Moscow, Russia

Since the end of the Cold War, Moscow has needed western IT experts in its bid to modernise itself. Russia's capital is one of the world's biggest cities, occupying 1,035 square kilometres and home to about nine million people. It is steeped in history and since the end of the Soviet regime, the city has seen a massive building boom.

The majority of Muscovites speak only Russian but a good number of people will be able to speak or understand some English. There is quite a wide range of food available in Moscow, from Italian restaurants to American bars. A meal in one of these will cost around #12.

Travel The lavishly appointed Metro is cheap, fast, efficient, and very crowded. There's also a good choice of buses, trolley buses and trams. Route-taxis or mini-bus taxis tend to have fixed routes. Ordinary taxis are considered unsafe.

Climate Winter runs from the end of September through to May, and is very cold and snowy. Temperatures range from as low as -20:C in December/January to 25:C in July/August.

Jobs Many IT corporations have offices in Moscow, including Microsoft, Novell, Fujitsu and Apple. Price Waterhouse is also based in Moscow. There is a good uptake of the Internet - Web designers and network engineers could find that their skills are in demand. System integration is big business. A recent survey by market research company Dator shows that the top five foreign companies for hardware and system integration are Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, IBM, Intel and Acer.

Links
Moscow information
Moscow job centre
Jobs at HP in Russia