Modern Career, Relocation
From Malta to Prague by Cedric Farrugia
It’s not an easy decision to pack your belongings and leave your native country. I know I wasn’t the first one and won’t be the last one. However, coming from a small Mediterranean island having to fly to start a new life to a destination that takes more than an hour to reach is a big change. You must keep in mind that the size of the whole Maltese archipelago is 316 km² (Prague alone is 496 km²).
People move from one country to another for various reasons, mine was based on two – love and job opportunities. My partner of 4 years comes from Prague and after her contract in Malta expired we evaluated our situation in Malta and looked at the possibilities in Prague and here we are.
In my articles I will be sharing my views on life in Prague. My experience as a newbie expat and an islander living in a landlocked country.
In my first weeks in the capital of Bohemia I noted the following:
No Sea No Beaches
When I meet Czechs and they ask me where I’m from, I tell them Malta. They ask me why I decided to move to Prague and give up on the beaches and the sea. Let me provide a clearer picture to the reality – most of the jobs in Malta at executive or managerial level are 9:00 to 17:00. A day in the office during a heat wave drains your energy and after work you wouldn’t have enough energy to enjoy going to the beach. There’s always the weekend! I feel you stating. If you enjoy spending your relaxing days on a beach of 2Km to 3Km stretch with another 1,999 others please be my guest, I tend to opt out.
Blessed public transport
Efficient, inexpensive and great service! The public transport in Prague is effective and many agree that it’s the most efficient way to travel across the City. Moreover, the Lítačka is very convenient and provide different public transport packages covering from 1 month to 12 months.
Coaching, Modern Career, Relocation
The Start of the Journey… Modern Career Woman Chapter III by Heather Schnacke
I am officially back in Prague. After a couple of months at home and figuring out what to do as you knew from the last post, the visa finally came through and then I actually had two job offers on the table. My previous job was still available to me, and then Amazon called me when was back in Oklahoma to see about starting in the HR department. What a whirlwind! I went through the process of both, but in the end, the door shut with Amazon due to my visa situation. In this moment, the answer was now very obvious and clear. So I officially accepted the other job and signed a 1.5 year contract that came with a signing bonus and more salary pay – WOW. Now, I am so thankful that I am back in the Czech Republic – refreshed and ready to go for round two 🙂 The first time was just practice, right?
The holidays were an amazing and restful (and much needed) time with family back near Tulsa. I am beyond grateful for the love that constantly surrounds me, and only hope I spread it to others wherever I go!
Consulting, Leadership, Modern Career
From headhunting to organic FMCG entrepreneurship. A story of a modern career transition.
Are you thinking about taking on a new direction in life and work ? Looking for an inspiration?
This article is for you. Monika Budzyńska used her extensive headhunting experience to set-up an organic FMCG company. She shares her know-how, mistakes, lessons learnt and rules for success with Coachify.
Monika, please tell us about your career transition and your new business.
I have been working professionally for more than 10 years and it has been mostly in the headhunting industry. However something has changed in my life a lot. I have had some health issues lately and that made me discover the natural medicine and healthy lifestyle. This experience changed my point of view and my life extremely. I started to eat organic, do sports, be with the nature more often and got a dog – a cute Maltese called Lucy. Once I had done it all I felt like I was ready for more changes and I needed to do something professionally connected with health and ecology themselves. This was the time I decided to set up BioInspire, organic FMCG distribution and sales representative company. I haven’t left the headhunting business fully yet however I am strongly focused on developing my company at the moment. There is a great vision behind BioInspire. I would like to inspire people to lead a healthy lifestyle by sharing my knowledge and also delivering the products that I find healthy. And this is actually not that obvious once you go through what is being sold in organic shops. That’s why BioInspire is so unique, we only represent the chosen manufacturers. Following the vision of BioInspire, I am really happy to have such possibility of participating in Coachify’s interview.
We are happy to have you here. Can you tell us how difficult was your career transition?
Actually it was not that hard for me even though my professional experience might sound completely different from what I do now. However I can see many common characteristics. First of all, head-hunters sale their services and candidates to their customers. They have to approach new clients, candidates, set up the relations and maintain them. Head-hunters need to be active on social media just to be recognizable on the market they operates on. This is something I do on a daily basis at BioInspire. I gather information, approach new customers, analyze the market and create the new brand recognition on the Polish market.
