Work / Working at Volvo Company in Wroclaw [27]

Good if you're a supervisor, director, it guy, sales manager, accountant etc. However the line workers that assemble the cars and trucks don't pay much. Mayb 3k to 4k zloty month for low level unskilled labor and 8k to 12k for more middle level. Seniors and leadership make 12k 15k and up. Its pretty similar at corporations especially in eu because of a certain standard to upkeep. You'll most likely have decent benefits too.

Work / Working at Volvo Company in Wroclaw [27]

Yes google offered me 24k usd annual salary plus commission which prolly would be around another 10k annual. So my brutto would be around 120k zloty a year but id pay double taxes to poland and us.

I also got an offer from a Norse shipping company in Gdansk for a position of 30k euro plus commission. That one I seriously considered but it was on Gdansk and I don't know anyone there and hav3 only been there twice before on vacation.

I declines the jobs because ultimately many things are as expensive if not more than us. A BMW 7 or mercedes s class? More money than in us due to all the taxes, fees, tariffs, etc. Housing and food is far cheaper than western nations.

Ultimately I decided I will return to poland once I've completed my mba and can make At least 60 70k USD a year. This is typically only what senior level directors vice presidents Mayb a top middle manager are paid in poland. In us starting salary for post mba is double (120k and up depending on school finished, job title, company). Of course I don't expect to make the same salary in pl as in the U.S.

I may also add that it helps to know languages to negotiate a higher salary. I know English and polish fluently and am profiricienr in Russian and Spanish.

Work / Working at Volvo Company in Wroclaw [27]

8K isn't bad for single person in poland but not family. I personally am chosing to relocate once I can earn at least 50 60k USD annually in poland. Its doable at a large corp like Volvo even but such salaries are typically reserved for experienced and educated white collar professionals.

Work / Working at Volvo Company in Wroclaw [27]

My bad I was told wrong info then. Ill have to look that up. I thought if you had us citizenship you have to pay a percent of income earned abroad. If that's not true then thatd great!

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

People have told me polish sounds like a lot of sh and ch sounds. People have confused it for other Slavic languages n some people are way off n think it's French

Work / Working at Volvo Company in Wroclaw [27]

Thanks for the info

Genealogy / Doubts about Birth certificate, Poland or Ukraine? - Malinski [2]

Sounds like a polish name id try Poland. The border situation around that time is rather murky. Lwow use to be a polish city and still has many pl citizens but is clearly Ukrainian territory now and has a Ukrainian majority.

If its a variation of Sophie its probably be zosia or less likely Sofia.

Language / How Polish sounds to other Slavs [32]

Do you speak Russian? Your translation of the joke is pretty good. Except kak vac zovut means what's your name (literal interpretation) altho I guess in a phone convo it could be interpreted as who's calling

USA, Canada / Polish or American Education? [180]

And I agree the American education system is terrible backward and behind its European counterparts including Poland. Nonetheless everyone wants to go to American colleges. An American corporation will chose 1 Americanized pole who has studied and worked in both the us and abroad and knows multiple languages to lead a foreign division in poland over a locally educated pole anyday - even if that pole is the top student at some school in warsaw, wroclaw etc. He or she will never be a native speaker, will most likely have limited of any meaningful work experience abroad, and at best knows 2 or 3 languages but not 4 or 5.

I am plenty happy with how my life and career is going thank you for your concern and advice. My mentor is a former executive (now retired) of general electric. Our families are good friends and he's taught me so much that school never could have.

Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]

You should get 10k to 15k zloty depending on company area in poland etc. I wouldn't settle for less than 12k

15k is enough for a family to live comfortably but you won't be able to afford some higher ticket items or buy a decent sized house. You'd be surprised to find that many nice homes go for 400k usd plus in poland which is roughly 1.6 million zloty..

News / Poland 2050? What will happen? [60]

In 2050 the us white population will be the majority minority meaning whites will be the largest group but the Latino/black/foreign population will be over 50%.

I predict poland will remain homogenous with a gradual mayb up to 10% 15% population of foreigners many from s Asian and se Asia. A lot of bangladeshis, indians, vietnamese, etc are coming to poland.

