Urban (and not only) life in Brazil 2
(How long ago, I already went to the Habr, so I don't know what hub it would be interesting to put. So do not judge strictly, I chose those hubs which I thought more appropriate. I will be glad if anyone tell me a more appropriate spot if that).
A couple of years ago I wrote my first non-technical post on Habre about life in Brazil. The theme was very popular, and since I said already not one hundred mails with questions about life here.
So now, about 2 years and a month later, I decided to write a sequel, and describe what has changed here over the past 2 years.
From my side, changed pretty much everything. Since the previous events, I first grew to become the development Manager at the Brazilian branch Mandriva (to be precise, specifically in Connective — Brazilian part Mandriva-forming conglomerate), then to technical Director for desktop directions, and finally about 9 months ago went to work at Intel, where they still are. The Intel I work in the intel linux graphics team, and I was responsible for the latest releases of our graphics drivers under Linux (2011Q4 and 2012.12 — OpenNet they are already covered), and worked directly on their development. For example, everything we have released so far for Intel Haswell GPU will be written directly to me. Though of course, there are many other interesting projects, but about them I can not tell :).
But back to the topic of Brazil, in recent years there has changed pretty much everything. Although, when I tried all this, renumber, the basic themes continue to be relevant, the differences are more in details.
The crises of recent years Brazil has not affected, at least, neither me nor my friends they almost nothing memorable. Yes, increased prices for gasoline, alcohol (which is now renamed into ethanol to meet international standards — although technically it has not changed much :)), and in General, inflation has raised prices of almost everything. But on the other hand, wages also increased, both minimum and more specific.
Particularly noticeable is the difference in salaries has been in the computer field. As I wrote, the professions associated with computers in Brazil is growing almost exponentially in recent years, and it's starting to give its effects. The difference between those who work as "generalists", and these professionals becomes very large, and it is expressed including in salaries. For example, the difference in salary for the same profession (analista de sistemas, systems analyst, or in Russian) changes of the average salary in R$ 1200 (for the generalists, where 500 US$) to BRL 3000 (US$ 1500) for professionals. Depending on professional growth, this difference grows even more — for example, salaries for the programmers and computer experts grow to BRL 30,000 and above, and for the generalists 2000 almost the ceiling. And so on. So there is an odd situation when there are hundreds of vacancies with good salaries, and to fill them it is impossible — because most have learned "programming" in C# and Java on the minimum program and the word "algorithm" in their eyes are welling with tears. Sad...
But returning to the non-technical aspects, in terms of life priorities, for example, housing prices are rising constantly, but still remain affordable for most interested. In recent years the government has conducted many programs to provide housing for the poorest groups, under the title "minha casa, minha vida" ("my house, my life"), providing very large loans for the purchase of a home for those who receive less than BRL 1,800 per month. There is still quite a lot of conditions, but in General, buying a home for the family with funding for 10-20-30 years doesn't provide much of a problem. Prices of course vary widely depending on the city, state, or district — for example, a large house with 3 bedrooms, plot of 200 square meters, with 3 car garage in a good area is worth somewhere in the area of 250-300 thousand reais in a medium big city. In Sao Paulo, for example, such a house would cost about a million. But in small towns it is possible to find the exact same offer for 70-100 thousand. Financing at 20 years, mortgage is around 9-10% (although depending on your Bank of course).
From the point of view of taking the apartment or home, it is quite expensive as prices have risen in recent years due to the General growth of welfare of citizens. In São Paulo, one or two bedroom apartment close to the centre will cost somewhere in the 1800-2400 a month (which, of course, expensive, but there are more than enough). In Curitiba, for example (where the headquarters Conectiva), the same apartment will cost somewhere in the 1200-1500. In São Carlos (a city in the middle of the state of Sao Paulo) — it will cost somewhere in the 700-900 reais per month. But in small cities it is possible to find exactly the same, but for 300-500 reais per month. So the difference is quite significant — I do not know how it is in Russia...
