A growing number of young specialists from Kazakhstan work for such global giants as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, LinkedIn, Microsoft, eBay, and Booking.com. There are also many who work directly in the Silicon Valley, where the headquarters of these high-tech corporations are located.
Maksat Kadyrov, @maxat_kadyrov, 28, happens to be one of those specialists who works in Silicon Valley - at LinkedIn - since March 2020, Tengrinews.kz reports.
From Aktobe to LA
Maksat was born in Aktobe and has lived in Nur-Sultan since 2011. He graduated from the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, specializing in automation and management. Later, he entered the master's program at California University of Management and Sciences in California. The American startup he was involved in went bankrupt in mid-2019, so he returned to Kazakhstan and opened his own IT company. Maksat and his wife were thinking about returning to the U.S., he had a visa, but his wife got it only on the fifth time. As soon as she got her visa, they flew back to LA, bought the simplest car, and moved to Silicon Valley. They rented a room from Kazakhs who worked there.
33-day survival
"As soon as we arrived, I started looking for a job. It took 33 days. By Valley standards, that's pretty fast. I treated it like a job, I had a daily schedule of job applications and interviews. The difficulties were moral and financial. At one point I was beginning to think I was worthless in the job market and was ready to take any job. But my wife believed in me. She managed to find a job in a couple of hours and provided money for us to hold on until I get a job, for which I am very grateful. I remember how sometimes we ate only one cookie a day to save money."
Google VS LinkedIn
"In February there was finally light at the end of the tunnel. Interviews at LinkedIn and Google went great. I had two offers from the coolest companies. Later that evening I got a third job offer from one of the successful startups I had interviewed with almost a month earlier. I was deciding which company I was going to choose for two days. Google and LinkedIn started raising their salaries to get me to choose them. The CEO of the startup called at 9 p.m. at night to try to talk me into choosing them. I told him the salaries that Google and LinkedIn had offered, and he raised the salary too. So all three of them ended up offering me almost similar salaries."
Company Values
"As soon as we arrived, I started looking for a job. It took 33 days. By Valley standards, that's pretty fast. I treated it like a job, I had a daily schedule of job applications and interviews. The difficulties were moral and financial. At one point I was beginning to think I was worthless in the job market and was ready to take any job. But my wife believed in me. She managed to find a job in a couple of hours and provided money for us to hold on until I get a job, for which I am very grateful. I remember how sometimes we ate only one cookie a day to save money."
People from Kazakhstan in Google, Facebook and LinkedIn
"Getting a job in the Valley for Kazakhstan’s programmers is quite realistic. I did not know that there is this belief in Kazakhstan that you have to get to Europe first, and only then you will be hired in Silicon Valley. It's probably an easier route I didn't know about. There are a lot of people from Kazakhstan in the Valley, many working for Google and Facebook. I personally know three Kazakhs working for LinkedIn. I think every major company has them. Our company has a group of Russian-speaking people on Slack (corporate messenger), everyone there is from the former Soviet Union. We meet for lunches and hang out."
How to get a job in Silicon Valley
"Getting a job in the Valley for Kazakhstan’s programmers is quite realistic. I did not know that there is this belief in Kazakhstan that you have to get to Europe first, and only then you will be hired in Silicon Valley. It's probably an easier route I didn't know about. There are a lot of people from Kazakhstan in the Valley, many working for Google and Facebook. I personally know three Kazakhs working for LinkedIn. I think every major company has them. Our company has a group of Russian-speaking people on Slack (corporate messenger), everyone there is from the former Soviet Union. We meet for lunches and hang out."
The most difficult question
"During a LinkedIn interview, I was asked a question that made me think I had failed. I was asked, 'What can you do with your eyes closed? Are you that good at anything that you can do it with your eyes closed?' I went numb. Imagine, you're asked a question in a job interview, and you become numb for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, the interviewer asked in amazement: 'There's nothing you can do with your eyes closed' I replied, 'Well, I can sleep like that.' We laughed together and moved on to the next question. At the end of the interview, it turned out that this was a trick question and I answered it perfectly. The manager said he didn't want people on the team with big egos who thought they could do something so well they didn't even have to look at it. It could ruin the relationships between team members, and also cost the company a lot of money."
"I am pleased with the current level of digitalization in Kazakhstan, and I think it is something that Kazakhstan can be proud of. The prospects are great, but it's a little early for companies of the level of at least Yandex to appear in the country. This is primarily due to staffing. The level of programmers is weak due to the fact there is no competition. The entry threshold is low. I hope that soon there will be enough of them and competition will begin. I think it's normal that people go abroad to work, but I really hope that they will come back with experience and ideas. My wife and I are planning to come back. Right now I want to gain experience and grow. Even if I am offered a huge salary in Kazakhstan and a good position, I am not ready to go back yet. I think if I spend another 5-7 years in Silicon Valley, then Kazakhstan will really benefit from me when I come back."