As long as polish people remain in power and are able to themselves control their countries Destiny all is well.

In 2050 Polska nie zginie and that's what's most important

News / Public trust in Polish state TV drops [20]

Theres too much German control in polish media.. Some 2/3 of tv stations in pl are foreign owned. Not saying they should all be polish owned but a more a healthy mix. Id like to see more Polish media by polish people for polish people. Also polish movies could use some revamping I haven't seen anything good since psy 2 and my favorite polish movie chlopaki nie placza

Life / Favourite Polish movies? [107]

Merged:

Whats your favorite Polish movie or movies?

We talk about a lot of things on here especially who lied about what and why capitalism/socialism/fascism all suck but we rarely talk about Polish pop culture.

I have around 170 Polish movies and can tell you all except maybe a dozen are pretty awful. Nonetheless there's some gems like sex misja, mis, kroll, psy I and ii, etc.

What's your favorite polish movie or movies? Mine is probably chlopaki nie placza - a hilarious comedy about a polish gangster family and for action probably psy 2.

Life / Favourite Polish movies? [107]

Polish cinematography is strange - the movies made under communism were witty and had good production value. Then in the 90s 00a it seems to have really gone downhill - with the exception of a few titles the plots were unexhilerating, the comedies were campy and not very funny and the production value of many titles of the time was worse than some of the great films of the 80s.

Recently I watched a polish action drama called I believe titled sluzba specjalna which was excellently produced, very interesting to follow, and was just a great movie overall. It was based on a true political scandal that occurred. I believe this movie was released in 201

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]

Don't get me started on Adam michnik... That freaken council of foreign relations punk..

If pis were all that authoritarian they'd make him a persona non grata and seize control of wyborcza.

Travel / Pot in Poland for tourists [285]

Marijuana use to be grown by the older generations (konopja indijska as they called it) as a sort of feed. I remember my grandpa had some homing or racing pigeons or whatever they were exactly and they loved eating the seeds. They still have 2 8 foot plants in their garden but its not really the kind of weed you'd want to smoke. Its extremely low grade and you will not enjoy the high from the few nasty brown buds that you can collect.

Now there is quite a decent bit of homegrown in poland. Before it seemed to be all imports from Holland but now it seems people have started grow ops. There's a video on YouTube of polish police busting a particularly large op with thousands of plants.

I know that marijuana has become way more popular than it was even 10 15 years ago and I believe it's medically legal with a doctors script but are there dispensaries you can purchase marijuana even if you have all the appropriate paperwork? Also are things like wax dab oils or edibles popular? I personally have only seen weed in bud and hash form in poland..

Work / Work Culture and Expenses - 11000 PLN gross in Poznan [27]

Not bad salary for poznan. Its a bit cheaper than some of the larger cities. However for a family as large as yours I don't think you will be able to save much money. If you and your wife say grossed 20k you'd be comfortable but still with several kids you'd still have to be smart with your money and not over spend.

Personally, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't take the whole family with. Id work for a few years to climb the ladder while sending money back home to india. If you go by yourself to poland and live in a small studio you'll have a good sum to send back to india which has a lower cost of living. However you can also bring this up to your employer and perhaps they can include something in your salary/relocation package like a job for the wife, schooling for children, etc. Otherwise i don't think 11k zl single earner with 5 mouths to feed in poland will have it very easy.

Also no matter what you do never give up your passport or any sum of money to any employer, agent, etc for the promise of a job. You don't want to become like the Indian guys building dubais skyline. Many people from India and Bangladesh have been screwed over like this. Although in poland its more common for young women to be sold into prostitution or a very low paying crappy job in western Europe rsther than migrants being brought in. Then again though there are people in poland working in what many would consider slave conditions.

Ill also add that my grandma from moms side briefly lived in poznan and there really wasn't a whole lot to do in terms of museums, nightlife, restaurants. Its larger and more to do than say like konin or walbrzych but not like Gdansk Krakow wroclaw or warsaw for example.

