Ukrainian programmer spoke about working at Google and living in the USA - ForumDaily
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Ukrainian programmer spoke about working at Google and living in the USA

Roman Apostol’s career in IT can be called bright. After graduating from university, he founded his own project with friends - a successful Ukrainian startup Preply, and a few years later accepted not the first offer to interview at Google - and got a job in the New York office, where he rose to the rank of team lead. When Roman realized that he had achieved his goals in an international company, he returned to Ukraine and began working with his wife on his own project.

Photo: ain.ua

Roman Apostle told the editorial AIN.UA about their first steps in IT, interviewing and working at Google, as well as the difference between life in New York and Kiev.

About training and the first steps in IT

Before the university I studied in the physics and mathematics lyceum of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Ukraine. I got there because I actively participated in mathematical Olympiads. I was lucky: my family understood the value of learning, and I had a great teacher of mathematics, who is now an honored teacher of Ukraine. It was fun because there were a lot of people who want to study and spend a lot of time on it. After graduating from 11 class, I participated in the International Mathematics Olympiad in Mexico.

Then I entered the Faculty of Cybernetics at Shevchenko University. There was quality networking there. Among my classmates there were three or four people who had also attended international olympiads in mathematics or computer science. Accordingly, I was surrounded by people who want to achieve something - this motivates everyone around me.

Practically from the first course I started working, went into programming and became a freelancer. For five years I worked as a freelancer on the Topcoder site. After graduation, I got bored with it and I went to create a startup with friends. I was one of the founders of the startup Preply.

Some time after the start of the project, I began to receive offers from Facebook and Google. All thanks to my friends who worked in these companies - they advised the recruiters to consider my candidacy. I refused interviews several times, but then agreed. To put it simply, these references help you get to the interview itself.

About Google Interview

This is a more or less documented process. Now at the interviews in Google, Facebook and other companies, if we are talking about engineering positions, we are given code writing tasks that need to be solved in 45 minutes and then discussed with the interviewer.

The first stage is when the recruiter communicates with you, asks what you want to do, what product to work on, and so on. The next stage is telephone screening, problem solving, and coding.

Depending on how well you write the code, there will be one or two phone calls. After this conversation where you want to work. I chose New York, where there are five interviews from morning to dinner with various employees of the company.

Before that I was in New York, Boston, California, Florida, and New York was more suitable for me in spirit. This city is active and has public transport, which I think is very important. Approximately 3 a month passed between the invitation to the interview and the proposal itself, and then another 6-7 months before the first working day.

In the office of Google. Photo: ain.ua

About first impressions

I understood that I was going to work from a startup to a company; accordingly, I had thoughts that a large company works differently, and there are more risks here than in a startup. Therefore, decisions are made more balanced, more deliberately, there are some proposed processes that should be followed.

In principle, the reality coincided with what I expected. And I didn't have any frustration effect. In addition, I talked with friends who also gave feedback.

There were three people in the startup, we worked fast and moved fast. For three months they made one product, threw it away, after three months they made another. It all happened super fast, in large companies it was usually not so, and my progress in six months was significantly less than in a startup. In some places, you probably wanted to move faster, but you understand that all those processes that exist are needed.

About housing

Google provided corporate housing for three months, and after that you independently look for an apartment for yourself. You can find accommodation in the city thanks to the StreetEasy website, where you can find almost any room.

There are realtors, they do not bring much benefit: they go to StreetEasy and choose housing according to your parameters, for which they take 15% of the annual rent.

The realtor was paid by Google. We walked with him to several apartments and looked at them. At first they were terrible, then it was a pretty good option - the realtor advised me to take it, because tomorrow it might no longer be there. I realized that I needed to search on my own. Together with another Googler, we decided to rent a two-room apartment in a new complex. In terms of price, each of us ended up paying the same as we would have paid for a studio. It cost $4400 per month. I think it was a good option.

About Google

I worked at DoubleClick. Most engineers, if asked, would be engaged in an advertising project, would give a negative answer. I have the opposite. In my opinion, the fact that the Internet is free, there is a great merit of advertising. To a large extent, thanks to advertising, there is journalism and a free press, and I wanted to work in an advertising product.

My working day for four and a half years has changed a lot. It all started with the fact that I was just a developer, part of a team, and wrote code all day. In Google, you gradually grow, your responsibilities grow, your expectations from you. During 2,5, I became the owner of the project, which grew over time, people joined it. I became a team leader, and here my responsibilities have changed dramatically. I was responsible for where we move as a team, where we move the product.

I really liked the management at Google, it seems to me that these are very cool people who have something to learn, they have the right goals, they bring up people. They give freedom to people, give decide on where to move the project, that was very cool.

If we talk about promotion, we must emphasize that Google is a large company with 50 employees. Everything can't be perfect here, there are things that people like, there are things that people don't like. Everything worked out well enough for me, I got a promotion.