What is particularly expensive there is, so it's all sorts of technological things. Any machine is at least 2 times more than in any other country nearby, because of taxes. For example, the ford focus or the renault logan, which cost up to 15 thousand reais in argentina/chile/mexico/..., there are 35 thousand. Ipad costs 1200 dollars. Samsung galaxy S2 — $ 1,000. And so on. Food, by contrast, is cheap, it is possible to live well eating at BRL 20 per day. Very chic restaurants are 40-60 reais for lunch, well, 100-150 for dinner for two with good wine. Although, of course, have particularly super-chic, where prices start from R $ 100 and up to infinity :).
As a bonus, for all computer and high tech devices (and generally any products of clothing for example, or furniture) that are produced in Brazil — taxes more than lowered, somewhere in 2 times (or even more). So most either buy local products (positivo, cce, itautec, semp toshiba), or products assembled in Brazil, local manufacturers (acer, lenovo, hp, etc.), which was built specifically for the local market. If you consider that selling technology products in recent years, increasing 2 times every year, the producers is very profitable.
About health care... the Government has done a lot of different programs to help low-income citizens. For example, the most expensive drugs for the most complex illnesses, which are several tens times the minimum wage per month, distributed free of charge. There are free medical programs and available medicine, but.... not enough doctors for everyone, and depending on the city and state may vary from "average" to "no". So there are hundreds of private medical and health plans. The cost varies from 70 to 300 reais a month, depending on the plan, insurance support as soon as a specific city in a separate state, and a complete set of all kinds of surveys in Brazil and abroad.
Finally, about the job... There are many laws at work and protect workers from arbitrary employer. For the business owner is very difficult to fire someone without a particularly good reason — as in this case, you will have to pay at least a monthly salary + 1 month salary for each year + all expired vacations + 40% on top of this. And if you do not pay within 30 days, the government may be required to pay the entire amount at double the rate under the threat of closure of the company + arrest.
On the other hand, taxes are still quite large. With each paycheck, the employer must pay almost the same amount to the government (for example if the salary is 2000 per month, the employer pays the employee 2000 + 2000 more to the government in taxes). And from the final salary, which is paid to the employee, the government deducts anywhere from 10 to 27% tax. At the end of the year, some part of the taxes returned, but not all. In General it is a rather complex system, which is not particularly easy to understand.
That's all what I originally wanted to write — but of course I have described is not everything. So if you have any questions or would like to, I covered some more specific topics — ask. I will be glad to answer!
Article based on information from habrahabr.ru
A couple of years ago I wrote my first non-technical post on Habre about life in Brazil. The theme was very popular, and since I said already not one hundred mails with questions about life here.
So now, about 2 years and a month later, I decided to write a sequel, and describe what has changed here over the past 2 years.
From my side, changed pretty much everything. Since the previous events, I first grew to become the development Manager at the Brazilian branch Mandriva (to be precise, specifically in Connective — Brazilian part Mandriva-forming conglomerate), then to technical Director for desktop directions, and finally about 9 months ago went to work at Intel, where they still are. The Intel I work in the intel linux graphics team, and I was responsible for the latest releases of our graphics drivers under Linux (2011Q4 and 2012.12 — OpenNet they are already covered), and worked directly on their development. For example, everything we have released so far for Intel Haswell GPU will be written directly to me. Though of course, there are many other interesting projects, but about them I can not tell :).
But back to the topic of Brazil, in recent years there has changed pretty much everything. Although, when I tried all this, renumber, the basic themes continue to be relevant, the differences are more in details.
The crises of recent years Brazil has not affected, at least, neither me nor my friends they almost nothing memorable. Yes, increased prices for gasoline, alcohol (which is now renamed into ethanol to meet international standards — although technically it has not changed much :)), and in General, inflation has raised prices of almost everything. But on the other hand, wages also increased, both minimum and more specific.
Particularly noticeable is the difference in salaries has been in the computer field. As I wrote, the professions associated with computers in Brazil is growing almost exponentially in recent years, and it's starting to give its effects. The difference between those who work as "generalists", and these professionals becomes very large, and it is expressed including in salaries. For example, the difference in salary for the same profession (analista de sistemas, systems analyst, or in Russian) changes of the average salary in R$ 1200 (for the generalists, where 500 US$) to BRL 3000 (US$ 1500) for professionals. Depending on professional growth, this difference grows even more — for example, salaries for the programmers and computer experts grow to BRL 30,000 and above, and for the generalists 2000 almost the ceiling. And so on. So there is an odd situation when there are hundreds of vacancies with good salaries, and to fill them it is impossible — because most have learned "programming" in C# and Java on the minimum program and the word "algorithm" in their eyes are welling with tears. Sad...
