This one, you had no idea about, for sure: Aachen has been voted the best European city for expats and the 7th most desirable city to live in the world, according to the Expat City Ranking 2018! The ranking includes testimonies of more than 11,000 people from 72 cities around the globe.
For the locals who love their city and the expats who already live in Aachen, this came as no surprise. With the world class RWTH University, three Fraunhofer Institutes, Europe’s largest university clinic and a booming high-tech industry, more and more people are coming to study, work and live in this exciting, open and culturally diverse city in the heart of western Europe.
ModuleWorks is part of the Aachen success story. Founded as a specialist software company in 2003 by Yavuz Murtezaoglu, ModuleWorks is now the world’s leading supplier of advanced software components to the global CAD/CAM industry with over 180 employees with over 52 % coming from different countries, including England, India, Russia, Ukraine and Romania.
To find out why ModuleWorks and Aachen attract so many people, we spoke to one of our software team leaders, Yury, who relocated from Russia to Aachen 10 years ago, at a time when ModuleWorks was still a relatively small but already rapidly growing company.
“When I heard about the work ModuleWorks was doing, I wanted to get to know them. From the beginning I connected with the development team and I loved the whole dynamics and enthusiasm of the company. It felt like driving in the fast lane.”
“I didn’t know much about the historical background of the city, but in the end moving to Aachen turned out to be the best decision.”
What Yury really likes about Aachen is the diverse mix of buildings, cultures and life-styles. The narrow historical streets are straight from a Harry-Potter movie, a few meters further and you’ll see modern shopping streets, or if you go in another direction you’ll mingle with students in lively pubs and fashionable cafes. Old-style German restaurants neighbor on trendy sushi bars. Drive 5km to the South-West and you’re in Belgium, drive 5km to the North-West and you’re in the Netherlands. All of this creates an eclectic and visitor-friendly atmosphere.
“Aachen is a nice, cozy city. It’s big and small at the same time and has all you need for a comfortable and fulfilling life. “
However, Yury’s first days in Aachen were a challenge, as always when you move to a foreign country with a different language and habits, and it created some funny moments:
“You buy something in a shop and the shop assistant asks you a question, you simply say "Ja” and go away, because you don’t understand. In reality they said: “Would you like a bag?”, and you just said “Yes” and disappeared.
This is why I was really glad that ModuleWorks offered German classes. Learning German makes day-to-day life a lot easier, and it is important for integrating and getting to know the people and culture.”
Another big challenge when relocating is finding an apartment. When you are new to a city, it is difficult to find an affordable apartment in a good location. ModuleWorks helps expats to get settled in their new home.
“With the help of ModuleWorks I was able to find a nice apartment, which is now my new home. ModuleWorks was really great in helping me get settled. Today they are a really big company, but still very sensitive towards the needs and well-being of each employee. “
ModuleWorks takes pride in supporting its employees and has created a dynamic working culture that promotes professional development and work-life balance. No wonder ModuleWorks has won the Great Place to Work® award six years in a row!
We are very happy to have you here, Yury! Thanks for sharing your story about moving to Aachen and working for ModuleWorks.