Booking.com looking for CPT Devs and Product Owners

My guess: South Africa has a decent talent pool. Many of these are cynical about the future of the country but do not have an easy "out".

Booking.com therefore gets good devs who speak a language similar to Dutch, who would work for lower salaries in order to get a foothold in Europe.
 
scudsucker said:
My guess: South Africa has a decent talent pool. Many of these are cynical about the future of the country but do not have an easy "out".

Booking.com therefore gets good devs who speak a language similar to Dutch, who would work for lower salaries in order to get a foothold in Europe.
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Except, the language is nothing like spoken Afrikaans. An Afrikaans person can read some Dutch but certainly not speak or understand it. I was there for IBC in 2008. Nice place to visit, not sure I would want to live there though.
 
I'm Zimbabwean, and don't speak Afrikaans beyond what I learnt from the gaatjies in taxis when I first arrived; but I am pretty sure knowledge of Afrikaans would make learning Dutch fairly trivial.

There is also the fact that most South Africans are also fluent in English (and the accent is not incomprehensible to Americans), which is also a useful trait for an international company.
 
Beware of hiring SA's with the already militant attitude problem.
 
Akasha said:
@Baxteen isn't this your long term plan?
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It was at one stage.
I actually applied there a few years ago, had a second Skype interview, but then restraint of trade stopped the process. I had worked for a direct competitor.

But now that restraint of trade is gone....
 
Before I left SA it started becoming more apparent how many companies overseas are hiring devs in SA. When I contacted them and enquired about a job in their home country they flatly refused but offered jobs in SA. The reason, it would cost them more than double to employ the same person in their home country. They can either pay $75k a year in SA or $140k a year in Aus.
 
We've actually looked at Booking.com as a way of potentially getting into Europe. From what I've read (keeping in mind it's an ex-employee who wrote it) Booking.com hires people for a one year contract, renews it for a second year but then not after that.

If you read up on the Dutch employment laws there is a clause that states that once your contract is renewed a second time (third contract) you become a permanent staff member. So apparently they let you go after your second year so as to avoid having you as a permanent staff member.

Regardless, they offer relocation and stuff so if you can find other work there you are set. To be honest, though, I'd much rather move to and live in Utrecht than Amsterdam itself.
 
Hamster said:
We've actually looked at Booking.com as a way of potentially getting into Europe. From what I've read (keeping in mind it's an ex-employee who wrote it) Booking.com hires people for a one year contract, renews it for a second year but then not after that.

If you read up on the Dutch employment laws there is a clause that states that once your contract is renewed a second time (third contract) you become a permanent staff member. So apparently they let you go after your second year so as to avoid having you as a permanent staff member.

Regardless, they offer relocation and stuff so if you can find other work there you are set. To be honest, though, I'd much rather move to and live in Utrecht than Amsterdam itself.
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I expect that's definitely specifically an ex-employee's take on it. :). I am sure that the 2 year contract structure creates a need to revisit each employees performance as their 2 year mark approaches, which means that if someone is to be fired it is more likely to happen then, than before or after. However, I strongly expect that it's only those with questionable performance that are actually let go.
 
cguy said:
I expect that's definitely specifically an ex-employee's take on it. :). I am sure that the 2 year contract structure creates a need to revisit each employees performance as their 2 year mark approaches, which means that if someone is to be fired it is more likely to happen then, than before or after. However, I strongly expect that it's only those with questionable performance that are actually let go.
Click to expand...

Agreed, you'll probably find a lot of happy employees that's been there for more than two years BUT the above scenario can be problematic depending on which visa you have.
 
Hamster said:
We've actually looked at Booking.com as a way of potentially getting into Europe. From what I've read (keeping in mind it's an ex-employee who wrote it) Booking.com hires people for a one year contract, renews it for a second year but then not after that.

If you read up on the Dutch employment laws there is a clause that states that once your contract is renewed a second time (third contract) you become a permanent staff member. So apparently they let you go after your second year so as to avoid having you as a permanent staff member.

Regardless, they offer relocation and stuff so if you can find other work there you are set. To be honest, though, I'd much rather move to and live in Utrecht than Amsterdam itself.
Click to expand...

I would move to Utrecht in a heartbeat! Would love to commute to work in a bike on roads that are safe!
 
Baxteen said:
It was at one stage.
I actually applied there a few years ago, had a second Skype interview, but then restraint of trade stopped the process. I had worked for a direct competitor.

But now that restraint of trade is gone....
Click to expand...

@Baxteen, how was the interview process upto that point?
 
evilskaap said:
@Baxteen, how was the interview process upto that point?
Click to expand...

before that, it was a phone a skype call, wiht what felt more like HR, because no technical questions were asked.
then it was the skype video call.
that got quite technical, and things were going really well, we started discussing things I have knowlage about due to my work experience, that lead to them asking if restraint of trade would be an issue, I realised it would be, and we agreed there is no point in wasting more time.

the video call lasted all of 2 mins.
 
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