International Migrants Day – Learn How to Join an International Team

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December 18th is called “International Migrants Day” and is celebrated with different activities all around the world.

Migration in our company is referred to as moving to cloud technologies. But today, we decided to focus on people’s migration. 

Migration has been a courageous expression of the individuals, coming out of their comfort zones, leaving their loved ones and their nation, and moving to a new culture and environment. 

Do you want to know why we wrote this article?  Click ….

Table of Contents

• Migrants
• Migrants at anynines
  • Bukola Johnson – Nigeria
  • Francisco Germano – Brazil
  • Heitor Meira de Melo – Brazil
  • Igor Li – Kyrgyzstan
  • Marcelo Gonçalves – Brazil
  • Martin Valencia Flores – México
  • Sabbir Ahmed – Bangladesh

Migrants

Who are these awesome people? 

People who: 

• have tried hard enough for the first steps of migration
• have packed their whole lives in one or maybe 2 pieces of baggages
• have said goodbye to a familiar place where they lived for a long time, mostly their whole lives
• have the necessary bravery to face cultural challenges
• are flexible enough to adopt the new culture 

And last but not least, people who are swimming against the tide.

We, at anynines, really like these people, appreciate them and we are very proud of them.

Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash

Migrants at anynines

We decided to celebrate this day, appreciating our colleagues who have started their new chapter of life by joining us at anynines, a German-based company with an international environment. 

We asked our team members who have experienced migration, to write about themselves and their experiences.

Get to know some of the people behind our products and services:

Bukola Johnson – Nigeria

Hello, I am Bukola Johnson from Nigeria. I migrated to Germany a few weeks ago joining the Enterprise Platform Operation (EPO) team of anynines as a DevOps Engineer. I studied computer science at the university after which I have always worked in the tech department/industry. It’s been an amazing journey so far due to the versatile nature of technology and the need to keep innovating. This requires us (techies) to keep learning to stay attune with innovations and I find this quite interesting (and fun) because this helps me to make positive impacts wherever I find myself which serves as my primary reason for being in the Tech world. 

Before moving to Germany, I worked in the Fintech sector in Nigeria whereby we make payments seamless and provide financial access/service for the people (especially the underbanked). I worked with several technologies such as Kubernetes, cloud services including AWS, and Google. As a DevOps Engineer, I am tasked with the primary responsibility of automating deployment processes and helping to improve the reliability, scalability, and availability of products by deploying and managing enterprise solutions (though I am not limited to this primary responsibility)

After working for several years in Nigeria, my spouse and I decided to try something different in other advanced countries and we discussed and agreed to explore Germany after being impressed with the information and figures of Germany Tech startups we gathered.

Next, we started researching how to get opportunities in Tech companies in Germany, visa/sponsorship requirements, settling down in Germany, and a few other things, though the language difference was a bit of a concern to us. Using LinkedIn and sites (such as Germany startup jobs), I started applying for jobs that fit my skill set.

Though we received several not too encouraging feedbacks of them preferring local hands or EU citizens ???, I kept pushing until I saw opportunities with anynines. Quickly, I read about the organization, what they do and I was quite keen on the technology (Cloud Foundry?) as it’s an opportunity to enrich my expertise as learning new concepts/ideas are things I look forward to. I then applied to anynines and was super-excited when Jessica (HR Manager) reached out to me and I later got to have a session with Nico (team lead EPO) and the team for the technical interview. I got shortlisted after the successful interview and assessment and I was offered the job.

Yay, I was super elated ??. Then applying for a work visa from Nigeria to Germany took me several months, but in all of this wait, anynines kept in touch with me while I waited for my visa to be approved by the Embassy.

My story will not be complete if I do not mention the part that anynines played in all of these. Jessica’s professionalism and caring nature is one of the reasons I am here and excited to join anynines, she showed empathy during the lengthy visa situation which lasted almost 10 months. After finally receiving my entry visa in February and billed to travel in March, the Covid-19 situation and restriction strikes like a ‘Sledge Hammer’ and my entry visa expired during the period, so I was close to giving up at that point. ??

