vanhack

VanHack has helped more than 700 developers get a visa-sponsored job in Canada and Europe.

In this episode, Ilya Brotzky, the founder and CEO of VanHack talks about the challenges of running a remote global company, how he learned from his mistakes and built a very successful business, and what are the goals for VanHack in the next few months.

He also gives more details about some great companies that are hiring international talent, and how you too can get a job abroad through VanHack.

Links from this episode

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Sign up for VanHack
VanHack Events page
Justin Jackson's post about the ice cream analogy

In this episode of HRchat, we hear from Ilya Brotzky, CEO and CoFounder of VanHack. Listen as we delve into interview tips and talent streams.

The show also highlights some upcoming events from VanHack's Leap series. The job fairs are designed for tech-based companies located in cities across Canada to get face-to-face interviews with top developers from around the world.

Enjoyed the interview? Check out episode 70 to hear from Ilya's colleague, Ash Kumar.



We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.   

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The HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score.

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In episode 70 of the HRchat show, we hear from VanHack's Head of Growth in Canada, Ash Kumar. Ash enjoys growing the tech community and helping others achieve their dreams through VanHack. Outside the office, he relaxes by listening to the stories of other people's lives.




We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.   

Feature Your Brand on the HRchat Podcast

The HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score.

Want to share the story of how your business is helping to shape the world of work? We offer sponsored episodes, audio adverts, email campaigns, and a host of other options. Check out packages here.

• Follow us on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Check out our in-person events

Drew and James open the show with a chat about keyboards and injuries from typing or sitting too long. The guest this week is Ilya Brotzky the Co-Founder & CEO of VanHack. He is phoning in from Santiago, Chile.

For people who have been listeners for the show for a while, they may remember that we have had Ilya on before. He is the CEO of VanHack, a company that helps people around the world come to Canada to work. We chat about the progress of the tech scene in Chile. Ilya also mentions some of the programs that Chile has started that help people from outside Chile get involved there. He also mentions some of the ways that Canadian tech companies can leverage hiring outside the country.

If you are an individual or company interested in VanHack, contact them via their website.

Interview Links

• VanHack
• Startup Chile
• Startup Chile Guide
• VanHack Hackathon
• VanHack Employers

Meetups For The Week Of September 12th

Monday 12th

• Git Help! & 0-Tech (Decentral, 436 West Pender) 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
• Red Academy Vancouver (200 - 1490 West Broadway) 6:00 PM

Tuesday 13th

• VPC Open Coffee (Nelson the Seagull, 315 Carrall St) 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM
• VPC Camp Tech (The HiVE, 210-128 W Hastings) 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
• BCUCUG (Microsoft, 1111 West Georgia, Suite 1100) 3:00 PM
• Financial Technology (Voleo Inc., 12th floor, 1140 West Pender) 5:30 PM
• Vancouver Clojure (CodeCore 142 W Pender) 6:00 PM
• Python September Meetup (Mobify HQ #300 - 948 Homer St) 6:00 PM

Wednesday 14th

• Vancouver Linux Desktop (Decentral, 436 W Pender) 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
• Pluralsight Study Group (PNI 100 - 425 Carrall St) 5:30
• Learn Data Science (SFU, 555 W Hastings St #1200) 6:00 PM
• Ionic Vancouver (Lighthouse Labs, 350 - 128 W Hastings) 6:00 PM
• Vancouver Android Developers (Mobify, 3rd Floor, 948 Homer) 6:30 PM
• Alt Games Vancouver (The Lennox Pub, 800 Granville St) 7:00 PM

Thursday 15th

• DDD/CQRS/ES Practitioners (Decentral Vancouver 436 West Pender Street) 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
• Lighthouse Labs (Lighthouse Labs, 128 W Hastings) 6:00 PM
• Vancouver PhoneGap (Hive, #210 - 128 W Hastings) 6:00 PM
• Windows Platform Developer Group (Microsoft 725 Granville Street, 7th Floor) 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• VPC Camp Tech (The Post at 750, 750 Hamilton St) 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Friday 16th

• VPC Camp Tech (The HiVE 210-128 W Hastings) 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Saturday 17th

• BuildDirect Talks Meetup (Hyatt Regency, 655 Burrard Street) Sat 8:30 AM to Sun 1:00 PM

Theme music by A Shell In The Pit from the game Parkitect

The first show of April is a fun one. Drew and James chat a little about April Fools, then get right into the previous week. They talk about using statistics for measuring team output, as well as the relationship between interview and performance later on. Drew mentions going to the Full Indie meetup and meeting the creator of Bunker Punks. The guest this week is Ilya Brotzky. The interview starts at 0:28:45.

Ilya Brotzky is the Co-Founder & CEO of VanHack as well as a Facilitator & Mentor at Spring Activator. He spent the beginning of his career working on startups in Brazil, as well as contributing to the collection of data for the government. VanHack empowers top international tech talent to break into the Canadian startup community, with a strong focus on Brazil. Spring has helped over 115 entrepreneurs from all over the world get the skills, knowledge and network they need to create a sustainable business they have a passion for. At Spring, Ilya mentors the cohort in the 4 week immersion program.

Interview Links

• VanHack
• Spring.is
• Ilya Brotzky Twitter and on Spring.is
• VanHackathon
• Article: At creating new businesses, immigrants outpace Canadian-born people, StatsCan finds

Upcoming Week (April 4th to April 11th)

Monday, April 4th, 2016

• Canadian Club Vancouver: Lunch with Bernard Lord QC, CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (837 West Hastings St) 11:45 AM to 2:00 PM
• Git Help! (Moose’s Down Under, 830 W. Pender St) 5:00 PM
• Public Cloud Users Group: WHEN DISASTER STRIKES! (CodeCore, 142 W Hastings) 6 PM

Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

• Polyglot Vancouver Social (St Regis 608 Dunsmuir St) 6:00 PM
• Style & Class: Coding: Mentorship and Data (CodeCore, 142 W Hastings) 6:30 PM
• Vancouver Clojure (CodeCore, 142 W Hastings) 6:00 PM

Wednesday, April 6th, 2016

• Vancouver Linux Desktop (Decentral, 436 W Pender St) 4:30 to 6:30 PM
• yvrTesting: Implementing BDD from the Ground Up! (Sophos Head Office 580 Granville) 5:30 PM
• Vancouver Pluralsight: Building Applications with React and Flux (PNI Digital Media Offices 100 - 425 Carrall Street, 1st Floor) 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM
• Vancouver Scala (Hootsuite, 5 East 8th Ave) 5:30 PM
• Vancouver Android Developers Hacknight (Mobify, 3rd Floor, 948 Homer St) 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Thursday, April 7th, 2016

• Learn Data Science: Kaggle Competitions (Cardinal Path 1140 Pender St. West, Suite 840) 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• CodeCore Demo Day (CodeCore 142 W Hastings St) 6:00 PM

Friday, April 8th, 2016

• Wishpond Open House (Wishpond 1500 West Georgia, Office #1000) 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Theme music by A Shell In The Pit from the game Parkitect