This is the 47th in a series of business tips from industry leaders that Enterprise Times has interviewed. Enterprise Times recently spoke with Chen Salomon, Director of Engineering at monday.com, about why monday.com chose London to expand its engineering team and its approach to R&D with its builders’ teams.
Salomon recently moved to London to head up the new team. He has been here for several months. ET asked him what tip he could share for someone about to start working in the city.
Salomon replied, “Be aware of the weather, and I think this is relevant to everyone that comes to London.
“I know that it’s a common joke, but it feels like there are some days when the four seasons come in same day, so be ready for that. For me, in Israel, winter is three days of rain, pretty massive rain, and the rest of the time, it is pretty sunny. Winter is 22 degrees. Here it’s way different.
“Getting used to the time of the day (differences). Yesterday, it was getting dark around 8 pm. So many changes, I think the weather is the easily noticeable thing.”
On Culture
Salomon continued, “Something else that surprises me every time is that there are differences. It’s really weird when we’re talking about a diverse background for teams. There are differences, and there are things you need to accept that will change. You can’t replicate one-to-one what you used to do? If I do the same thing that I’m used to doing in Israel, it won’t work perfectly if I try to do it here.
“We need to find where our values come in and work out how those values affect our daily lives. We won’t give up on our values. On the other hand, we do need to have the patience to create the right balance between them. I feel that this is something that was really hard in the first few months.
“As an example, working hours, when in Israel, it’s pretty flexible. You can come to the office later, and you can leave really late in the day. Here I feel like the working hours are not strict. But you know there are boundaries, and outside of working hours, it’s less common to contact someone unless there is some of emergency.”
