— I have extensive experience in development and IT business: I worked in Germany, in the USA, managed my own business in Belarus, but it didn't work out, so I moved to Poland and started looking for a job.
While I was looking for a job as a regular developer, there weren't many responses. But as soon as I reworked my resume towards management, there were significantly more responses and interviews. They told me directly that they really liked my management experience and that they precisely needed people with a strong technical background who are not afraid of complex tasks and responsibility.
Samsung was actually a backup option. By early 2023, I already had a good offer from Austria for 90,000 euros a year, and I intended to accept it. So, I agreed to the interview at Samsung's Warsaw office just in case and went through it quite relaxed.
About the Interview. "Salary Negotiations Lasted Three Days"
There were a total of four interview stages: an introduction with the recruiter, the first technical, the second technical, and finally, the concluding one. Usually, one technical interview is enough — I only later found out that my experience wasn't suitable for the Bixby development team, but the team working with language models became interested in me, so another one was needed.
As a result, both technical interviews went well, and during the final conversation, we mainly negotiated the salary. I said I was willing to work for 25,000 Polish zlotys gross per month (currently about 5,800 euros) — this would roughly match the level of the offer from Austria.
These negotiations stretched over three days, during which the company repeatedly tried to lower the salary. I might have agreed if it were my only option, but having the Austrian offer in hand helped me stand my ground.
When you're not emotionally invested, it's easier to negotiate.
Eventually, they agreed to my terms and asked me to make a decision as soon as possible. I, however, was still waiting for documents from the Austrians and was stalling. But for some reason, the Austrians were delaying the processing, so at some point, I became scared that I would be left with nothing, and I accepted Samsung's offer.
The Austrian option was appealing due to the position and interesting tasks — I was immediately appointed head of a department after a merger and acquisition deal: I was supposed to unify the software to leave one backend with different frontends. Moreover, it was assumed that I would form the new department and hire staff myself. I really like such tasks.
What's Good About Samsung. "Financially Very Comfortable, Pleasant Team"
But as it turned out, I haven't regretted joining Samsung to this day. Firstly, I feel very comfortable financially. Taking into account tax benefits for intellectual property creators, I was already taking home 18.5 thousand Polish zlotys (about 4,300 euros) right at the start.
Secondly, the work turned out to be quite interesting, and the team is very competent. Besides me and my direct manager, there were no other Senior developers on the team, and thanks to my management experience, I was immediately brought into a managerial role. I liked this more than just development. Later, our team was split, and I became the manager of one of them.
Thirdly, working for the company became a cure for burnout after an unsuccessful business venture. In a sense, it's psychotherapy: it's much easier to carry out tasks set by someone else than to be solely responsible for everything, not to give up yourself, and to inspire subordinates.
Yes, working at my own company was more interesting. But now I value the people I work with much more than cool tasks.
Now — because I have something to compare it to. There were a lot of scheming games at work in the USA, especially with the start of layoffs. In Belarus, startup failures led to conflicts — it's difficult to work in such an atmosphere. Here, everything is calm and the team is very pleasant.
Initially, there was a lot that was unusual at Samsung. For example, their own management and development systems — from ticket registration (Kona) to build creation (Cosmos). Plus their own messenger, Knox Teams, and their own video conferencing application, Knox Meetings. And in each system, you need to request permission to open serial and USB ports, to create an account in a particular system (there are over 30 of them), and go through a multi-stage registration and project closure process.
Overall, there's too much bureaucracy. At first, it scared me, but now that I've gotten used to it, I'm ready to admit that everything here is organized quite intelligently and functionally. The main thing is to renew necessary permissions on time.
The atmosphere at work is also quite comfortable. I work from the office three days a week, and remotely two days. During normal times, we are prohibited from working overtime — it's only allowed during project closure periods (usually from mid-November to January) and after management approval.
The amount of overtime is also limited; I had a maximum of 40 hours per month. It's most profitable to work overtime on Sundays — then the pay is double, while on weekdays and Saturdays, it's only one and a half times.
Instead of payment, you can take days off, but most prefer money. Therefore, at the end of the year, the salary is usually increased: for example, last December, with a bonus of 14 thousand Polish zlotys (3,200 euros) and overtime, I received 52 or 54 thousand Polish zlotys net (12 thousand - 12.5 thousand euros).
The company regularly holds team-building events. Once a month, we go somewhere for lunch as a whole team — usually with the guys we were previously on the same team with. There are free Korean and Polish language courses (English courses need to be sought out independently, but they are reimbursed), and Korean culture courses. I tried learning Korean out of curiosity, but it turned out to be too difficult.
About the Cultural Code. "Juniors Cannot Contradict Seniors"
As for the specific Korean cultural code, I only managed to feel its echoes. Our team is mainly Polish. In other teams, there are also employees from Belarus and Ukraine, but the office has management personnel from Korea, the so-called dispatchers.
A couple of times, I encountered strange behavior from Korean employees. At first, I didn't understand what was going on, but then it was explained to me that juniors (by tenure, and in a Korean team, it seems, also by age) cannot contradict seniors.
They say that previously, an employee's work tenure was indicated on their card. However, it seems this wasn't in Poland. In any case, here and now, the influence of Korean cultural restrictions is practically not felt. Perhaps in Korea, everything is different.
About AI and the Threat of Layoffs
Hiring new employees at the company has been frozen for several years, yet there haven't been layoffs for almost 10 years either. Until recently, the situation was calm, but now, due to AI, it has become more uncertain.
Employees are forced to use their own AI assistant, Cline. KPIs haven't been raised yet, but the use of the code agent is tracked: when submitting code, it's mandatory to indicate AI co-authorship, if present. Third-party AI models are also being added to the toolkit.
My tasks are still very difficult to automate, but who knows how that will change in the future. Some colleagues, especially younger ones, are leaving for other companies, and no new employees are being hired to replace them. As a result, the same tasks have to be performed by fewer people, or transferred to development centers in other countries, or employees are taken from other teams.
If layoffs do happen suddenly, I hope working at Samsung will look good on my resume. I view the market pessimistically: there are significantly fewer vacancies than 3.5 years ago when I was looking for a job.
I still don't doubt my ability to find a new job, but it will most likely be remote work with orders from the USA or some other country.
To summarize: working at Samsung primarily gives me money, secondly, it strengthens my resume and helps me recover psychologically. As for the technical experience, it's specific and unlikely to be suitable for my next job.
Have Belarusian authorities decided to destroy all manifestations of "Polishness"? The authorities are quietly preparing a global purge of the State List of Monuments 33
Comments