Photo: depositphotos.com

About bonuses at Google

There are many different bonuses in Google. In particular, delicious food. I like the New York office because they are two large buildings, and they have a lot of cafeterias that can be reached in five minutes. We had our own gym with various activities, our masseurs, barista, who made coffee. We had our own doctors in the building, the trip to the doctor took two minutes.

In addition, parking for bicycles, discounts on travel passes. Almost all museums in the city are free for Googlers. This is cool, pleasant, but it is important not to lose the main thing among all these bonuses. We all came together to make a product. I think some people have been a little lost on this, but the job of managers is to help you focus and find the right balance between work and life.

About salaries at Google

If we go to the Glassdoor site, we’ll find there information about approximate salaries at Google, depending on the position. I had a salary closer to the highest level. Also on the Glassdoor are not listed bonuses and promotions, which also receive almost all employees. Over 4,5, my salary has almost doubled.

About the cost of living in New York

As I said before, the month of renting our two-room apartment with another googler cost $ 4400. On average, in a good area of ​​New York one-room apartment can be rented for $ 3300 per month. If you live far away from Manhattan, the cost is reduced by 20% -30%, while the area of ​​the apartment increases. This is all without utilities. On average, it takes about $ 150- $ 300 per month.

Subway and bus fares cost $2,75. Monthly pass - $121. If the travel pass is issued by the employer, then you can get it with a discount of about 40%.

On average, going to a Whole Foods organic food supermarket in New York will cost $ 100. This is a meal on 1,5 person (I ate mostly on Google) a week. After purchasing Whole Foods by Amazon, prices fell a bit. The price of chicken fillet is about $ 15 / kg, beef costs from $ 20 to $ 40 per kilogram.

If we talk about entertainment, then, for example, a trip to an average-priced restaurant for two people will cost $40-$60. The price of a movie ticket is $15. Museum fees vary, from a voluntary donation to $20. Broadway shows are worth going to in New York. Prices start from $200 to several thousand dollars. Mobile communications in New York will cost from $45 to $100.

In my opinion, if in New York you earn a family less than $ 200 000 a year, then it will be difficult enough for you to live.

A family is two or three people. When I started living with my wife, we settled in Williamsburg, this is a district of Brooklyn, the first district after Manhattan. We had such an expensive area, but it was very cool there, I really liked it there. My feeling is $200 before taxes, and in the States taxes are relatively high, so it seems to me that living less than this amount will no longer be very comfortable, you will have to limit yourself.

About medicine in the USA

In the US, expensive medicine. There are, of course, very good services, they know how to work with complex cases. I would say that “average” medicine is sometimes lame. Just like everywhere: you can get to a good doctor, but you can get to the bad one.

In the US, medicine treats the client as if it were a wallet. The more tests done, the more money she gets.

Of course, this is a plus when more advanced tests are done to you, but a minus is that it is expensive. I was lucky, I worked at Google, I had insurance. But not all people have it, and it can be very, very expensive.

It seems to me that doctors also slightly intimidate people with rare diagnoses, which, after tests, are not justified. It is clear that this rare diagnosis is not, but it is stressful for people. I know a few of these stories from friends, and it was not very good.

Photo: ain.ua

On returning to Kiev and working on your own project

Due to the peculiarities of the immigration system in America, my wife Anya could not work. Therefore, she decided to found her own educational project in Kyiv. We understood that education was important, and I studied a lot throughout my life.

At the time I left Google, Anya had been working on the project for 2,5 for the year. I realized that I had achieved all my goals in the company. I understand how a large company works; we built a product that makes a lot of money for Google. At some stage, we decided that our project should be done either full time in Kiev, or to close everything and develop a career in the United States. And they made a choice in favor of the first option.

Our project is an educational academy called Mate academy. On April 1, I joined the full-time project.

We teach people for free and help them find a job. Only after that they pay us a percentage of the salary.

Now we are learning programming and testing. We have an expertise on how to get to Google and Facebook, and we’ll be happy to share it with anyone who sets such a goal.

Historically, we started Mate academy in Kiev, not in the USA. But globally, I believe that with education everything is bad, not only in Ukraine. We are definitely not focusing only on one country, we plan to grow and develop for a long time.

About the difference between life in Kiev and New York

You can criticize a lot in Kiev and in New York. In New York, over time, the subway was getting worse and worse. In a year I would not be able to live in my area, because the tunnel that united my area with another flooded during a hurricane. This tunnel has not yet been reconstructed, and they are only planning to do it in 2019 year. In New York, too, there is a bureaucracy, as in Kiev. When I paid taxes, the state returned them nine months, incredibly long. There were cases when people in state institutions were rude to me.

Now I feel absolutely comfortable living in Ukraine. In terms of quality of life, practically nothing has changed; our infrastructure is a little worse, but some other things are better. For example, I don’t have to wait in line for an hour to go to brunch.

One of the disadvantages of Kyiv is, for example, the air, it is dirty here. In general, the streets are less clean, there is much more dust. There are many areas where there is just dirt. When it rains, everything leaks, and then the cars kick up that dust. You can feel it. New York has cleaner air. But I like Kyiv, and I see that the city is developing.

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