Location independent, Modern Career, Relocation
5 reasons to move to Prague.
What do people think of when they think of Prague? Beer is so good and inexpensive! The beautiful old architecture of the city and the castle is a sight to behold!
I moved to Prague from L.A. and I am here to tell you that there is more to this “Srdce Evropa” (Heart of Europe) than meets the eye. There is a magical quality of this city that you feel. Stop somewhere for a nice view even for a short time and look not only with your eyes, but recognize what you feel. We need this once in a while because busy schedules only allow us to check time as we do this and that. Appreciating these simpler things of life along the way makes the journey through any walk or task much more than it is. When I have time, I still go to the city center to walk like when I was the tourist gazing at the Charles Bridge, the castle or the Letna beer garden where you have a breath-taking view of the city below. My favorite time is at night when the lights make the scene ethereal.
Consulting, Human Resources, Modern Career
5 Steps to find a job you will love – from Recruitment to Business Consulting by Aldona Sozanska
Do you feel you are ‘stuck’ in your job and wondering what to do about it? Do you wake up every morning wishing you could stay in bed instead of going to the office? Do you have the impression that your job has no meaning or importance? Or maybe you are so fed up you want to run away to the sun and sip cocktails for the rest of your life? If you answered yes to any of these questions – rest assured, you are not alone. For several years I worked in a role that didn’t align with my natural talents or personal strengths. In fact I hear a similar story from many of my friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs but keep on going for years feeling unhappy and stressed. The long-term effects of working in such a relentless environment can be devastating. Chronic stress related to your work situation can contribute to serious health issues such as high blood pressure, cardiac disease and depression. Despite this, for many different reasons we remain in the jobs we hate or we make a change without understanding our real purpose, strengths and goals, ending up in the exact same job situation as before. Albert Einstein once said the ‘the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result’. Following his wisdom, before you make a drastic move and hand in your notice, pause for a moment and think! There are several things you can do to discover which job will truly make you happy.
It took me a while to make a conscious decision to change my career and today I can proudly say I did it! The time and effort I invested changing my path has already had an impact on my life. I have become more confident, positive and clear about who I am and what I want to achieve in life. I am writing this article to let you know it is possible to make a huge difference by finding a job you love.
Coaching, Modern Career
Modern Career Woman – Heather – Chapter II – So Who Is This Modern Career Woman?
So Who Is This Modern Career Woman?
Modern Career Woman: A female who wants to see more of the world, make a difference, figure out her own way (not society’s), see where life takes her, and not be afraid to do things (or move to another country) on her own. We have seen how Sheryl Sandberg has made her mark on the feminist world by telling both women and men that we CAN do it all between work, family, and the home. We can break that glass ceiling. That women can rise to the very top even if they have one kid on each knee and a husband on her shoulders. And that also men can start helping in the household – changing the traditional roles of society depending on the dynamic and circumstances of the pair. The difference is that the modern career woman focuses on the female who may not necessarily want kids and could be married or not, but wants to make her mark on the world in a bold way. She craves adventure, boldness, risks, new atmospheres, challenges, unexpected changes, and nonconventional ways to help her learn and grow into the person she knows she can become. She is not afraid to move into another culture- it excites her! She is perhaps afraid of the unknown, but her excitement overrides her fear. She would rather take risks and learn from mistakes than not take the plunge at all. She knows that everything is a lesson about learning and growing anyway – so nothing can stop her from trying!
Consulting, Digital Marketing, Digital Trends, Leadership, Modern Career
She is tech. The story of a Chinese immigrant and mobile app developer
Please – DO NOT READ this article about the utmost passion and the eternal struggle of an individual UNLESS you want to fully understand the complexities of being a woman in technology and see why only few females will thrive in this environment.
Why would you like to read or hear about someone’s story, anyway?
Because it hasn’t been told yet.
And because every story is like no other.
So, who is she? This tech lady.
Daijie Huang is a first generation Chinese immigrant in the USA. She founded the Boston-based startup, InnoTechnologies, that is creating the first marketplace for location based personal travel guides. The project was built on a passion for technology and innovation, but also traveling, since Daijie is an enthusiastic traveler herself. She is quite the global female entrepreneur, as well as successful and resourceful women and leader – but there’s more to her than that.
Behind every success, there’s a hard work. We all know that. Except that behind Daijie’s story there’s this extra effort she had to put into making her dreams a reality.
