My journey to the UK

• 2019

  Started seriously improving my English in Kyiv — B2 evening classes twice a week after work alongside my developer job.

• 2022

  Moved to London. One suitcase, a Skilled Worker visa, a B2 certificate — and the slightly naive belief that this was enough.

• 2023

  First proper role in the UK — well below my actual experience level. Dozens of rejection emails, months of frustration at being invisible in interviews and meetings.

• 2024

  Discovered Lingoda through a colleague. Started structured Business English training. Everything began to shift — more recruiter responses, more confidence in professional situations.

• 2025

  Promoted to Senior Developer — for the first time in the UK feeling genuinely on equal footing with British colleagues. More job options, better negotiating position, higher salary band. Started this blog. (Personal result; individual outcomes vary.)

Why professional English directly affects your career in the UK

In many UK companies, particularly in tech, there is a direct and often unspoken connection between how you communicate and which grade you're offered. Not because it's written into any policy — but because professionals who speak with confidence and authority in English are consistently promoted into higher roles.

My own experience: I had the technical skills for a Senior position while still being paid at Junior level. What was missing wasn't code — it was the ability to articulate my ideas in English in a way that made my British colleagues see them as valuable. That is not a small gap. Between Junior and Senior in London tech, the salary difference is often two to three times.*

* Industry estimate for IT in the UK (e.g. salary data from Reed.co.uk, Glassdoor UK); individual differences vary significantly by company, sector, and negotiation.

Why I write this blog

When I arrived in London in 2022, I searched for blogs, first-hand accounts, practical advice — from people who had walked the same road. I found very little. Mostly official guides written like government leaflets, or Instagram posts that only showed the good parts.

I wanted something different: honest accounts. What worked, what didn't. What actually helped — and what just cost time and money. That's what I try to write here.

My recommendation

On this blog I recommend Lingoda as an online language school for Business English — because it's the tool that genuinely changed my trajectory in the UK.

I have a partnership with Lingoda: if you book a course through my link, I receive a commission — at no extra cost to you. That's the most honest way I know to fund this blog without compromising what I write. My recommendation stays the same whether you use my link or not.

This blog does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. All accounts are personal in nature. Results may vary individually. * Affiliate links are marked.