Both. Jobs are tight and wages are low, and there's plenty of people who are willing to work for peanuts. There's little point in moving to Warsaw if you are not going to earn a decent wage.


Her chances of finding a good job at good wages in the UK far, far exceed your chances of finding same in Poland.


Your chances of finding gainful employment are higher as an electrician than as an English teacher in Warsaw, the most competitive market in the country. There are scads of wannabe English teachers in Warsaw, many much more qualified than you. Sorry, but that boat has sailed long ago, and even established teachers are having a hard time of it. The best you'd be able to find is a lousy job in a lousy school for lousy pay under lousy conditions. Without solid qualifications and experience, the good jobs are out of your reach. If you're thinking about private teaching, forget about it. The competition is far too stiff, and the rate you'd be able to earn is far too low to make a move even worth considering.


Believe me, you are going to get tired very quickly of ending up in a low paid, dead end job yourself. Especially if you can barely provide for yourself, if at all. And she will get tired of it, too. Especially if she has to support you.

Sorry, but barring getting hired by a western company for western wages, I don't see much hope. And generally, those jobs are for highly qualified, highly experienced professionals, not for ordinary electricians. Give it a try, but don't hold your breath, and make your plans on the very safe assumption that you will not be able to find a good job at decent wages in Poland.

Basically, the ball is in her court. If she is not willing to relocate to the UK, it's probably not going to work out between you two. It might be time to consider whether this relationship has a future, and whether it is worth investing more time in. What kind of job does she have in Warsaw? And how much is she earning compared to you?

Thanks DominicB i think you have made some interesting and valid points, after looking into it in more detail, i realise she earns almost an equivilant wage to what i earn, but it means i would probably lose the highest percentage of income by moving there than if she moved here as our minimum wage is much higher than polands. and lets face it whichever one of us moves will more than likely end up in a minimum wage job, at least for a while.

i am tempted to just go over there, try it for a year or two and see what happens, and if it doesnt work out work wise then move back to UK with her.

What did you decide in the end? Did you move to Poland?

I'm a journalist in the UK and I'm working on a story about British people moving to Poland to work.

I'd really like to know what you decided and if you have moved out there, what your experience has been like?

Many thanks,

Laura

Hi Laura email me I'm English looking for work in Poland and have many stories you may want to know.
Markjhill@interia.pl

Merged: Seeking work in Warsaw. Electrican

Hi everyone, so I just wanted to get some info on the job market in Poland. My wife lives in Warsaw Poland we met 2 years ago with plans to have her move here to Canada. Now, plans have changed and I'm leaning more towards moving to Poland myself. I speak write and read polish, Im first generation Canadian without a polish citizenship and i am a fully licensed electrican seeking work in my trade.

Thanks
Pawel

There are a few issues you need to consider:
1.Why do you think most electricians have left Poland to work/live somewhere else?
2. Find out exactly how much electricians earn and also find companies who would be willing to employ you.
3. I don't know about the formalities of whether you need a visa, working permit but all this needs to be considered.
4. Poland is not the land of milk and honey that you imagine. It is totally different (like black and white) coming for a holiday and y working. The bureaucracy will get to you at the end.

My experience shows that when you need an electrician in Poland - both in case of a failure as well as when you want to change something in the home wiring, or you just need to exchange it totally - it's difficult to find one and they often have long queues of waiting clients. So there definitely is work for electricians in Poland, as well as for building/renovation specialists of any kind.

Yep ll the good tradesmen have left for England, Any electrician moving to Poland will find work, albeit the pay will be at Polish rates.

I find it hard to get quality electricians here in lower Silesia, I am luck I only need them for the distribution side and some three phase work, the rest i do myself.

I want to work in Poland electrician and plumbing job please help me sir please

Just an update for anyone interested. I moved out there in 2014. Managed to find an english speaking job within a couple months. The job was a technical help desk role. It was ok for a while but after about a year i started to get really fed up of the job and fed up of having to work lots of weekends and bank holidays, especially for such small salary. . I didnt see the point looking for another job as it would have been something similar as there wasnt many other lines of work available for a non polish speaker. I tried hard to learn the language but found it extremely difficult to grasp so after months of consideration, and realising that as my savings were getting low it would soon become almost impossible to return and get set up again here in the UK, we decided to move back to the UK

Partner and new born child moved with me at beginning of 2016. Weve been here over 2 years now but we both miss Poland a lot. Met some great people and had some great times. I would move back there in a flash if i didnt have to end up with the same kind of job and salary again. I love Poland, love the people, the culture etc.

Just gotta win the lottery now so we can move back :@)

I want to work in your country please help me iti electrician job