Contracting in Poland

[cntl1]

Ah fair .

Hmmmm....along those lines, is there a danger that your CV may be coming over as a jack of all Trades?

Well, that probably would be a fair take on it. Can be seen as a positive in some roles, I guess. Anyway, I am just shooting in the dark. I am going to do a more targeted run with the overseas agents, see what happens. I did send my CV earlier to 2 or 3 agents in Poland for perm roles, sort of on a whim, and I got a very good response.. This made me think I could shift my contract hunt to that part of Europe, since I am not particularly tied in at the moment. May be an easier way for me to get started.

EDIT: Having said that, I think I fall more into the SQL Developer bracket rather than DBA, as this is where I spent most of my time as far as SQL work goes.

[MrMarkyMark]

Well, that probably would be a fair take on it. Can be seen as a positive in some roles, I guess. Anyway, I am just shooting in the dark. I am going to do a more targeted run with the overseas agents, see what happens. I did send my CV earlier to 2 or 3 agents in Poland for perm roles, sort of on a whim, and I got a very good response.. This made me think I could shift my contract hunt to that part of Europe, since I am not particularly tied in at the moment. May be an easier way for me to get started.

You might want to look at roles out there and see if a multi targeted approach may be better.

[redgiant]

Always a possibility, but I doubt it. I worked with the Chinese guy in Beijing during a stop on my globetrotting tour. There was an option to stay in China and do perm work for his company, and I was invited but declined. I really don't like China, for many reasons.

I know him pretty well, he is one of very few people I call "friends" and he has had the same issues in the UK before he left for China. This is a common pattern, if you read Polish sites you will see this.

The Polish girl, well she could not even get a job in IT during her decade long life in UK despite having a postgraduate engineering degree from a top tier Polish university. Ended up selling motorbikes. I suggested she did an OU degree in IT and mentored her a few times. Last time I knew, she was sent to manage a project in Dubai for a company in Warsaw she works for.

I am level headed enough to realistically know my limitations. I get offers all the time for perm jobs, a good validation for me against self-delusion. And I wouldn't have gotten to the top of the IT chain at a major British manufacturer for 8 years if I didn't know what I was doing, or be able to afford to see more of the world than 99% of folks out there.

The truth is folks can get further up the chain in their own country. On average, there are exceptions.

Let me add that in my younger years I really bought into this crap that talent determines your success. But since then I've became more of a cynic, I've just seen too much discrimination, xenophobia against foreigners. Not against myself, I was pretty lucky in that respect, but for many of the people I knew.

Interesting points here about the perception of foreigners in the workplace and as a foreigner working abroad I can see your point but I don't fully agree. The countries you mention (China, Poland and UK) of have varying languages and cultures and if you don't fit in as well as a local then it can work against you in business (especially so in China from what I understand). The US when I am now is easier than other countries I have lived in before (in Africa & Middle East) as the culture is broadcast around the world and although there are local differences it's not that hard to pick up on conversations people are having no matter where they are from over here.

I am sure you have heard the saying it's not what you know but who you know before. I am younger than you but the glaze of talent working its way to the top of organisations wore off on me not long after I left university. The ones that climb up to the top of companies are the ones who know who to network with (i.e. those who influence decisions in the organisation) and also make those same people look good by helping them structure and support their initiatives.

[cntl1]

Interesting points here about the perception of foreigners in the workplace and as a foreigner working abroad I can see your point but I don't fully agree. The countries you mention (China, Poland and UK) of have varying languages and cultures and if you don't fit in as well as a local then it can work against you in business (especially so in China from what I understand). The US when I am now is easier than other countries I have lived in before (in Africa & Middle East) as the culture is broadcast around the world and although there are local differences but it's not that hard to pick up on conversations people are having no matter where they are from over here.

I am sure you have heard the saying it's not what you know but who you know before. I am younger than you but the glaze of talent working its way to the top of organisations wore off on me not long after I left university. The ones that climb up to the top of companies are the ones who know who to network with (i.e. those who influence decisions in the organisation) and also make those same people look good by helping them structure and support their initiatives.

You are right, it is a combination of factors, it's not as if this country was full of prejudiced bigots, far from it. I found folks here generally friendly to foreigners, by folks I meant the more educated, intelligent ones (and I found the more successful, "higher up" someone is, the more open they are). If they discriminate against Johny-the-foreigner it is usually not due to xenophobia but rather the concerns you raised, like fitting in with the local culture, networking, etc.

I found the middle and lower management folks more often creating the glass ceiling for the foreigner than the higher up's.