Daijie grew up in China, currently lives in the USA, and she visited countless countries all over the world, mostly with her daughter. Daijie’s career has spanned from engineering to product management and now to entrepreneurship. As we speak, she is now bringing her app to Kickstarter to bring travel experts from every corner of the world to share their stories. Today I want you to read about Daijie’s path to becoming a successful entrepreneur, her technical interests and how she fully embraces the notion of women in tech.
There’s a lot of press around women in tech and obstacles they face, but the story of Daijie Huang, the immigrant from China, is a must read. It’s the homage I pay to her after observing the sweat and tears she poured into countless updates of her app. She’s someone I can identify with since I am a Polish immigrant now living in Canada, working in technology. Also, I worked for three years in China in the mobile games industry, so most of the time while interviewing her I felt like we have the similar life stories.
Daijie, let’s talk about your background a little bit. What was growing up like?
I grew up in Xian, China. I have two elder brothers. Back in my young childhood, China was still closed to the outside world. The old city wall was our playground and gave us infinite joy after the boring school day. Catching bugs, climbing the brick wall, playing hide and seek, etc, you name it; the ancient city wall gave us all of our fun. I rarely thought about other places, but even if I did, I would assume that kids everywhere else were doing the same things as us. To me, the world was home and home was the whole world until one day, a few western backpackers showed up on our streets. Yes, I was one of the silly kids following them, finger pointing at them and wondering where the heck they came from. I started to realize that the world was something big, different and fascinating.
Then, flocks of foreigners came to Xian; they wandered around the ancient wall, the bell tower, the big goose pagoda, and of course, the Terracotta Warriors. Then, I started to learn English at school, and learn more about the world as China began to open the door to the Western World. Later, when I got into college, my mother, a CTO at a local company, started to work with western companies about potential partnerships. China was changing. After her business trips to the UK and the USA, she told me: ”The outside world is fascinating. Our generation has missed our chance, but, you still have one. Go further to see the world!” Honestly, it was a challenging goal during that time. Unlike Beijing and Shanghai, Xian was pretty laid-back and under developed. Although my parents were making an above average income in Xian, it was still too little to support my studies in the USA. The good thing is that I have been a very determined person since I was young, good or bad. Although it was a big stretch to compete for a good university in the USA, I got into Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute with financial help, after months of catching up on my English. Can you believe I memorized 800 new words in a day? I won’t be able to do that again honestly.
My mom taught me that a woman can do even better work than a man in technology and encouraged me to go outside to fulfill my dream – then my father taught me the entrepreneurial side of things. My father was a brilliant engineer in his field. He took a newly invented tech to a nice service business later.
Growing up under the influence of a high positioned mom and an ambitious dad, I set up my life goal before I even realized it: an adventure. To make life fun and meaningful, no matter where the road led me, traveling, or on the life journey. So, I went from a silly girl chasing after alien-like foreigners to an entrepreneur who believes that the sky is the limit.
What was your career path from engineer to entrepreneur? Did you have role models & mentors along the way?
It was more of a genetic accident. Using my husband’s words: it’s my restless genes. Repetitive work just bores me to death. So, instead of climbing the corporate ladder like most smart people do, I quit my engineering job from a high tech but slow growing company to start on my own journey. It wasn’t easy and I learned a lot in the process. I also have a very supportive husband, which hugely helped me stay float through the hectic life change.
Coaching, Modern Career
Modern Career Woman – Heather
HELLO
My name is Heather and I am a 30-year-old American female fighting hard to build a career life abroad. It is quite the challenge amidst the bureaucracy, living situations, job availability, financially, and let’s not forget doing this alone as a single female. But I never wanted that to stop me from pursuing my dreams. I fell in love exploring different cultures and languages when I first stepped onto Spanish soil when I studied abroad for six months at the age of 20 in Valencia, Spain. I really didn’t know what to expect or how I would feel, but my whole world opened up after that experience. I came back to Oklahoma (where I am from) to finish my University degree in International Business and Marketing with a plan to move overseas right after I graduated. Before Spain, my ‘goals’ in life revolved around the typical desires: meet the man of my dreams in college, get married shortly after graduation, build a home, adopt two or three children (no desire to have any of my own – maybe my first clue), travel some, and who knows after that. Well, that clearly changed after NOT meeting someone special three years into college (I was doomed I thought, my plan was not going accordingly) and then Europe happened that changed the course of my life forever.