A Guide for Winning Tech Jobs Abroad

Define Your Career and Personal Goals and Stick to Them

Defining your career goals and prioritising them helps to get a job that will truly align with your personal and professional aspirations. We recommend to consider such factors before making your final choice for relocation:

• Locations of interest. Think about the countries that attract you most of all. Whether they are potent hubs with a well-developed tech industry, cultural capitals that align with your cultural preferences, or offer the quality of life you strive for. You will probably have several of them, make a list.
• Preferred job roles. Based on your previous work experience think about the job roles and the career path that will suit your ambitions. Consider the need to study career opportunities for different roles like web developers, front or back-end engineers, software architects, and more. Think about the industries you would like to contribute to. You might end up with a couple of versions of personal development plans.
• Future development factors. Relocation is an opportunity to change life completely. So, before the final choice is made, consider the opportunities for work-life balance and career growth in the possible destination places.

Choose the Best Location for Finding Tech Jobs Abroad

When choosing a relocation destination point, it is important to listen to your heart and study opportunities with an open mind. We suggest these points important for choosing the best place to look for software development jobs:

• Highlight countries with potent tech hubs. Germany, Canada, Ireland and the UK have rapidly developing tech sectors, but you might have other countries and cities in mind. They attract business incubators and have headquarters or representative offices of global corporations. They attract seekers of IT jobs with relocation too, so greater competition adds complexity to the task.
• Study visa-friendly destinations. Depending on your current place of residence, you will have tougher or easier conditions for getting a visa and work permission in the desired places of destination.
• Consider factors of comfort. Factors like language and cultural alignment will shape your first time in the new country and impact the assimilation process. It is also important to pay attention to the cost of living. In the countries with the higher salaries, the expenses will probably also be higher.

Study the Offers of Outsourcing and Outstaffing Companies

The ideal developer job abroad may be waiting for you in the office of an IT vendor. Cooperation with an international outsourcing or outstaffing company can become a gateway to international opportunities. They connect talented software engineers with interesting and challenging projects worldwide.

Cooperation with such an employer can help you gain valuable experience in working with foreign clients and as a part of an international team. Working for an IT vendor, a software engineer may start as a remote employee, and later expect to transition to the R&D centre of the company and even get assistance with housing, visas, and travelling.

So, if you're looking for an IT outstaffing vendor to join, you may need to look through the job offers on resources like LinkedIn or Glassdoor.

Both offer a handy search tool with multiple filters to specify your request. Glassdoor also has its rating to sort by.

When choosing a company to join, consider the following factors: company headquarters or location of the R&D centre, possibilities of relocation, and conditions of work.

Be Present Online as a Professional

Web platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub also function as digital CVs. It may be easier to reach a broader audience on social platforms rather than with a personal website.

How to find a developer job abroad using your online presence? Try these tips:

• Optimise your profile. Communicate your international inspirations, and write about your goals and desires. Mention the ways you could benefit the projects of your potential employer. Showcase the achieved results.
• Use keywords. Every platform has its search tools, hashtags and other navigation instruments. You can add search-friendly headlines like “Python Developer Open for an International Project”, or tags like #openforwork, #internationalprojects, and #relocation. Make a short research to find words relevant to your case.
• Maintain an appealing portfolio. On GitHub, it is important to showcase the best projects to demonstrate coding experience. Publish your certificates and other achievements. The same information may be demonstrated on the personal website.

Check Various Job Portals

There are platforms designed specifically for people seeking tech jobs abroad. They often list jobs with relocation packages. In the listings, you may also find offers of visa sponsorship and important information about the job offer: salary expectations, company culture, and desired skills.

Relocate.me is an aggregator of opportunities that are filtered by countries, visa opportunities, and salary offers. You'll need to choose the desired country and position to see the offers. One may also find information about taxes, cost of living and other details important for relocation.

AngelList is a website for startups, angel investors and people looking for IT jobs abroad in the startups. It is a chance to join a perspective project on the edge of innovation.

Tailor Applications to the Offers

A customized CV and a cover letter for each application will show dedication and points, where your skills and experience align closely with the client's needs. It is also a chance to hide irrelevant experiences and skills to avoid overloading them with useless to the case additional information.

These tips will help to prepare an application that will stand out from the competition:

• Include measurable achievements. It is easier to comprehend the candidate's achievements if they are presented by specific percentages or timelines.
• Show that you researched your potential employer. Look through the company's mission and values, and learn more about the projects and technological focus. Highlight the points of your CV that will align with the values and current direction of work.
• Diversify your application strategies. Apply through different job boards and aggregators. Also, search for the websites of the companies and apply through the forms there. Tell your network about your search to give them a chance for referrals. Contact the company HR dept representatives directly.
• Prepare for the interviews. Prepare questions and show your interest in the job offer. Study job descriptions to prepare answers for possible technical questions. Also, think about possible soft-skill-related questions. Highlight your interest in getting the job and your relocation ambitions.

Get Ready for Relocation

Put all the gathered information together to create a detailed plan for the relocation:

• Make sure you know about all current visa requirements and start the process of getting it early.
• Make financial plans according to researched information about the cost of living, travelling and taxes. It might be better for your safety to have backup savings for at least 3 months, if possible.
• Make integration easier for yourself in work and personal spheres. Learn more about the local work culture and public life. Try to make friends with some local people, and join local communities on social media.
• Search for support. Check who can offer assistance with visas, housing and travel. It might be your employer or even a third-party relocation services provider.