Portuguese here, I moved out of the country and I have worked in the UK for over a decade and more recently relocated again to the Netherlands.

Both myself and my wife have really enjoyed the opportunities we had along the way, both in terms of lifestyle, research projects and financially.

But we are now at a point where we both feel the urge to "come back home".

I would love to hear your feedback from an outsider looking into the tech scene in Portugal.

My frustration in previous searches and interviews is that everyone likes to talk 'innovation' but the majority of interesting projects are still pretty much university incubations and/or very dependent on EC research funding streams. Has this changed in these past years? Do you see companies actually securing VC funding rounds or growing into more mature businesses?

Also perhaps an inferiority complex bias but I feel that, for larger service companies, Portugal is still scene as what they would call a 'near-shore' outsourcing tech pool, where you can get a bit more quality output but still at a fairly cheap price point. Has this changed? i.e. Do you see that Software teams can command competitive salaries when compared to other European locations? Or is it that it's acceptable only if you leverage this with a very low COL (outside prime real estate areas like Porto/Lisbon centres)?

I've visited nearby Guimaraes. Not much English is spoken up there. Did you have to learn Portuguese?

Most people speak English, but are uncomfortable / inexperienced in doing so. Everyone in tech speaks English just fine.

For day-to-day, it does make your life much easier. Surprisingly, banks are a pain to deal with, without speaking Portuguese. I learned because my parents in law didn't speak English very well.

Portuguese is a rich language, and Portuguese people are typically familiar with the countries famous writers and poets. That makes it a valuable language to learn.