What brought you to Lithuania?

My wife actually. She graduated as a nurse in Israel, and she was working as a nurse in several departments for a couple of years. But she saw that there was a glass ceiling she couldn’t penetrate at home and she wanted to realize her potential. So she did some research and discovered that Kaunas had some of the best studies available in the field she wanted to get into – dentistry.

We made the decision to move last year and now we are here.

My wife and I met in the army. It was only later that we realized that not only were we from the same city, but we shared the same groups of friends – the only difference is that there’s three years between us. Crazy, huh?  

Anyway, when the decision was made, my wife started to join all these WhatsApp groups in Israel that are run by people who’ve studied and worked in Lithuania. Kaunas is very popular with Israeli students, you see. So, they provided this great checklist of all the things that you need. We even got our first flat through someone in one of these groups!

From the moment we decided, I started looking for jobs. Through acquaintances I found the Work In Lithuania portal and I just applied to every job that fit my experiences. A lot of the companies were slow in getting in touch, and some never got back to me at all.

With GOD it was a really smooth recruitment process, however. I saw their position on the Work in Lithuania website, applied, and right away they got back to me. We started the process of normal interviews, and then I had a technical interview. After a week I received the green light. Everything was done remotely. Very easy.

How was the relocation experience?

It was ok. We got a lot of information from Israelis already in Lithuania. GOD did their part, they provided the mediation letter so I could get my Blue Card. The Blue Card is the permit you need to work in the EU if you’re not an EU citizen. But getting it wasn’t really a hassle.

Also GOD was really supportive, they helped me to call the officials and translate stuff from Lithuanian. So, I always had their back-up.

The only worry we had was that our son, who is 2, was due to start Kindergarten as soon as we arrived, which was at the beginning of September. Here again, GOD were fantastic. They postponed my start date by two weeks so I could help him to settle. Talking of Kindergartens, I’m kind of amazed now because my son can now speak four languages: Hebrew, Russian, and because of his Kindergarten, English and, of course, Lithuanian!

How well are you settling in?

It’s been pretty easy for me to settle in to be honest. I was born in Odessa in Ukraine, and Kaunas reminds me of there, especially the chestnut trees.

The team is also super supportive. GOD is German based, and has offices in Germany, Poland, India and here. So, even though the team is mostly Lithuanian, the company has a very cool, international feel. It makes it easier to feel at home.

Talking of which, could you tell us a little bit about the working culture and your job.

Compared to my job back home it’s relaxed, but structured. I’d say the word that sums up the working culture at my office is transparency. When you receive a task, you need to be transparent about your capabilities. You need to be honest about how long you think it will take you. And if you are stuck, you just need to say that you are stuck and they will provide you with the help you need. But if you can’t do the task, they will not be angry at you. The philosophy is: let’s figure out why you can’t do this task and then you will be able to do this task. And this approach, at least for me, encourages me to do more, because I know that I will receive support. I won’t be yelled at.

I feel that here people are more chill, more relaxed, and there is less tension.

As for my job. It’s great, and challenging. Early on in my career I realized I like jobs that push me, and that’s why I moved from software engineer to DevOps. My official position here is DevOps Infrastructure Expert. When you talk about DevOps, you can roughly split the job into two specialties: Cloud Native DevOps, where you work mainly with cloud technologies, and Cloud Agnostic Devops, where you might have your infrastructure in the cloud or on the premises, like physical servers. I deal with the latter, which is extra challenging as I have to adapt and deal with whatever infrastructure I’m given. But I love it as it allows me to use all the diagnostic tools I’ve developed.

How would you rate the work-life balance in Lithuania?

Great. It feels nice that I can come to work at a regular hour, and then finish at a regular hour. And then I can totally disconnect from work and I actually have more time to concentrate on other stuff. Like, I have more time to spend with my son, I have more time to cook.

What do you think of Lithuania?

The landscape back home is very diverse, and I need to give it respect. But here, there is so much green. Like. It’s so beautiful. And the fact that you just need to go for 30 minutes and you’ll find yourself in a pretty big forest – it’s so cool. And the snow is something else.

Before coming here, I hadn’t seen proper snow for 20 years or so. It was the first snow for my son, and he was so excited, and I was excited too!

We’ve had some time to explore and have been to the countryside and to Vilnius. If I’m being honest, I prefer Kaunas, it’s calmer and quieter. Vilnius is more like somewhere fast and loud like Tel Aviv, but with better drivers!

Any last things you’d like to share?

By accident, like a year ago, I discovered that the father of my Grandpa was born in Lithuania. So, I have some Lithuanian roots. What kind of crazy coincidence is that!

_{The interview was conducted in June 2023.}