Finally arriving in Germany on the 2nd of November 2020 was indeed a journey ?, but in all, I am grateful for the opportunity anynines is giving to me.

Settling down in Germany is another experience entirely because I could not travel with my spouse as his visa for family-reunion is not completed yet. So it’s been quite challenging for me to be here all by myself but anynines staff has been great in helping me to achieve this.

Jessica helped me a lot with accommodation, Melanie (Assistance) helped me with my apartment movement as well as other logistics. The most amazing part is the fact that they helped me stock up my apartment with enough groceries that will last me for my quarantine period even before I arrived ??. They are both amazing.

Shopping winter outfits and all have been with the help of Helena (my wardrobe consultant ?), she’s been so attentive when I rant about the best winter jacket I can use to keep me warm. Manu, my teammate in the EPO department, has been such a kind person in welcoming me to the team and Benjamin has been my coach in this new world of Cloud Foundry, and to Nico for believing in me. All these people are so wonderful and my story of migrating and living in Germany will not be complete without them. 

So far, I love it here and I do not regret making the decision to move to Germany and most importantly joining anynines, though the cold is dealing with me because Nigeria is always very warm so this is a different experience for me but I know with time and with the best winter outfit I will be fine. 

Francisco Germano – Brazil

Hello, World!

My name is Francisco Germano, I am 30 years old and for 7 years I have been working in the software development area. Currently, I have been living in Brazil where I have been working remotely at anynines, and It has been making me so happy. I hold a System Information graduation degree and a Project Management MBA degree. Most of my professional experience was working with backend/frontend development, Cloud Computing, and System Distributed environment.

My first contact with anynines was through a friend of mine. After that, I started to seek more information about the company and I was able to find pretty much good things about it. The first impression was great, especially by the innovative culture, stack of technologies, and good company reputation.

I have been working at anynines for 2 months, I am a part of the Data Services team. Since the beginning, all my expectations about the anynines have been fulfilling. Moreover, I have been enjoying working with talented people and in a company well structured.

I have never been to Germany, but I really would like it. I am looking forward to visiting Germany and meeting the whole anynines team personally. When this whole Corona situation is solved, I will do it for sure. I hope to do it as soon as possible.

Heitor Meira de Melo – Brazil

Hi there,

I’m Heitor, I currently live in Brazil, but have worked for almost 4 years now (time flies indeed).

I met anynines via a recruiting agency who found me on LinkedIn. I had visited Germany before (what an amazing country!), so I was eager to pack my things and move there. I am so glad that Benjamin and Jessica were responsible to help me establish my new life, and that I could live with Benjamin and his family for a few weeks. I could not ask for people nicer to have this moment of my life.

After I got to meet the other people in the company, things started to feel more like home. anynines felt more than a company, I could do the job that I loved, in a company that I care. On top of that, Saarbrücken was not difficult to fall in love with, it has such a beautiful landscape, so much green… and France is just across the border.

I had to come back to Brazil after almost one year, and the company gave me all the support I needed and decided to keep working with me from here. I still meet all my teammates, my friends every year. Counting the days for the nice conversations and of course, Schwenker.

Igor Li – Kyrgyzstan

Hello there!

My name is Igor. I am from Kyrgyzstan, which is a small country in Central Asia. I am working as a Cloud Engineer at anynines.

In 2018 I started to think about relocation. After researching this topic, I chose Germany because it has an excellent environment to grow children, medical service, and has very good and diverse food.

In 2019 I had the first interview with anynines, and I spoke with one of the engineers. While we were talking, I got a great impression. His behavior reminded me of one great person I met when I started my career as a software developer. After that, I had a second technical interview, and I liked its flow. I understood how the process of solving tasks looked in a9s, and after that meeting, I said to myself that I would like to work with them. We signed a contract and started the relocation process, and the company helped a lot with that. I want to take off my hat to thank you, Jessica Schuster, who did a great job relocating my wife and me.

Nowadays, I am happy to be part of the anynines team, and I like the feeling that I am not the smartest guy in the room and I still can learn something.

Marcelo Gonçalves – Brazil

Hello, everyone!

