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Posts by frd  

Joined: 3 Feb 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 3 Jan 2022
Threads: 7
Posts: Total: 1,399 / Live: 863 / Archived: 536
From: welcome to the house of fun
Speaks Polish?: can I have your liver?
Interests: no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

Displayed posts: 870 / page 1 of 29
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frd   
3 Jan 2022
News / Polish Pegasus Spyware Scandal [40]

@Cojestdocholery
Was their investigation in other cases in other countries also a joke? Like the Saudis murder? Was Apple's information also a joke?

You're doing a strawman fallacy here and referring only to the part of the argument. Prosecutor's office should begin an investigation regardless of how jokey is something considered.

Also would be good if you have some citation on "it might have been used". Which btw should also be good enough reason to trigger general prosecutors investigation

@mafketis and anyone else, if you are interested in the topic of NSO group and Pegasus check Darknes Diaries podcast episode 99 and 100
frd   
31 Dec 2021
News / Polish Pegasus Spyware Scandal [40]

They were literally informed by 2 sources Apple and Citizenlab. Citizenlab has been involved in helping opposition and reporters in countries with dictatorships for years. Finding truth about them being hacked, anything around digital warfare. They were involved in the investigation of Jamal Khashoggi's death. You can't get better than that. Poland should NEVER have gottem under their crosshair - its grouping us with a really unruly crowd.

Citizenslab reports contain details on how these hacks were uncovered and how they were able to eavesdrop on servers communicating with the victims (afair). These reports can be googled.

If someone has trouble believeing that, then no proof will ever change their mind, unless great Kaczynski comes clean. And that's an illness without a cure. At that point its easier to believe in another international plot to overthrow Poland.
frd   
11 Jan 2016
Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]

senior software developer can get 10k gross or more. 11 or 12k is also possible. Ask if they have increased income costs or so called creative tax this can increase net salary by a nice bit.
frd   
9 Jan 2016
Life / Hosting home party for my Wroclaw colleagues. How much drinks and food to prepare? Any activities/games? [12]

It really depends on the people. I'm not sure who you're inviting, but based on the type of people board games/ party board games/ card games can be sometimes a good idea. With people you don't know well I supposed drinks and conversation are fine.

Wine + Vodka + Beer sounds like a lot of mixing, not everyone likes mixing. Wine is a must if there are girls, cause that's what they, most of the time, prefer.

If the people you are inviting don't have gourmet tastes in terms of alcohol - then some blended Whisky like Red Johnny Walker and coke can be a good idea for some simple drinks. One bottle of wine can be a good idea for the odd person that likes wine ( if there are no women ) - a simple red Carlo Rossi is the type of mass produced wine that is not too cheap, it's not that bad and at the same time tastes ok.

Crisps, snacks etc are good idea and during the party you can always ask people if they'd like to order a pizza.
frd   
20 Dec 2015
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

@dolnoslask around 5 years ago every topic relating to anything that Poland has achived and which could have been seen as achievement globally was bombed by the likes of Harry and some other people. That topic was all irony and sarcasm on my side. What can you know though... I don't wanna side track this.

I work for a bank and many Pis supporters work with me in same department. The only demonstration related information we ever received was an advice for expats not to go to city centre during nationalists march ( exaggerated imo ).

We would see scans of email with real names floating around if anything like this happaned. Beside which emploees are we talking about help desk? accounting? hr? it? This is completely ridiculous and doesn't hold up, not sure if trolling or what.
frd   
20 Dec 2015
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

I like the demonstrations, I'm really happy that the more liberal and tolerant citizens have grown fed up to the point of leaving their houses. This domain belonged entirely to the thick and boorish nationalists before - certainly because the extreme is more eager to act in this way. The open and tolerant is never expressive, loud in the display of outlooks, maybe hopefully up to this point.

I don't like, however, the celebrities piggybacking the demonstrations. I don't like Lis or some other personalities joining in. They disrupt and overshadow the ideas.
frd   
20 Dec 2015
Work / Wages in Poland - (Average monthly gross wages and salaries) [9]

You might be increasing the average with your $. In all seriousness though here money pl just repeats after GUS:

money.pl/gospodarka/wiadomosci/artykul/srednia-pensja-w-polsce-to-ponad-4-1-tys-zl,32,0,1803808.html
frd   
10 Dec 2015
Real Estate / Best residential areas in Wroclaw to live in? [27]

Hi Sabyrall,

I'd say most apartments are fully furbished except for the ones aimed at students - these usually have 2 beds per room and are rather spartan in terms of furniture and facilities. That's usually mentioned in the description. In case of the ordinary ones you'll get everything in the flat.