Travel / Pot in Poland for tourists [285]

Also to the people thinking about growing weed - first off no it isn't a weed nor is it like the poppy plant which requires next to zero care. This isn't a plant where you just put some seeds, do nothing, and reap the rewards. If you want to have good 20%+ THC nugs, you'll have to put in a bit of work and a small investment. For personal use id recommend a beginners 4 plant hydroponic system that comes with lamps and everything you need except for seeds which can be legally purchased and shipped as the seeds themselves contain no thc. There are several easy to read books and pdf files like the cannabis growers bible that can give you more info. It will teach you not only how to grow but also how to harvest dry trim buds and storeage.

Also be aware of the laws in your respective area. Where in one part of world 4 plants is a $250 fine in another it could mean the death penalty. While in poland you won't face the death penalty but perhaps a very large fine, probation or even jail if convicted of distribution (never keep it in multiple bags) rather than mere possession.

Anyway good luck and happy hunting

Travel / Pot in Poland for tourists [285]

I remember the politicians toying around with the idea of legalization. One particular mp, a former rapper by the name of liroy, was amongst those really pushing for it. There was also one incident where a politician I believe also mp wanted to light a joint in parliament as a protest but upon hearing hed def get arrested opted for symbolic incense. Not sure if liroy or the other guy are still mps..

Personally I think medical cannabis would certainly help those with debilitating conditions. Many patients claim that it is superior to opiods and many other medicines with far less side effects.

@jon357

Cbd has been shown to be great against seizures and some other conditions. That's probably what they prescribe. In the us its a little different. Cbd oil can be purchased online and I believe it's legal everywhere since there's no thc or banned compounds in it and cbd doesn't get you high. As far as the actual cannabis and things made out of cannibis it depends on the state whether they allow medical use. In Colorado its recreational and can be purchased legally with valid id.

Travel / Pot in Poland for tourists [285]

I had some gorrilla glue 4 recently its very popular across the board. Amongst youth cannabis in poland is pretty popular but there's still a lot of the 50s style reefer madness amongst previous generations. I recall one study stating that over 20% of youth (don't remember the exact age it was like 17 to 23 or something) used marijuana once within the past year. Back in the 90s that would've been A lot lower. Actually I believe poland has something like the 3rd or 4th highest percent of marijuana users in Europe.

A lot of older generations saw the kompot users of the 80s and 90s and equate that with drug use in general to which cannabis tends to get lumped in. When people smoke they have to be more careful and some people will call the cops on you esp if you're in the bloki and just stunk the whole place up. Its also one of those things that people kind of hide and won't really admit to unless they know you due to the decades old stigma.

True cloning is more popular now but if you're starting a grow to obtain your own source chances are you wouldn't have access to a nice mature female. As far as the seeds being confiscated im kind of surprised by that... And a letter on top of it. To my understanding under the 4th amendment local mail can't be opened up without a warrant. I'm guessing he ordered from Amsterdam and perhaps they happen to scan his package. Pounds upon pounds are sent out of Denver every day via USPS FedEx and ups and very little ends up not arriving to its destination in the U.S.

Travel / Pot in Poland for tourists [285]

It was youth rates not lifetime prevalence rates. Also its a 4 year study. Otherwise yes poland falls very low if taking into account the whole population rather than youth.

euronews.com/2013/11/06/poland-addicts-are-getting-younger
I do remember that whole.fake Viagra story. Apparently those guys were big timin and making a lot of cash..

Sure sightseeing stoned is fun but you have to do a risk benefit analysis... I sure wouldn't want to risk getting caught smoking in a place like russia or Saudi or something.. In poland eh probably not either. At least back in the day you could easily just bribe the cops. They can really throw the book at you especially if you get some old school judge. Its not uncommon to hear stories getting a year for like a few grams of weed or even less.

Work / Work Culture and Expenses - 11000 PLN gross in Poznan [27]

@jon357

Jon yes it is this happened quite often in rural areas. Women will be enticed with work in Holland England etc with some restaurant cleaning or agriculture job only to be pimped out or at best work the job they were promised but at a much lower rate due to 'expenses' same thing with Ukrainian and other eastern european girls although it seems to happen a bit more there than poland.

