I honestly couldn’t really give a real definition of success for the Czech Republic. Their model of success is more about affording a fulfilling life by whatever means necessary.

One common theme I’ve noticed across Europe as a whole, is that work isn’t the main thing people care about. It’s something that they take pride in, something that they find fulfillment in, but it’s not the same as the states. In America we look at work and professions as a core part of our identity. Not just something to be proud of but as a part of who we are, is where we work. In the Czech Republic, work is viewed as a means to live a good life, for the US it is more to live to work. In conversations over lunch, I asked my coworkers what they view as success and they said “have a mountain cottage” or “have a family,” even when I was trying to get an answer out of them for the professional sense. They were stuck on the life stuff. Family, activities, and personal enjoyment that is afforded through work. I tried to push back and see if they could get to a new place with a differently framed question, but they kept falling back on those ideas of things outside of the workplace. Which I could see reflected in their society as a whole. On my way home from work, bars are packed at 5:00 pm on a Tuesday. Parks are packed with families and their kids running around. The city of Prague is alive, and it shows it’s a place meant to be lived in, not a place for work and home. To me it feels like people really care about being around their friends and family outside of work. Not saying that this isn’t seen in the U.S., but here it feels a lot more like a cultural norm to be out and about throughout the weeknights.

In my company, I didn’t really see a difference in people who are successful vs who aren’t. Most of them are hardworking and want to do meaningful work. I remember I talked to my boss at lunch about how I noticed the conversations at work, and not being able to pick up on what they were saying due to the language barrier. And my boss said that because of all the time spent together, he wants all of the people on the team to feel like a family. The environment fostered at Carvago is clearly meant to be informal. Most people wear t-shirts, shorts, and even sandals to the office, which goes against the typical office vibe I’d expect from an internship in the states. I remember on my first day, I wore my best outfit to make a good impression on everyone, and when I walked into the area where the data team works, I was caught off guard by how casual everyone is. One person in my office, Simon, was wearing a t-shirt with a cat on a computer that said “Coding Cat!” I kept up with wearing “smart-casual” outfits for a couple of weeks. However, by the fifth or sixth week, I started wearing more casual outfits. I remember one of my supervisors at lunch talking about how most interns come in on their first day much like me, and by the second day they give up and start conforming to the norms. I was a little proud of myself for making it that long before giving in. This informality even extends to how they talk to their CEO. Whenever the CEO would walk into the data team area, they’d all give him the informal Czech greeting, joke around, and the CEO would even sit down at a desk and put his feet up just to hang out.

I’d say one thing that is kind of glamorized in the states is staying late at the office. A lot of internship tips I’ve seen online have said that interns shouldn’t be the first to leave the office, and that it’s a bad look to leave. Whereas in the Czech Republic, no one bats an eye if you leave the office early or if something comes up. One of my supervisors would consistently leave the office at 12:00 pm and talk about working at his home office on the way out.