Ogrody Hallera is a nice apartment complex, really nice flats, a big park is very close, medium sized shopping mall and a tram which gets to town's square in ~25 minutes.

The prices are higher in comparison to others. Cheapest flat will be around 2500zł including bills, like this one:
otodom.pl/oferta/mieszkanie-41-m-wroclaw-ID2PWLX.html#8caedb4182

You can find other nice places around Wrocław, especially around Grabiszyński Park. The closer to the city centre you'll get less green areas, but closer to town's squre..

There are much cheaper places for around 2000zł in older buildings as well.
frd   
1 Nov 2015
News / Don't read "Gazeta Wyborcza" Polish newspaper -- wPolityce.pl [83]

Each newspaper has an agenda behind it. Each newspapers boss has political outlooks. There is no one neutral newspaper. Any argument on this topic would be as farcical as arguing that beagles are better than doughnuts. People always chose whatever suits their political outlooks better and bash whatever they don't like.
frd   
1 Nov 2015
Life / Cost of living in Wroclaw (rent price too) [119]

Smnd1 there's a huge need for IT professionals in Wrocław. All in all it really depends what is your partners specialty. If he's a programmer it shouldn't be a problem - if it's something else - then there's gonna be a bit more struggle to find something. I'd recommend to start looking now.
frd   
5 Sep 2015
Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]

As far as I know most Unis in Poland follow the ECTS system and a 5 years day course usually has ~2000 hours. According to wikipedia 1800 is a standard for British Unis as a requirement for the Master. I had between 1900 and 2000 as part of my Magister. I suppose the weekend courses have less. Maybe that's what you are thinking of.
frd   
2 Sep 2015
Work / Is 6500PLN/month enough for 2 people from India to live on in Wroclaw? [40]

Hi James Blakeman,

The hidden costs may vary. I'm renting 60 square meters flat in Wrocław city centre - around 10 - 15 minutes on foot form old town for 2150 and it includes all charges except for internet.

Many IT companies that hire in Wrocław have hired a lot of people from Ukraine and other post soviet block countries. This means there's a lot of Russian speakers around. On the other hand you can expect people who are not very fond of Putin ( both Ukrainians and Poles are similar in that regard I suppose). Of course nobody cares during your average work day in the office, but I've been a witness to many heated arguments.

What I can add on top of what DominicB wrote. There's a lot of bike paths and a lot of people just bike to work, there's also a public city bike available which is free as long as you fit your commute in under 20 minutes.
frd   
11 Aug 2015
Life / Why do Silesians hate Poland? [33]

Silesians don't hate Poland, I'm Silesian I don't hate Poland and none of my friends from Silesia do. Some Silesian people do feel a degree of unfairness. It's due to the fact that Silesia was the heart of Poland for a very long time due to heavy industry, coal mining and smelting going. All of the profits were going to Warsaw - they would like Silesia to be partially autonomous - in terms of ability to make important decisions about the region.
frd   
9 Aug 2015
Work / Average salary to live&work in Wrocław? Local Credit Suisse opinions. [33]

It's a big bank, I think you can google yourself how reputable it is - some people don't like big corporations some do, it's very relative. At the moment if you're going into financial IT there are 3-4 banks IT departments in Wrocław, CS, UBS ( just recently ), BNY Mellon and Credit Agricole. Hence the salaries should be more and more competitive. IT job is a very vague term - you'd have to be more specific. Coders earn more than Testers and more than IT business analysts, people who work at a service desk also say they work in IT. Salaries are extremely varied among the positions I've mentioned. What your role?
frd   
9 Aug 2015
Work / Average salary to live&work in Wrocław? Local Credit Suisse opinions. [33]

Hi, depends where you're going. If you're IT, I'd say everything will depend on the project/team - supposedly CS has best salaries in the city. It's difficult to describe CS cause everything varies heavily form team to team from project to project. Same with people - it's based on luck ;)

Good luck.
frd   
5 Jul 2015
Life / Questions about living in Wroclaw, Poland [11]

Oh a fellow coder. nice.

For squash/table tennis/badminton I could definitely recommend hastalavista: hastalavista.pl/?lang=en

Bear in mind it requires booking a court 4-5 days beforehand. It's quite a busy place. Also I don't think it's easy to find a partner to play there if you're just gonna come by yourself.

I've googled and found that there's a basketball court in Magnolia's Mall Fitness Center ( haven't been there though ), if you are there for shopping you could probably have a free tour around the place to check if it's worth anything: jatomifitness.pl/en/fitness-clubs/wroc%C5%82aw-magnolia

As for the shoes, I have to say that I doubt there's a bigger variety anywhere else in Wrocław than what you already have in Bielany mall.