But returning to the non-technical aspects, in terms of life priorities, for example, housing prices are rising constantly, but still remain affordable for most interested. In recent years the government has conducted many programs to provide housing for the poorest groups, under the title "minha casa, minha vida" ("my house, my life"), providing very large loans for the purchase of a home for those who receive less than BRL 1,800 per month. There is still quite a lot of conditions, but in General, buying a home for the family with funding for 10-20-30 years doesn't provide much of a problem. Prices of course vary widely depending on the city, state, or district — for example, a large house with 3 bedrooms, plot of 200 square meters, with 3 car garage in a good area is worth somewhere in the area of 250-300 thousand reais in a medium big city. In Sao Paulo, for example, such a house would cost about a million. But in small towns it is possible to find the exact same offer for 70-100 thousand. Financing at 20 years, mortgage is around 9-10% (although depending on your Bank of course).
From the point of view of taking the apartment or home, it is quite expensive as prices have risen in recent years due to the General growth of welfare of citizens. In São Paulo, one or two bedroom apartment close to the centre will cost somewhere in the 1800-2400 a month (which, of course, expensive, but there are more than enough). In Curitiba, for example (where the headquarters Conectiva), the same apartment will cost somewhere in the 1200-1500. In São Carlos (a city in the middle of the state of Sao Paulo) — it will cost somewhere in the 700-900 reais per month. But in small cities it is possible to find exactly the same, but for 300-500 reais per month. So the difference is quite significant — I do not know how it is in Russia...
What is particularly expensive there is, so it's all sorts of technological things. Any machine is at least 2 times more than in any other country nearby, because of taxes. For example, the ford focus or the renault logan, which cost up to 15 thousand reais in argentina/chile/mexico/..., there are 35 thousand. Ipad costs 1200 dollars. Samsung galaxy S2 — $ 1,000. And so on. Food, by contrast, is cheap, it is possible to live well eating at BRL 20 per day. Very chic restaurants are 40-60 reais for lunch, well, 100-150 for dinner for two with good wine. Although, of course, have particularly super-chic, where prices start from R $ 100 and up to infinity :).
As a bonus, for all computer and high tech devices (and generally any products of clothing for example, or furniture) that are produced in Brazil — taxes more than lowered, somewhere in 2 times (or even more). So most either buy local products (positivo, cce, itautec, semp toshiba), or products assembled in Brazil, local manufacturers (acer, lenovo, hp, etc.), which was built specifically for the local market. If you consider that selling technology products in recent years, increasing 2 times every year, the producers is very profitable.
About health care... the Government has done a lot of different programs to help low-income citizens. For example, the most expensive drugs for the most complex illnesses, which are several tens times the minimum wage per month, distributed free of charge. There are free medical programs and available medicine, but.... not enough doctors for everyone, and depending on the city and state may vary from "average" to "no". So there are hundreds of private medical and health plans. The cost varies from 70 to 300 reais a month, depending on the plan, insurance support as soon as a specific city in a separate state, and a complete set of all kinds of surveys in Brazil and abroad.
Finally, about the job... There are many laws at work and protect workers from arbitrary employer. For the business owner is very difficult to fire someone without a particularly good reason — as in this case, you will have to pay at least a monthly salary + 1 month salary for each year + all expired vacations + 40% on top of this. And if you do not pay within 30 days, the government may be required to pay the entire amount at double the rate under the threat of closure of the company + arrest.
On the other hand, taxes are still quite large. With each paycheck, the employer must pay almost the same amount to the government (for example if the salary is 2000 per month, the employer pays the employee 2000 + 2000 more to the government in taxes). And from the final salary, which is paid to the employee, the government deducts anywhere from 10 to 27% tax. At the end of the year, some part of the taxes returned, but not all. In General it is a rather complex system, which is not particularly easy to understand.
That's all what I originally wanted to write — but of course I have described is not everything. So if you have any questions or would like to, I covered some more specific topics — ask. I will be glad to answer!
