How This Developer Got a High-Paying Remote Job With a US Tech Company in 2 Weeks

Hey there!

This is the story of Ivan, a skilled developer who lived in the Netherlands and decided to get back home to Eastern Europe. He faced some recruitment struggles after returning to his home country. Ivan shares what it was like and what exactly helped him get through the obstacles.

But let’s get to know the main character first.

Who is Ivan?

He’s a qualified developer with a strong mathematical background: a PhD in mathematics and numerous publications are the least of his advantages.

Ivan also has vast practical experience in software engineering and a broad skillset, which includes C, C ++, Java, Python, R, and a whole host of different packages.

Ivan had lived in the Netherlands for the past 18 years before he realized he wanted to come back to his home to live a calm life with his family, away from big noisy cities.

But, surprisingly, getting a job offer was hard even for such a brilliant specialist like him.

And this is how Ivan met Insquad

Six months after returning to Eastern Europe from the Netherlands, Ivan sent his CV to several local companies. He was answered only by a couple of them.

The reply of the first one was incomprehensible: It said “yes”, then disappeared for several weeks, then said “yes” one more time and invited Ivan for an the interview. Are you puzzled? He was, too. Such uncertainty was a red flag for Ivan. He decided to try his luck and agreed, though. But at the interview, Ivan was offered a salary 20% lower than the market. So he said goodbye.

What about the second company? At the interview, Ivan was told that he would have to come to the office, although the job ad said it was absolutely remote. Maybe someone would fall for this trick, but not Ivan.

“In fact, remoteness was a priority for me,” he says. “I chose a place of residence away from big cities, precisely with an eye on the fact that I was going to work remotely.”

Having nearly a dozen applications sent but unanswered and an upsetting experience with the two companies from his hometown, Ivan decided to give American employers a chance. But he knew he couldn’t make it on his own. Here’s what he says:

“The IT job market in the U.S. is peculiar and it’s easy to stay unnoticed: big companies don’t usually work with lone employees, and small ones like startups prefer to hire someone they already know.”

So Ivan decided to find somebody who could help him get the right job for his needs. He wasn’t very familiar with the IT job market in the US, so he asked his friend Patil, a front-end developer who found a job in California a year ago, where to look. Patil told Ivan about Insquad. He found the website and sent the application. “He told me a bit about the process of working with Insquad and they seemed reliable. So I thought: they don’t need anything from me as a candidate except passing a test. Why not try it?”

And our journey together began. But what happened next, and how exactly did Insquad help Ivan?

Here’s how it went, step by step.

Step 1: Ivan’s personal needs identification

The first thing Insquad needed to know to find a suitable company for Ivan was his list of requirements for his future job.

So, he shared his needs with Insquad, which included:

• Remote work without relocation
• Match with his area of interests: neural networks, algorithms, applied statistics, development of scientific software
• A salary sufficient for a family with four kids
• Flextime preferred
• No bureaucracy
• International team preferred

Step 2: Getting vetted by Insquad

These are the stages Ivan highlighted:

1. First, I got tested on the platform for my skills confirmation.
2. Next, I had an interview with the account manager and they created an Insquad profile for me.
3. Then, Skan AI liked my profile and contacted me for a job interview.

Step 3: The hiring process with Skan AI

Generally, with Insquad, the employment process takes between one and three months from application to hire. After employment is secured, Insquad takes care of registration, taxes, and payments. The developer will be employed by a US company, but all the paperwork is managed by Insquad so the developer can focus on their work. The whole process is completely free for the developer. Insquad only accepts payment from companies when they hire the developer of their dreams.

Speaking of the hiring process, the first thing Ivan points out is that the interview stage went in the most comfortable way for him: It was far quicker than is typical in Europe. (For one, he wasn’t interviewed by five different people who each asked him all sorts of questions, even unrelated ones).

In a nutshell, he passed the internal interviews, the company made an offer, and he was able to start working for them.

Ivan also shared that although he had some doubts and concerns about Skan AI at one point, Insquad helped address them, and they weren’t justified in the end anyway. He explains: “I was a bit worried, because my recent experience with western companies wasn’t really pleasant. Once, a company from Switzerland conducted an interview, the main purpose of which, as it turned out later, was to solve their ongoing difficult problem. And as soon as the company got the answer, they were no longer interested in me and didn’t call me back.”

So, after the interview Ivan started to worry that the same thing would happen again with Skan AI. “But then we had a call with Nick from Insquad,» Ivan says. «He reassured me about Skan AI by saying he contacted them, and that in fact, everything went fine. They’ll call me back within a day or two, he said. So I calmed down and just waited patiently.”

How Ivan’s life has changed

Ivan has now been working at Skan AI for six months. He describes the changes and the benefits from remote work like this:

“The main advantage of working at Skan AI is that I can live where I want and do things I like without, for instance, wasting time commuting to work. I live in a beautiful place surrounded by woods and rivers and, thanks to Insquad, now I’m able to code while with these marvelous views out my window instead of tall gray office highrises. By the way, my income has doubled. So, at the moment, there’s no downside here.”

Ivan’s reflections on his experience

Are you happy for Ivan? ’Cause we really are.

We were curious about his impression of working for Skan AI and Insquad’s assistance during the whole hiring process, so we couldn’t help but ask Ivan a few more questions.

What are the benefits you enjoy by working for Skan AI?

1. The first is the financial issue. This is not the most important thing, but a significant part in making decisions.
2. The second is that, remotely, you have the opportunity to choose from a much larger number of companies and projects. Accordingly, you can find something that suits you.
3. The third is interaction with an international team. This is the most interesting part, because you talk to Indians and Americans and you have the opportunity to practice the language all the time so as not to forget it. You just interact with different cultures and learn to understand people, understand how they work and how to work with them. This is a parallel, positive experience. It expands my personal, even non-professional scope.

What can you say about your financial growth and professional opportunities at Skan AI?

Compared to European developers’ salaries, there’s been a decent growth for me.

As for professional opportunities, I was lucky with Skan AI, because their interests and my range of tasks matched. Sometimes you can find a company which does interesting things, but even if you get there, it’s not certain you will do them, too. But it’s different at Scan AI: they do cool stuff and I’m involved in it, too, as I wanted to be. And there’s certainly room to grow.

And I won’t exaggerate if I say it’s Insquad’s merit: It was this company that found such a suitable position for me.

What was it like partnering with Insquad?

I usually prefer not to expect anything so I don’t get upset later. But this time I hoped everything would work out and I’d finally get a job that matches my interests and requirements. And, fortunately, it did!

In general, everything went smoothly. And signing up with Insquad was easy. Most importantly, it was all done remotely. As I said before, remoteness was a priority for me. So, it was a pleasure to work with Insquad .

If you’re interested in finding a developer job with a US tech company, contact Insquad today.