The BEST Guide to POLAND
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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 2 of 29
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frd   
18 May 2015
Work / Salary in Gdansk (multinational IT based company) [11]

Hi Boogooy,

3800 is quite standard for an entry level IT job. Gdańsk along with Sopot and Gdynia which are close by are really nice cities and the IT workers market is growing there. ( although not as fast as for instance Warsaw, Cracow or Wroclaw ). The salary will definitely be enough for a 20 something person. Depending on what's your trade you can probably get a much bigger salary in ~2-3 years.

I agree with jon. Your decision is not something cast in stone, you can always change it.

Good luck and hopefully welcome to Poland :)
frd   
9 Apr 2015
Work / Software Engineer in Wroclaw. Reasonable salary for this position? [16]

Taking that into consideration though, depending on the tech you're experienced in you could hope for an easier employer search and change once you're here. You could also hope for a substantial salary increase once you're a senior dev ( 4-5 years of experience ).
frd   
9 Apr 2015
Work / Software Engineer in Wroclaw. Reasonable salary for this position? [16]

Hi,

I know senior software developers ( java/C#/C++) in the international company I work for in Wrocław earn between 9-12k gross. That's usually between 3-5 years of experience. Regular developers earn between 6 - 9k. It doesn't sound that unreasonable although it is the lower margin.

A single person flat in the city centre should be closer to 400 euro than 500 euro in Wrocław.
Another "hidden" salary increase for software developers in Poland is the use of creative tax. If your company allows creative tax - tax reduction than you could be gaining several hundredth zlotys net extra.
frd   
1 Feb 2015
Life / Advice on Moving to Zakopane [37]

I'd go with Bielsko Biala very nice city, slightly bigger, quite picturesque, more job possibilities less touristy
frd   
31 Jan 2015
History / Polish mathematicians who solved the Enigma machine [86]

I like how wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine describes both the Polish role and the British role, I feel like both were substantial. There's a monument at Bletchley Park for Polish mathematicians - which many Poles seem to forget about. I also feel like inclusion of any "Polish" specific information in the movie would make it overcomplicated. Movies are supposed to tell a story and stay coherent throughout.

I also feel like the movie was more about Alan Turing, than about Breaking Enigma itself. It's good he got posthumously cleared out of anything that was staining his name, shame it was so late.

I actually feel like the part where Turing mentioned Polish mathematicians slightly forced. Like "lets hope this will be enough for all the whiners". It all would feel slightly more consistent without that.
frd   
31 Jan 2015
Travel / Being Transgender and visiting Wroclaw [467]

I'm not sure haven't checked. Have been there only once mid-day for a cup of coffee. The lgbt crowd gathers mostly in the evenings as far as I know, for events and concerts.
frd   
31 Jan 2015
Life / Planning to relocate to Wroclaw, Poland [17]

If you have banking related knowledge or IT knowledge you could try BNY Mellon, Credit Suisse or Nokia... but not sure what chances would you have in your situation..
frd   
31 Jan 2015
Travel / Being Transgender and visiting Wroclaw [467]

There's LGBT centric club in the old town's market square called Coffee Planet, coffeeplanet.pl Strict city centre, very safe.
frd   
10 Nov 2014
Work / Storage Admin 3 years experience in field IT - salary in Poland [36]

priority is keeping wages low.

Some contracting IT companies take a percentage of what they agree on with the client - so it's in their best interest to negotiate the best salary they can for their employee, and renegotiate the agreement, if the employees qualifications raise.

In other cases Poland is following the UK. It gets more and more popular to change employers every 1,5 year or 2 years to get a bigger increase in salary. The number of IT companies rapidly grows which allows for such lifestyle.
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