Personally I didn't find poznan all that enticing. Its not quite a small town nor is it a large city by polish standards. Its your typical mid sized polish city. Some of these small and mid size cities have had a lot of young people leave for larger cities or the eu, many factories and mines have closed, and some places like walbrzych where I have an aunt are simply decaying due to low wages and high unemployment. I don't know poznan currently fairs but I do know my grandma likes living in wroclaw far more than poznan. I will tell you one of the only times I got beat up in my life was in poznan. I was like 14 and got lured into a klatka (entrance to a blok / large apartment building) and got the crap kicked out of me by like 4 dudes over a couple of dollars. Idk maybe that's why i just have a negative disposition towards poznan.

@itsandy
I misread. With 3 people to support on 11k zl I personally wouldn't do it but I don't know what your financial situation is like, what your use to making, if your wife will work, etc. If your wife can also get a decent paying job id say go for it but if you plan to be the sole breadwinner and bring your whole family along it may be untenable. I think you will find it hard to pay for schooling, rent, a car, and most other middle class trappings on 11k zl shared among 3 ppl. That's not even a full $1k USD per person pre tax. Its doable but you'll have to be really smart with your money, get your wife to maybe work part time to help with a few bills, or simply go by yourself and send money back home then when you are in a better financial position or perhaps got a better paying job you can bring the whole family over. IT is big in poland and that's where a lot of the expats seem to work. Also aim for a job at a foreign company like a us, uk, norwegian, German etc as they tend to pay and respect their workers seemingly better than their polish counterparts.

Keep in mind that while rent food transport etc is cheaper than say uk or us id imagine its probably more expensive than india. I can't say for certain I've only been to Mumbai once for like 10 days and that's really my extent of first hand knowledge on India. Nonetheless due to globalization things like an ipad, Volkswagen golf, armani t shirt, liter of petrol etc cost more in poland than in the us due to import fees and excise taxes. Id imagine its similar in India. Also while I don't know about current real estate prices i can tell you we purchased a blok in poznan for around 25 30k USD some 15 20 years ago which would be a bit cramped but comfortable enough for 3. Polish families would cram 4 5 or even more people into such an apartment. In wroclaw a decent sized family home in a nice suburb or a decent sized condo in the city centre can easily run $350 $400k so a middle class life isn't all that cheap. I believe delph lived in poznan for a while so he could tell you far more than I can.

For more comparative info on global prices research the 'big mac index' or the 'ipad index'

Work / Work Culture and Expenses - 11000 PLN gross in Poznan [27]

@jon357

No I meant more like local polish/Ukrainian/Romanian etc women especially from rural areas have been taken advantage of. Some end up working in Amsterdam brothels others will clean toilets in London for a fraction of what they were promised. Now though a lot of these recruiters have been exposed so the practice seems to be waning.

Nonetheless it seems that Indians especially get taken advantage of when working abroad whether its building skyscrapers in Dubai or working as a security guard in a war zone for $10 a day while the company that hired them bills the us state dept $15k a month for such a guard..I just want this guy to know such things exist and to be careful so he isn't taken advantage of. This offer seems to be legit that he has but nonetheless he has to be careful and never ever hand over a passport or pay any sort of expensive recruitment fees.

That's good to hear about poznan. A lot of the smaller and mid sized cities in poland have been experiencing brain drain, unemployment, divestment, etc. When I was last in poznan it seemed to be on this type of trajectory - kind of like walbrzych which use to have a booming mining sector and also had amazing porcelain like tea sets and such to rival those from Italy. I wonder why in particular poznan has been able to turn itself around whereas other similar sized polish cities seem to be decaying. Perhaps it depends on area? The area in north east poland seems to be especially hard hit with brain drain and divestment whereas the west and south and tri city seem to be growing.

News / PO support drops by 4 pps after tape scandal according to WBJ [18]

Id say most of the people who support po in poland are center left. Yes there are going to be a few far leftists in po just as there are far right people in pis. They're not like the far leftists in the us who torch cars, call for removal of borders, destroying the family unit, unchecked migration, etc.

People in Poland that support po as well as po's policies id say from the lens of an American look pretty centrist. One may even say they're a tad (neo)conservative since even on things like immigration, gay marraige, drug legalization po was very cautious and didn't jump in head first and take the wests example. Id say this is due to a mix of centuries old polish Roman Catholic values which are still extremely strong in Poland mixed with a willingness to maintain a relationship with the west while preserving their own unique identity and not allowing foreigners to determine the fate of poles. Even the younger family and friends in poland that support po I would consider centrist or even a tad conservative based on their views.

