At first, deciding to move abroad can be fascinating, but it takes a little effort and dedication to make it a reality. We wanted to live in another country and have the chance to get to know a culture different from our own, but how did we start fighting for this dream?
The first thing was, yes, to choose a country we’d like to go to, and the decision was New Zealand or Australia, with the reasons that led us to this decision being:
- The similarities in climate with Brazil;
- And the English language (New Zealand also has Maori, but that’s another story).
If you know our story, you probably already know we’re in neither New Zealand nor Australia, but in Germany. We have a post about that, which you can check out here.
At this stage I could already read and write in English, so I updated my LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpcercal, filling out my entire professional profile in English.
Since I’m a developer, I also updated almost all the repositories I have on GitHub, creating a README.md file and refactoring the source code so I could use these repositories as my public references. If you’re not a programmer and don’t know this service, it’s a collaborative platform where you share and contribute to projects, which in turn are not for profit, meaning a kind of volunteer work, since you receive nothing for it except recognition.
Then, because of how important the language was, I started taking private English lessons. I remember I could barely say anything or even understand what was being said, except “The book is on the table; hello; good morning; etc… which were the lame jokes you’ve probably seen during your school days”. That made me really insecure, seriously!
Until, during a conversation with a friend - an English teacher - he gave me a tip that opened my mind, the sentence went something like this:
You don’t need to worry about whether you speak correctly or incorrectly, much more important than that is being able to communicate.
This is a life lesson for me, I worked really hard to break through that barrier and finally overcame the embarrassment of speaking incorrectly or even blaming myself for not remembering a word or expression.
You know that famous “my mind went blank”, well, it disappeared. Although you miss that expression when you’re talking, you can also simply explain what you’re trying to say without using it. I know, it sounds simple, like many things in life, but I had never thought about it, and don’t ask me why, embarrassment and psychological pressure are just a few possible answers.
About four months later, I started receiving at least two messages a week on LinkedIn from recruiters in different countries, offering such interesting opportunities that they only strengthened my desire to live abroad, don’t forget to reply to them, and do it as soon as possible! I built quite a long list of contacts and potential companies this way, hoping to have an open door in the future, but the truth was that I was afraid to accept an interview haha.
Because of this, my wife started insisting, telling me:
If you don’t try talking, you’ll never know how your understanding is coming along. So please try!
I tried for the first time, but it didn’t go well. I understood almost nothing I heard and felt frustrated. I was already a father, worked all day, spent time with my son/wife, and studied only when my son was asleep. In short, I had lots of responsibilities and plans. Meanwhile, I saw my friends having fun, going out or even sleeping late, going to the beach, and as a result, that anguish would hit because you don’t see a concrete result right away. I think I only managed to resist those temptations because I had a goal and was focused on it, I started sleeping less and also studying in the morning, shortly before going to work.
I listened to lots of podcasts in English, from different regions of the world, about various subjects, from news to grammar tips, and that helped me make a huge leap in a short time. When did I listen? While driving, about an hour a day on average as I went to and from work.
I also started researching and taking notes in English, changed my phone’s language to English, read books in English to expand my vocabulary, and brought my imaginary friend back to life to talk to me in English.
About three months later, I decided to try another interview to see how much I’d progressed. As a result, I passed the whole selection process, including two technical tests, which made me very happy. However, at the last stage I was rejected because I clearly had difficulty expressing myself and talking about preferences. I failed because of the language and was happy, because when you compete for an international position, you’re competing with people from several countries. That motivated me to keep studying at the same pace.
So, instead of intensifying my studies, I focused them on speaking, since I could already understand people very well. Then, during private online lessons with native teachers, we talked without any prepared vocabulary about whatever subject was suggested.
I studied this way for about four months, and decided to try an interview for a place I hadn’t thought about, Germany. It was just a test to assess myself, and in the end I passed.
My family already knew I wanted to come to New Zealand, but nobody knew I was trying interviews for other places in the world.
After a few weeks in the selection process, I received the job offer. The celebration, laughter and giggles were spontaneous and filled the whole house, then came the butterflies in our stomachs about having to tell the people we love that we’d be far away because our plan had worked, let go of everything we’d already acquired, and deprive our son of living where we were born, if you want to know more you can follow our next post.
One thing many people forget, but which is just as important as the final achievement, is that you should have short, measurable goals so you can celebrate every little step taken, we did this with different beers. Chocolate, orange, wheat, mate, banana, red berries, always with a different flavor so it would be as unique as the result we’d achieved.
Believe in your dreams and dedicate yourself, you can do it too. If you come to Germany, come have a beer with us and tell us your story. If you have any content suggestions, please get in touch through our contact page or our social media profiles. Auf Wiedersehen.