Alexey Smirnov
Software Engineer
Hometown: Dzerzhinsk, Russia
I am working as Software Engineer at CCMA since 2010. Before I came to Taiwan I did not know that such a center exists, but my thesis advisor who also works here invited me to join this newly established center.
Cloud computing center grows at a rapid pace -- more than 100 people have joined it in the past 2 years. It is very exciting that Taiwan pays so much attention to software technology. I am sure that with such a commitment Taiwan will become a major software powerhouse pretty soon. We have lots of young and talented people in our center and working with them is a lot of fun.
Previously, I have been living in many countries around the world: born in Russia, educated in the United States, worked in Finland, and now enjoy my life in Taiwan. Yes, I do work here, but it is much more than that. Harmony is an essential part of Chinese culture and this is the way people live their lives here. ITRI is located in a beautiful city of Hsinchu which has a magnificent coastline area. I go there almost every weekend to jog for a couple of hours. Taiwan has a very mild climate and therefore I can practice my favourite sport of marathon running all year round.
ITRI is located a 1.5-hour ride from Taipei. It is so convenient to hop on the bus after working hours to attend a concert of some celebrity which Taipei attracts plenty of.
To summarise, despite the crazy benefits that major software companies can offer, consider coming to Taiwan if you are a good software developer. As a person who lived in the US and Europe previously, I definitely recommend Taiwan as the best place among those I visited.
Note: Alexey officially left ITRI employment in 2015 to join the spin-off company created by his project, Gemini Open Cloud Computing, Inc.