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[Figureman52]

I am looking for some advice.

My wife’s Ukrainian nephew has recently qualified from University.

He is interested in the opportunities for working in the U.K.

Could anyone give me any information on the companies he should be approaching and an expected salary, or even if these skills are sought after in the U.K.?

Thank you.

This is the information he sent me.

About my job:-

My company sells CRM systems.

Sometimes, the base version for clients who buy this system is not enough.

So, in this company there are developers (like me) who extend the system.

We create new functionality that automates people’s work, making it easier to carry out the business processes of that company.

We integrate with other systems for gathering all necessary information to
configure analytics and form print documents.

For example, a manager would spend 1 week to prepare a Quarterly Report, now the system will do it for him in less than a minute.

Technologies that I use are:-

- SQL, MS SQL
- HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- C#
- BPMN

[jonathanh]

no idea on salary

suggest he tries the IT comanies like: IBM, Computercentra, Capita, fujitsu, SAP, Oracle

Pretty obvious names. 

Huge competition however for graduate roles and he'll need to demonstrate some clear experience to stand out.

[Rods2]

His best bet would be to register with a few job web sites, Linkedin etc. and then apply for any relevant vacancies. He will need to be sponsored by the company, who will have to prove they cannot fill the vacancy locally, where Ukraine is outside of the EU. The EEA agreement signed last week is going to relax visa requirements, but this will only be for a visit of up to 3 months and not working, but at the moment he will need to spend £65 with a visit (or two, if they call him for interview) to Kiev to get a visa to visit the UK. He will need to prove that he has got somewhere to stay, a return ticket and sufficient means to look after himself. You can help here by him staying with you and stating you will cover him financially, but these days for that you normally need a minimum of £3,000 in savings, proof of accommodation through showing a rent agreement or mortgage details and regular income by supplying copies of your last 6 months bank statements. This is all alot of hassle, which I've been through several times, so my wife's sister could visit for a holiday. You may also need to help him fill in the visa application which is only available in English on the Home Office website.

To work here he will need a work permit, which will need to be sponsored by his employer, these are not cheap at about £1,000 for one year, which an employer will look to recoup with a lower salary offer.

The good news is that the is a big shortage of people with IT skills in the UK, so the vacancies are available. Personally, I would recommend that he concentrates on improving his programming skills with C#, Java and PHP as these are very much in demand and will command better salaries. Get him to create a few demos as that makes a big difference in interviews, along with enthusiasm. All programming languages use english words and he will be expected to speak and write good english, for self-documenting the code and for ease of maintenance and possible increased functionality in the future, so if he is not fluent, he needs to really work on this.

HTH

[Gaffers]

The problem he will have is that a lack of visa and any specialist it quals makes it unlikely that a company will sponsor him.  I might be wrong but he will be competing in a saturated skillset of the market.  I would suggest that he builds his experience in Ukraine and waits for it to join the EU.  By which time he will be very employable and a legal worker.

If he ever specialises in IT security let me know 

[Figureman52]

Thank you very much for the information.

I shall pass it on to him and see where it leads. 

[Rods2]

The problem he will have is that a lack of visa and any specialist it quals makes it unlikely that a company will sponsor him.  I might be wrong but he will be competing in a saturated skillset of the market.  I would suggest that he builds his experience in Ukraine and waits for it to join the EU.  By which time he will be very employable and a legal worker.

If he ever specialises in IT security let me know 

I know a Ukrainian family over here, where he works as a security expert for Nokia. he built his experience up in the Ukraine with a US company, before being contracted by a Russian company to work in the UK. As it is a long term contract they are looking to get permanent residence after 5 years and are about 1 from this. So there are opportunities out there I just don't know how common they are.

Ukraine will probably never get full EU membership and realistically not in the next 20 years, but thinking about this person I know maybe a route to the UK, US or Canada, is by finding and working for an overseas IT company, where there are plenty of foreign owned IT companies in the Ukraine, especially in Kyiv and Lviv, where the Ukrainian IT sector is the fastest growing in Europe. Wages for skilled staff are also amongst the highest in Ukraine, but low by our standards. Last time I looked an experienced programmer can expect to earn after tax about $1,000 per month and a senior programmer $2,000. Average wages are $300 before tax, in Ukraine, but like the London effect here, higher in the cities, especially Kyiv. Ukraine has the 4th best educated workforce in the world.

[aaronjb]

Ukraine will probably never get full EU membership and realistically not in the next 20 years,

I think they're more likely to become Russian before then..