Seven questions to our Test Lead & Senior Testing Specialist, Celso

Get to know Celso Pereira (Test Lead & Senior Testing Specialist), written by Maria Kubacka-Świątek

The IT industry knows no borders. Avenga has professionals who’ve moved to Poland from abroad. Why did they decide to come here to live and work? What are the main differences in working styles between. Now you can find out.

Meet Celso Pereira from Porto, Portugal, now living in Poznań. Celso has been working with us since 2015 as Test Lead & Senior Testing Specialist

For every person, there’s a different reason for moving. Why did you choose Poland?

I always wanted to work abroad. My first thought was to move to England but when I decided to travel, as a tourist, to Poland in the summer of 2013, I already had some Polish friends and I really loved the atmosphere of the cities here. My Polish partner, at that time, helped me to make the final decision to move.

From your perspective, what differences do you see between Poland and other countries where you’ve worked? What’s it like working with Polish engineers?

Professionally, I value Poles for their professionalism, punctuality and most of all communication. That’s key in a project. We discuss all issues as they arise, which saves us a lot of time, and we can always deliver the product by the deadline. Based on my experience, in Poland, a worker’s efforts and achievements are noticed and appreciated, which isn’t necessarily the case in Portugal. Another difference is the question of trust: In Poland remote working isn’t a problem. For the employer, what’s most important is that all the assigned tasks are completed, regardless of where.

Every country has its customs. Is there a Polish one that you’d like to take back to your home country – or the other way around?

I think I’d bring Polish wedding traditions to Portugal. In my country wedding receptions are a lot more conservative; they’re mainly about having a big feast. In Poland this time also includes a lot of interesting and fun games and rituals.

Finally, a question about your time outside work, an important part of our work-life balance. Do you spend it completely differently than in your country?

To be honest, both Poznań and Porto offer similar ways of spending free time. You can choose from a wide range of seasonal cultural activities, museums, sports facilities and also all kinds of restaurants and bars, all over the city. The only difference that I see between Porto and Poznan is that Porto has several beaches where you can enjoy in the summer but on the other hand, Poznan has more natural parks and lakes where you can enjoy them the entire year.

How do you deal with winter time in Poland? Are you used to it after a couple of years?

It was hard in the first year because I’ve never had the experience of being in a place with negative temperatures and I saw snow for the first time in my life only when I moved to Poland. Now I would say that I am used to it because the winters of the last couple of years are not very cold as they used to be. The best part of being in Poland during winter is that you don’t feel the cold outside when you are at home but in Portugal, when it is cold, it is freezing at home, especially if you live in a old house.

What do you miss the most from the Portugal kitchen and you recommend “must have” during a visit there?

What I miss the most would be the fish and seafood from Portugal. It is really hard to get it in Poznan. When I am going to Portugal, I eat fish or seafood almost every day. I love to live in Poland and I want to continue to live here but sometimes I miss Portuguese cuisine. Portugal is a small country but you can find beautiful cities and attractions in all the regions, but if I would pick one or two places, I would definitely recommend Porto and Lisbon.

There are the biggest cities in Portugal and you have a lot of attractions to see, for example, in Porto you can take a boat trip where you will see beautiful landscapes with the winyards while you are drinking a glass of Porto wine. In Lisbon, I would recommend visiting the Belem neighbourhood where you can eat the famous pastry, Pastel de Nata while you are visiting some museums related to our Discovery times history.