Even when po was in power they rather reluctantly agreed to take in some thousand or two migrants with much of polish society in uproar over that decision. It seems the vast majority of polish society wanted to keep poland polish and didn't want to get on the sort of slippery slope that Sweden and Germany experienced. On the other hand when pis tried to make the abortion laws more prohibitive people especially women were in uproar. It seems that poles just want a happy medium. Its a sort of liberalism that when compared to the west's appears open minded but cautious and still centrist perhaps even a tad conservative.

Work / Work Culture and Expenses - 11000 PLN gross in Poznan [27]

Yeah when I was there some 10 15 years ago it seemed like all the youth wanted to leave. Even my grandma left. It just seemed so depressing all these multi generational families cramped into a small commie era bloki unable to advance their situation and just stuck in a city with little future prospects and not enough money to move elsewhere. I'm glad that the city has changed for the better. Some fdi will certainly help the brain drain. I'm sure the close links to Germany and some eu funds certainly helped too. The towns and cities in the northeast don't seem to be really moving forward much though. I remember visiting my friend in bialystok and man it looked like a totally different part of poland. Its almost like the northeast is on a different level of development than the rest of Poland. The roads were new and fixed up along with some other key infrastructure but the residential and commercial buildings weren't on the same level as the rest of Poland.

Work / Work Culture and Expenses - 11000 PLN gross in Poznan [27]

Yeah poznans location to Germany def helps it out. Prior to 2004 it might as well have been bialystok.

There's a lot of cities in poland that have decent jobs and a good economy like say lodz due to its industry but there isn't all that much to do there. On the other hand places like Krakow are historically rich and beautiful but may not be the best for work. Poznan I guess is a good middle ground. If the OP does decide to move there he'll at least get a taste of polish life and culture without being overwhelmed in a place like warsaw. Like with everything there's pros and cons - knowing English and not polish may be a bit easier in warsaw than say poznan. Although English especially amongst the learned and youth is widely spoken. Even in wroclaw almost everyone you run into in the city has some kind of knowledge of english.

Love / They seem nice, but could Polish girls be "gold diggers"? [196]

[moved from]

I love polish scammers... They think they're sooo freakin slick...

Especially the young pretty girls who walk around town pretending to not know where they are and ask you for directions, then chat you up and ask you to go for a drink with them at their favorite bar where a friend just happens to be the bartender selling $50 shots of vodka.... Or the hotel receptionist who needs to verify your credit card at 3 am..

The surprising thing is that people fall for this stuff

Anyway ill tell you all a funny story. There were two that always use to do that to unsuspecting tourists from abroad. I played their game with my cousins once to teach em a lesson. The locals knew their gig but apparently the police couldn't really do much about it. Anyway Id pretend to be some guy attending a local conference and didn't know a word of polish. Id walk in their direction (they always stood in a certain corner of the rynek) dressed in a suit speaking english. I overheard one of them say 'him.' and so it began they said they were students from jaggellonian and asked if id want to join them for a drink at their 'favorite bar.' one of the girls spoke half decent English but the other only spoke polish. So Id order shot after shot after shot while texting my cousins keeping them posted on the situation. Then came time to pay the bill I said no problem just add on a beer to settle the stomach down. I think the bartender charged me some $400 for like 8 shots and a few beers. Anyway I excused myself to drain the lizard and out the bathroom window I vanished and into my cousins car parked around the corner. About 30 minutes later the girls are staggering out of the bar totally drunk. My cousins and I pull up in one of those mercedes Vito minivans, put the child lock on, they throw em in the cargo door and i start taking pictures of them and pretending to talk to someone on the other end. Now my polish is suddenly perfect and all they can hear is me saying things like 'no i need 7 thousand for the brunette and 10 for the blonde... I don't care if her teeth aren't perfect get her dentures!... Pakistan? ... Okay well put them on the next outbound crate' of course we released then after about 5 mins. Man they ran for their lives and our stomachs are hurting from laughter lol. I've never seen a girl flat out sprinting in heels except for that day. Well my cousins say they've never seen them hanging out in that corner of the rynek since.