My name is Marcelo and although I’m doing an internship in the Managed Services department of anynines, I come from and still live in Brazil. I hold a degree in Information Technology but I first studied Languages and Literature (Portuguese and German). During these studies, I had my first opportunity to visit Germany, where I had unforgettable experiences and made many friends. 

I spent the past few years working as a Portuguese and Literature teacher, studying IT, and visiting Germany whenever I had the chance. After my last “Germany-Vacations”, however, I realized Germany wasn’t only the place I wanted to be visiting every once and a while but the place where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. As you can see, I am kind of in the process of “immigrating” twice at the same time: From teaching to IT and from Brazil to Germany. 

During the last semester of my IT studies, I started looking for companies where I could do an internship and came to know about anynines. My first impressions were the best possible: The company works with the most modern technologies of the market; whenever I wrote them they didn’t send me standard cold messages back but very friendly ones; In my first job interview, for instance, I spent one hour talking about technical stuff with my interviewer but It was actually like talking to a friend. 

With the outbreak of the pandemic, when my plans were about to be frustrated, anynines surprised me allowing me to work remotely and here I am now. The first good impressions I had, have just grown stronger and if I would try to find an analogy to describe this company, it would be something more or less like this: A happy multicultural family growing up together.

Martin Valencia Flores – México

Hello,

My name is Martín Valencia Flores, I come from México (which might explain to you why I have two last names, I’ve been living in Germany a bit over 4 years now, and I am currently a Platform Engineer at anynines.

I am a Computer Engineer and worked as such (and a bit of tech support) for a small tech company back in my hometown for roughly 3 years until I decided to uproot myself and try to build a life here in Germany. 

The reason why I chose Germany goes a bit back, almost a decade: 

I had the opportunity to take a semester abroad, in Spain. During winter vacations I went to spend Christmas with a friend of my dad’s colleague (yes, a bit of a stretch in the relationship, but it was a nice experience and I became friends with the whole family) at their home in Memmingen. As soon as I landed, I knew I’d love to live in Germany.

As usual, life always has other plans and it took me almost 8 years to accomplish that goal, in the form of studying for a Master’s.

Why did I apply for anynines? Well, I was, like many people often find themselves, in the middle of a job hunt. I had a growing interest in Cloud Computing, so I stumbled upon anynines (orange is a color that’s hard to miss), so I applied and hoped for the best. Soon after I got a reply inviting me for an interview related to a position in the Data Services team. 

From the very beginning, I was marveled at the way my colleagues carried themselves; you could see them for the professional people they are, but you could also see that they are, well, people. To me, that was one of the major swaying points, as it pointed to a healthy work environment. This was cemented in the paring session.

And so, I’ve been working at anynines for a bit over a year now, and I can say I love working here. Everyone (even the co-workers on the grumpy side) looks out for you one way or the other.

While I won’t say everything has been Cloud Nine (pun intended, and what I thought was the origin of the company’s name until corrected ^^’), the majority of my experiences have been positive. 

Here are of my happiest moments at anynines:

• The constant moments’ everyone in the company (our CEO included) took to reassure me that they would help me during the long (and problematic!!!) visa approval process 
• The moment Jessica, with a smile on her face, came to my desk and handed me the long-awaited reply from the Ausländerbehörde

Sabbir Ahmed – Bangladesh

Hello everyone.

I’m Sabbir from Bangladesh and I moved to Germany one year ago to do my Master’s in Informatics. I joined anynines in March 2020 as a working student. My field of expertise is primarily Frontend Development for Web Applications and that’s what I’m working with right now.

I chose anynines because this company works with state of the art software technologies to provide reliable and robust products for the customers. It holds very well experienced Developers and experts who can teach me and bring me forward to my goal of becoming a successful Software Engineer in the future.

My so far journey with anynines has been amazing and very rewarding. My team members are super friendly and cooperative in all aspects. I also love the fact that our office space is very pet friendly and organizes team events to cheer us up when we feel a bit down.

I’m extremely grateful to be a part of this company for the last 10 months and looking forward to more wonderful experiences ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us.

Are you a migrant working in a tech company? Leave us a comment with your experience.