Someone has rightly said – If you want what no one else has, you must do what no one else does. Well, this holds true for this chapter of my life. It all started with an idea about how can I move to Finland with a valid work contract.

Job Search

If you have read my previous article about how I moved from India to Germany, then you would know that I am a huge fan of Stackoverflow Jobs. But very soon I realized that Testing jobs listed in Stackoverflow jobs specifically for Helsinki or Espoo region were very less. I then started searching for alternatives and I found – Monster Fi, Indeed Fi, Neuvoo Fi, Glassdoor Jobs, and Linkedin Jobs. After a lot of trials and errors and applying to over 50 jobs on each platform, I found LinkedIn Jobs to be better suited to my needs.

Setting Up Alerts and Applying to Jobs

Once I settled on Linkedin Jobs, I created alerts for various Keywords like Test Engineer, QA Engineer, Automation Test Engineer, etc for Helsinki and Espoo location.

The job postings that were inline with my experience and skill set, I started applying to them. But soon reality kicked in.

Very few QA Jobs and even fewer VISA Sponsored Jobs

Helsinki/Espoo is a booming IT hub in Finland, but to my amaze, the number of Quality Assurance or Test Engineer jobs that were available were very very less, compared to other EU countries like Germany or Netherlands. And out of the very few that were available, almost 5 to 10% actually wrote that they would help with Visa and Relocation. This was really disheartening, as this prevented me from applying to a lot of companies. Almost 90% of the job postings I saw required you to have a valid Finnish Work Permit. And to be honest, I cannot do much about this so instead, I did what I did the best.

Learning and Upgrading my Skills

I started learning new Automation Tools like Cypress and Cucumber and created projects on them and hosted them on my Github. I worked on my Javascript skills, learned Typescript; worked on my Java skills and Data Structures as well.

I believe in the simple idea of – Seeing is Believing. If you say that you are proficient in a particular technology/tool, but have nothing to back it up, then your words, unfortunately, doesn’t mean a lot. So it’s very important that whatever you learn, you create personal projects with them; this will not only make you more proficient in that tool/technology but will also help you to stand out from the crowd. And always upload your personal projects to any public repo like Github and mention that in your resume.

Going Through the Motions

I kept on applying to the very few jobs that I could find from LinkedIn jobs but was hardly getting any replies. I initially thought since I am already in an EU country I would get more replies since I am applying to another EU country only, but this didn’t happen. And also I was super confident that I would get a job soon as my credentials were competitive, but then Life has its own way to humble you. For 2 months straight I didn’t get any replies in any of the companies I applied for, not even a rejection email. And this was in late 2019’s before the corona crisis. I kept on applying anyways.

Keeping the Spirits High

I think when you’re working hard, putting in all your time and energy into something, you want things to happen. But unfortunately, that’s not how life works. Good things take time, they always will. I have lived this twice now.

Working Smart

I knew I needed to do something else because for a long time I have been doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. I decided to change my approach. I started applying to companies that didn’t mention anything about VISA Sponsorship and companies that mandatorily wanted a Finnish RP.

My First Interview

Amazingly I got my first interview from a company which had mentioned that the candidate must have a valid Finnish residence permit. So changing my approach helped. I had my first conversation with HR where I clearly explained my VISA situation and they mentioned that since I had a Blue Card, Visa and relocation wouldn’t be a problem. They were extremely helpful. After the first chat I was given an assignment; where I had to create a Test Automation Framework with Selenium Webdriver and automate Business Critical flows in their demo site. I also had to study their website and write test cases for Business Critical flows. I submitted the assignment and was selected for round two. But unfortunately, after round two I wasn’t offered the position. The HR’s were very polite in letting me know the reason, that they found someone else who was already in Helsinki and had a lesser Notice period.

Keeping up with the Routine

Well, Rejection sucks and the best way to deal with it is to keep on doing the things that you’re supposed to do. Success is not doing big things overnight, its the cumulative effect of small tasks that you do every day. So it’s very important and I can say this from my personal experience, finish the tasks that you’ve planned for the day and this will give you a sense of accomplishment and boost your morale.

My routine was simple, wake up at 7 AM, apply to job postings, go to the office, and then in the evening work on enhancing the skill set. Everyday apart from the office I used to devote no less than 3-4 hours and on weekends around 7-8 hours.

Bingo! My Second Interview

Second Interview, first round. It was more of a chat rather than an interview. The Interviewers were super friendly and they explained in detail about the company and what my role would be. Then there were few questions and I think I answered them decently. One thing I always follow in interviews is, to be honest, and transparent to the recruiters. You have to understand that if you’re faking it, they will know. Well, all in all, the first round went well.

Second Interview, Round 2 contd…

I got a mail from the HR Manager that I was selected for the second round. This round was more technical in nature. Again the interviewers were super friendly and made me super comfortable throughout the process. I was able to answer almost all the questions. And then the wait began.

I got the Job!

I got the call and yes, I made it. Woohoo! I am moving to Finland to join Valo. I was super thrilled and excited.

The HR team took care of all the details for my relocation and supported me in every step of the process. And then something unexpected happened.

The Corona Crisis!

I was in Germany and the whole country like the rest of the world went into a lockdown mode. Businesses were getting affected severely. People were losing jobs. It was a nightmare. Looking at things and hearing about layoffs made me highly concerned whether my contract would be canceled or not. But throughout, people from Valo kept in touch with me for any help and they kept their promise, and for that, I am really thankful to them. And finally, I flew to Helsinki and officially joined Valo. It was an amazing experience being onboarded completely remotely. And on my first day, I got this lovely goodie bag from them 🙂

With Every Crisis There is Opportunity

There were a few things that happened exceptionally smooth in my case. First of all, I didn’t have to travel to Berlin Finnish Embassy which is usually the process, I did my Visa Interview in Hamburg only. I got my visa in 7 days. Just to give you a context when I traveled to Germany from India, it took around 90 days for my visa. Secondly, I am a huge fan of Remote Working but never really had the chance to work in such an environment. But after March in my previous company, I was working full time remotely for around 2 months and was off-boarded remotely as well.

Conclusion

I think the three biggest lessons that I learned from this story are – Dream Big, Don’t be afraid to burn the midnight oil & have Patience with Perseverance.