The next day I went to the same bar with my cousins mid afternoon while it was dead and asked for the owner. We told him what his bartender was doing and that their scam is exposed. I offered paid the regular menu price for the drinks ($50 or so), and of course told the bartender and owner off politely. The owner fired the bartender on the spot (although I bet he knew what was going on) and offered us comp meals as well as refunding last nights bill. I insisted id pay the fair menu price though and a couple tyskie for us would suffice. While my cousins wanted to take then up on their offer of free food, I explained wait staff will mess with peoples food they don't like. And so that was that..

I imagine these po and pis scams were more elaborate albeit not as funny. Also evicting old ppl from their homes is just messed up. Apparently this has been occurring in Germany and Sweden quite a bit due to a housing shortage to make room for the migrants.

Love / They seem nice, but could Polish girls be "gold diggers"? [196]

Ya its unfortunate. It shows desperation amongst these young girls and I don't think they're like some organized group at least in this case it just seemed to be 3 friends.

There were always pick pockets in busy areas like around the train station but now you really have to be careful with your credit card. Staff working at businesses like bars hotels strip clubs taxi drivers will try to get one over on you if they can. Sometimes the owner doesn't know but sometimes the owner gives his or her blessing to do such activity in exchange for a cut. Not just in Poland but almost anywhere throughout the world its just in different forms. Luckily I've never had credit card charges I didn't make or my identity stolen but I know plenty of people who have and it was a huge hassle fixing everything.

I think its like an ingrained thing in many polish people to be a cwaniaczek. If they can get one over on you and you let them, they'll keep doing it all while pretending to be your friend. But if you call them out on it they'll respect you and not try to pull some bs in the future.

Personally I think it's wrong and very short sighted. You can make plenty of money honestly, ethically and over the long term instead of pulling some stupid crap just to make a bit more today. There's a saying for it 'krotkie nogi' meaning such activities have short legs.

Love / They seem nice, but could Polish girls be "gold diggers"? [196]

Yes apparently if the card owner is present in the establishment while charges are being added to their card the police can't really do much. I've heard cases where British guys and other males who are travelling for business would get their credit cards charged to the point of being maxed out over the course of a few hours. Also a lot of people aren't too familiar with the exchange rate so they think a 300 zloty drink is fairly priced.

In Miami this practice was very pervasive and the bar owners would hire pretty Russian girls for the specific purpose of overcharging a customer's card. In the us its fairly easy to get the company to refund your money in such a scenario but apparently in Europe its much more difficult to get the card company to issue a refund.

I know for a fact that the girls get a cut of each drink sold in such places. If they can sell say 1 drink an hour on average and make a $12 cut I could see how polish girls could be enticed to do such work especially if they have few other prospects.

Classifieds / Drive me around Warsaw June 1? [13]

Although I agree with atch that yes in warsaw you don't really need a car to get around id still recommend getting a driver or cab if ur only going to be in the city for like 12 hours (really 10 by the time you get yours bags, get your bearings, then check back in upon returning back to the airport). You don't want to get lost in a foreign city especially if you don't speak the language trying to navigate their public trans system (weirdly enough NYC has by far the most confusing I've ever experienced) miss your flight, and mess up your travel plans. Although it is manageable if you chose this route.

You can find some taxi driver that is willing to drive you around for a few hours off the meter. I doubt it should cost you much more than maybe $10 to $20 an hour. I'm not sure if they have ridesharing like uber or lyft in Poland but that can be another option. Oftentimes its far cheaper and more personal than a metered taxi.

Another option due to your limited time schedule is prioritizing perhaps 2 or 3 main sites you want to see and plan the route well so you have enough time to get back to your flight. I would definitely put lazienki palace at the topic of the list. With enough planning you can do the public trans system. I personally would prefer to be driven by a local tour guide in his/her car or even cab but that's just me.

Layovers are a great way to get a sense of a city or even country especially if you plan to return or are on the fence about devoting several nights on a certain spot. Everyone I fly with complains about having to wait at an airport for x hours but I always take it as an opportunity especially to go sightsee if it's a long one.