Career Story: Pedro Rates

Pedro is a Software Engineer who relocated from Brazil to the Netherlands in October 2021 to work at ReBound. He has been working in IT for the last 5 years developing applications in Java as well as processes with Kamunda. 

After coming across the opportunity on a jobs site, Pedro completed the entire hiring process virtually from Brazil. “It was as smooth a process as I could have hoped for. It was a very different experience from a traditional interview process, but the virtual experience was really well managed.” Pedro felt that there were no downsides to the virtual process and in fact, it was even better as he could interview from abroad, remaining at home in Brazil for the duration of the process. 

For international workers, often the hardest and most intimidating aspect of working abroad is the actual relocation process itself, however for Pedro, the entire process was “as hassle-free as an international or intercontinental relocation process can be” and he went on to credit ReBound for the part they played in making the process as problem-free as possible, “the HR team was very helpful and informative, they took care of the entire visa process, I just sent HR my documents and ReBound did the rest.” 

After arriving in the Netherlands, Pedro felt that “there was a really warm welcome when we arrived which made it really easy to settle in during the first few weeks.” However, he did mention that the difference in weather between the Netherlands and Brazil was significant, but he was aware of what to expect before he arrived.  

Regarding the onboarding process, Pedro said, “Initially, there was so much to learn, I had a lot of meetings with key people within the company which was really helpful”. Describing the entire process as ‘really smooth and efficient’, he also mentioned that he was completely set up with a company laptop, phone, and travel card on his first day.  

When asked about the cultural differences in relation to work between Brazil and the Netherlands, Pedro says that he’s noticed that people in the Netherlands seem to enjoy a better work/life balance. “In Brazil, there is a strong culture of overtime in IT, there is a lot of pressure from managers, including having to work at the weekends if there is critical work to be done and this has created a hostile IT environment,” Pedro said. In addition, Pedro compared the difference in work-from-home policies between the Netherlands and Brazil, saying that it is a lot more relaxed here whereas, in Brazil, fixed in-office schedules are leaving workers with very little flexibility.  

When asked what his biggest takeaway was from his time with ReBound so far, Pedro highlighted how happy he was to be working in such a diverse, international environment where he gets to work in English and collaborate with people from so many different cultural backgrounds.