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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Feeling unsure about English or an unfamiliar workplace does not, by itself, mean you lack the skills for an international role. Developer Advocate Daniel Reis makes that distinction in a first-person essay about applying for his first job outside Brazil in 2021. His experience is a perspective, not proof that every applicant who feels like an impostor is qualified.
Why Reis felt out of place despite years of experience
Reis recalls joining a European team’s daily meeting and laughing a few seconds after everyone else because he had missed the joke. He had been coding since 2011 and had worked as a Developer Advocate and Microsoft MVP, but before interviewing for his first role outside Brazil, he still feared being exposed as a fraud. The delayed laugh captures a real mismatch: a person can have relevant experience and still struggle to follow the social cues and language of a new workplace.
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Reis argues that the feeling can reflect more than an individual’s self-doubt. In his words, “The impostor syndrome of a dev from an underdeveloped country is not only psychological. A big part of it is a distorted reading of a REAL inequality of access.” That is his interpretation of his experience, not a clinical explanation or a claim about every international applicant.
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When applying for jobs outside Brazil, Reis says he kept returning to three questions:
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- “Is my English good enough?”
- “Do I really understand what this job is asking for?”
- “Am I actually qualified for this?”
They sound related, but they point to different issues. The first concerns whether you can communicate in the language the job uses. The second concerns whether you understand the role’s expectations and workplace context. The third concerns whether you have the skills and experience to do the work. A difficulty with English or unfamiliar expectations does not, on its own, answer the qualification question. Reis offers this as a way to think through uncertainty, not as a validated assessment.
What English-proficiency figures can—and cannot—tell you
EF’s 2025 English Proficiency Index gives Brazil a score of 482 and a global rank of 75; the reported global average is 488. Within Brazil, EF reports reading at 516, listening at 468, writing at 442 and speaking at 464. Those differences show that measured skills can vary even within one country’s index results. They do not measure any particular applicant or establish whether someone can perform a specific job.
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EF’s 2025 figures also show geographic variation: the Federal District scores 541, Rio Grande do Sul 539, Florianópolis 577 and Porto Velho 408. The gap between Florianópolis and Porto Velho is 169 points. InfoMoney also reports a 169-point difference between the highest- and lowest-scoring Brazilian capitals. These are index comparisons, not explanations for an individual’s confidence, competence or hiring prospects. EF’s current page lists Rio Grande do Sul at 539; that is the figure used here.
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Count the skills that may be missing from your résumé
Reis describes learning to code by writing Pawn scripts for SA:MP on a computer with 512 MB of RAM, learning English through technical material, practicing regularly, and taking English lessons from João Correa before applying abroad. He sees the experience as evidence of self-directed learning, adaptation and persistence—not traits that can be assumed of every developer from a particular place.
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For your own application, look beyond a general feeling of readiness and collect specific evidence:
- Projects that demonstrate skills relevant to the role.
- Responsibilities you have handled, especially work similar to the job’s requirements.
- Problems you solved and the decisions or trade-offs involved.
- Feedback, outcomes or examples that show how your work was received.
- Skills you can demonstrate, even if you learned them outside a formal job or course.
Reis puts the value of that kind of experience this way: “That’s not a gap in your CV. That’s autodidactism, adaptation and resilience, the stuff companies say they want in every job description.” The quote is his argument for noticing evidence that a conventional résumé may not make obvious; it is not a guarantee that an employer will value every experience equally.
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If English is the obstacle, identify the communication tasks that matter in the role: explaining a technical decision, asking for clarification, writing a concise update or joining a meeting. Practice those situations rather than treating “good English” as a single pass-or-fail quality. If a job description is unclear, list the responsibilities and requirements you understand, then mark the terms or expectations you need to investigate. Self-directed practice, tutoring and interview practice are all possible supports; Reis’s essay does not establish that one approach works best for everyone.
Reis also recommends using AI tools to translate, explain concepts, review English and practice interviews. He advises asking questions that go beyond quick lookups, checking the answers and continuing to learn. An AI response is a starting point to verify, not an authority on a company’s actual expectations or a promise of a job. As Reis writes, “Not knowing how to use the tool is the same as not having the tool.”
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Make a more useful judgment about fit
Instead of treating discomfort as a verdict, separate the evidence into three categories: communication demands, familiarity with the role and workplace, and role-specific skills. Note where you already have evidence, where practice could help, and what remains genuinely unknown. That will not remove every doubt or settle an employer’s decision, but it makes the question more precise: are you missing a required skill, still learning how to show it, or navigating a context you have not encountered before?
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