Filipe Berti: Working and living abroad – from Brazil to Finland

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work abroad? Alongside providing flexible opportunities for remote work, UpCloud also supports employees with relocation. Read our colleague Filipe’s story of moving from Brazil to Finland. 

In 2021, a friend sent Filipe a job posting – UpCloud was looking for an Agile Team Coach to join the company and be part of UpCloud’s growth journey. Now, over a year later, Filipe is helping teams to find the best ways of working together and establishing goals and paths for problem-solving – in Helsinki, Finland. 

“I moved to Helsinki from Brazil in 2021 with my husband, Lucas, and our Italian Greyhound, Italo. We have always had a vision of working and living abroad, so when UpCloud suggested relocating to Finland, we saw it as an exciting opportunity,” says Filipe. He mentions that he has always found the Nordic countries appealing, due to the culture of work-life balance and quality of life. 

“With UpCloud, I was intrigued by how they built their own cloud solutions, basically from scratch, with similar technologies I had already experienced. I was also drawn to the scale-up environment and culture.” 

Filipe still feels the same way today. “I get to be creative, organised, communicative, systematic, and adaptable daily. For me, this is the perfect environment to develop myself and collaborate with various teams.”

Support for the relocation process 

In the past year, UpCloud has relocated almost ten employees to Finland with the support of an external partner. 

“I counted on UpCloud’s support to help my family and me with the relocation process and applying for the needed residence and work permits. That was on top of the emotional and financial support the company provided us,” recalls Filipe.

Filipe and his family arrived in Finland six weeks after signing the contract. “What really surprised me was the process and structure Finland has for integrating people, especially the dependents arriving with the person who got the job here. For instance, my partner was able to start Finnish language courses to support their adaptation to the culture.” 

Constant cultural learning

Living and working in a new country is a constant learning journey – and for Filipe, it was exactly the experience he was looking for.

“To start with, when moving to the Nordics, you are investing in your quality of life. Although you will probably find yourself frustrated with the tax card system, it’s worth it for the public services, well-being, and socially balanced structures,” Filipe says.

Communication styles may additionally differ from culture to culture. “Be ready for direct, transparent, and honest communication. That seems to be the foundation of Finnish culture, and it might be intimidating at first. You need to understand that honest feedback does not equal personal criticism.”

“On a more practical note, you do not need to love the cold, but you will need to be resilient to the differences in sunlight. During the summer, the daylight gets up to nineteen hours a day, and during the winter, you may only get about five hours of light – for a couple of months in a row!”

Could you see yourself working at UpCloud? Discover our open job opportunities here!