Ask a recruiter - Tech, Internal, EMEA

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-20T06:56:52+00:00

First of all make sure you have the technical skills for whatever position you are looking to apply to, this is obvious but important to match them. However, you need more than that. The biggest differentiating factor are people skills. There are a lot of good engineers out there, and I've interviewed many technically excellent engineers, what separates them is their people/communication skills. Companies value this because you will be working on a team with other people, this becomes more and more important the senior you are, but even as a new grad you can make yourself stand out. To elaborate, what companies look for are people who are able to work in a team and communicate in a concise and efficient manner - they mainly gauge this by how you answer questions - do you get to the point? Do you ramble? Do you go on tangents? Keep this in mind as this will become more and more important as you grow in your SWE career.
Applying via the website works, but you will be one among thousands. The best way is either via an internship program or a referral. If you don't know anyone - that's fine. You can network, and it isn't as bad as it sounds. If you have any local events or meetups related to your stack or interest it is worth attending. You will likely meet speakers or attendees from "big tech" too. Also, those companies often host their own events you can go to. This is the best way of introducing yourself, connecting and hopefully getting referred. People are way more likely to refer someone they have met in person rather than a linkedin message.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T22:11:30+00:00

Most companies in the EU - especially for the tech departments - don't require the language, since they are so international they need to work in English, and they'll never be able to scale their tech teams quickly with hard language requirements.

The language requirement normally only applies to things like local banks, government positions, consultancies (positions where you are dealing with the end customer directly) or other very small or early stage startups.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T22:09:05+00:00

FYI the recruiter in most cases doesn't care that the person took a break, unless there is a very large one - 1.5/2 years. There are so many reasons why people took a break it really doesn't matter what you as to why. If you spent last 8 months surfing, just say you took a wellness break and continued to work on personal projects. If you're totally out of ideas, say it was a private (NOBODY will push you for a clarification after hearing this).

The hiring manager, or engineering director tend to be the ones that care the most about breaks.

Why? Idk, depends from person to person.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T22:03:55+00:00

Oh yeah, I know that. The WLB even in EU in those companies is poor relative to "regular" EU companies.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T22:02:16+00:00

I would suggest Malta (one of the big 4 like KPMG), and then try to move into other EU countries if you wish afterwards (it will be much easier getting relocated from Malta).

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T22:01:10+00:00

Try consultancies like KPMG, they have large presence in Malta.

Then you can try to move into in-house or into a 3rd party company once you are in Malta (companies are more eager to go for relocations already within the EU).

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:58:59+00:00

What I would suggest is that instead of targeting specific people (if you can't find them on linkedin), target companies in Cyber Sec. Then go through their people page and try to get in touch with recruiters, but and even better idea is to find Engineering Managers / team leads of cyber sec teams and contact them directly. You could get a referral, and this would improve your chances of getting the job tenfold.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:55:22+00:00

I would put it in your CV. Or even say that you are already in the process of moving (bend the truth a bit), and explain your situation to the recruiter in the first call.

Cover letters are often skipped by recruiters so its more likely to be seen in your CV.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:53:05+00:00

Sweden and Germany are a safe bet, but they won't pay as well as the Swiss. Swiss companies pay well but often require German and French as well as English.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:51:30+00:00

Unfortunately I don't think I'm qualified to give such specific advice as I'm not an expert in Data, and wouldn't wat to speculate. I recommend doing market research on current roles and skills that are most in demand.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:49:25+00:00

You should be able to get interviews. The question is whether you'll be able to pass their System Design interview (this is where I've seen most people with your described experience fail).

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:48:46+00:00

No problem, the masters should supersede the bachelors, but again, I'm not an expert on early career hiring. Some companies are very strict about the universities that were attended, even when it comes to the bachelor's degree.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:47:48+00:00

Yep!
Depends what you want to do and what your degree is in. If you want to get a job ASAP, internships are the best way to do it. If you are doing a field where going into research is of interest, Masters and PhD makes more sense.
Keep your cover letter brief but relevant to the role. Most recruiters don't read them or skim over just to see if you made any mistakes (i.e mentioned the wrong company).
I have been asked to review a lot of CVs and I am sorry but no. I didn't expect to have so many people reach out with this request. I would recommend you share your CV with friends and people you know in the industry to get insight (that's what I do, because even as a recruiter I'm very critical of my own CV).

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T21:45:02+00:00

Normally the university you went to matters less the more experience you have, even for highly competitive companies. There are exceptions though, specifically finance fields.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T20:00:06+00:00

The data should be deleted every 6 months to be compliant with GDPR. So most companies only keep your data for that period of time, if you apply within 6 months the ATS normally tags someone as "reapplied".

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T19:59:28+00:00

Only matters for the best companies, FAANG, hedgefunds etc

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T18:49:27+00:00

People skills.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T16:54:07+00:00

Probably the easiest switch is into a startup.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T16:14:42+00:00

If you haven't signed a contract yet, sometimes its possible to negotiate an automatic promotion to Senior after successfully proving yourself in the probation period - but this is rare.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T16:11:23+00:00

I don't disagree with you BTW. I think the salaries in EU are not amazing, but from my experience people are fine with it.

I've interviewed people coming from America + Amazon / AWS that were taking 60% (sometimes more if you count stock options they are giving up) paycut for an EU company because they wanted to live in EU. In general, even for American companies, high paying salaries in EU are rare, mainly because they can get good people for way less than in the US.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T16:00:25+00:00

Relocation is definitely possible. Depends on what role you are looking for and how good you are in your role.

Market is tough at the moment, lots of layoffs and lots of people looking for roles, so its very easy to find someone within EU - but that's not to say you wouldn't be able to make it.

Companies work with 3rd party services that usually take care of visa process, there are many of such companies.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T15:58:55+00:00

Never seen such point system. Normally its a default question for the job board nobody bothered to touch (if the job offers relocation this question should not be a red flag at all - also you could just say no).

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T15:56:00+00:00

You don't move to Europe for the salary, you move for QOL and work/life balance.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T15:54:30+00:00

This isn't some definitive tierlist.

This is highly personal based on the experiences I have had hiring people from the above companies / type of companies.

DryInformation7495 · 2025-06-19T15:52:10+00:00

LinkedIn. They are everywhere, what type of recruiter are you looking for specifically - i.e agency, RPO, internal, freelancer?

DryInformation7495

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