Dunno any special local shops that sell bigger sizes, only internet stores like this one:
butyxl.pl
Unfortunately it's all in Polish. It's worth remembering as a consumer buying stuff through the internet in Poland such as clothing you have the right to send it back before some set amount of time - so at least you're covered there.
frd   
5 Jul 2015
Real Estate / Can I rent a studio in Wroclaw in range from 500 to 1000 PLN ? [10]

I would use on of the websites such as otoDom.pl ( you can enter the city and then switch to map view, to find places near where you wanna live ), unfortunately many of them are focused on students and have for instance multiple number of beds per room.

Some companies offer relocation budget - usually you can pay a proxy company to find you something of your preference.

There's a lot of this type of flats ( this one's pretty close to CS actually ):
otodom.pl/mieszkanie-wroclaw-srodmiescie-plac-grunwaldzki-id39470452.html
But it's visible from the photos it's for students.

This one's close by as well:
otodom.pl/mieszkanie-wroclaw-srodmiescie-59m2-2-pokoje-1200-pln-id39556004.html
But it's not really furnished ( beside kitchen and bathroom )

You'll have to search yourself or use an agent ( they usually take 1-2k zlotys ).
Sometimes the person who puts up these adverts is an agent, and then this means paying anyways.

Can anyone tell me how much would cost to rent a small studio in center wroclaw? thanks

I'd say 1,500 Zl per month.
frd   
4 Jul 2015
Real Estate / Can I rent a studio in Wroclaw in range from 500 to 1000 PLN ? [10]

fabiand it depends how much you want to spend.

1-2KM is pl.Bema which has very nice apartments for ~2800-3200zł monthly, for instance this one:
otodom.pl/b128-lux-apartament-2-pokoje-pl-bema-id39404336.html

Nice surrounding and you can get to the Credit-Suisse building in 15 minutes, walking through a nice part of the Old Town.

If you're looking for something cheaper around the CS building there are some commie era high rise building you could try searching there.
It's difficult to say without knowing your limit. Cheers.
frd   
4 Jul 2015
Life / Questions about living in Wroclaw, Poland [11]

1.
Yelp works in Poland just as anywhere else:
yelp.com/search?find_desc=&find_loc=Wroc%C5%82aw&ns=1

For food there's polish language only website with quite a lot of locations:
zomato.com/pl/wroc%C5%82aw/restauracje
You can at least check the average score for each pub/bar/restaurant.

You can use tripadvisor.or foursquare:

As for public transportation the mentioned jakdojade.pl ( there's also an IOS/Android app ). Don't trust it blindly though - buses in Wrocław are often late. Trams are better - but sometimes there are detours ( in this case the display with the tram line number will have colours reversed, [solid background]).

2.
I'm not sure. Maybe in some high rise projects, but that's gonna be mostly really young people. You can ask in your company - corporations have their own sport activities, but in Poland that would mostly be soccer.

3.
I'd say Coke is 70%. I rarely see Pepsi and if I do it's usually in restaurants. It's more difficult to get vanilla or cherry coke ( usually in bigger malls in specialty stores )

I live in Wrocław. So if you have any more questions I can try answering them. Cheers.
frd   
29 May 2015
Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

6k zlotys is superb in Poland for a fresh post-grad and in the tech sector there's not a long way to go towards a higher salary.

^.^ the salary is not really low.

Welcome to Poland mate. Glad to have you on board.
frd   
28 May 2015
Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

6k gross just after graduation is quite ok. I'd say it's better than average for a technical position. More than enough for a single person.
frd   
26 May 2015
Real Estate / Best residential areas in Wroclaw to live in? [27]

I'd say somewhere around Park Grabiszynski. You'll get a very nice and quite big park. A pretty big but not too big shopping mall is close by. And there are several trams that go straight to the city centre in ~15-20 minutes.
frd   
26 May 2015
Work / What would be expected salary for software developer in Wroclaw, Poland? [24]

Hi Arun,

As a developer with 5 years of experience you can get a senior dev position in Wrocław which will yield 9 - 12k zloty gross depending on the company and your overall technical level. This should be more than enough. You mentioned parents - I take it you're not taking them along. With them you'd probably be ok, but it would also mean much less freedom.

The rent for a studio in the strict city centre will be ~2k. If it's a big company you'll probably get a free gym card and access to private healthcare ( which is free or cheaper than ordinary private healthcare ). It's worth asking if they provide such facilities.