151–160 of 239 posts
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I strongly recommend learning German if living in Berlin, but I also know a bunch of Americans living there who get by fine on ten words of German for the grocery store, and the rest all happens in English.
Are you a native German speaker or did you also learn? Any recommendations? I have heard the Goethe Institute is great but its very expensive.
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Is "working 1 month to be well off for the entire year" an inferior financial position to you? I have news for you: for nearly the entire rest of the world, it's not. Leave your bubble for the new year, will ya?
I also am happy with my financial situation. That doesn't mean that what I said is not true. Salaries which a re "standard" in the US, like 100-150k USD are very hard to attain in Europe, working for European employers. They are certainly not "standard".
Six figures is barely enough to keep up with living costs in some parts of SF, whereas in Greece it's 1-2 orders of magnitude lower depending on which part you live in.
Find a job in your country of choice and get your visa - then move, about as simple as that. If you're looking at a job on the continent make sure you know the local language fluently (not English). It is said that its ok to know English alone but it really isn't. You'll come to the reason that most Europeans in the tech space opt for the US - the compensation factor in Europe is relatively poor.
Lower compensation, but better social security (if you manage to get citizenship), better working hours, more holidays. I second learning the local language. That is one of the most important requirements to truly integrate.
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>Scandinavian countries All or some of them? e.g. I've read on HN that there is a lot of software work in Sweden, but how about Norway, Finland and Denmark?
The tech investments in Sweden are nearly as big as the other three countries together [1]. Most of which goes to Stockholm. [1] As an example, this is for November. http://www.nordictechlist.com/content/reports/The%20November...
If you are a programmer/designer you can get a 3 year freelance visa in Berlin, Germany. I currently live in Berlin with that visa. Your standard of living in Europe will vary. Sure, some places offer free healthcare (not exactly free - see taxes), better public transportation, and decent quality food at lower tier supermarkets. That's all great. On the other hand, you'll likely take a huge hit in salary and pay high…
Europe is great. I have several friends who've made this move. I'd say that they have a higher and more relaxed quality of life at a much lower salary than I know of in the U.S. Salaries are lower, taxes are higher, but I think it balances out well. One thing I've noticed is that if you're willing to live a bit outside of a major city and along a commuter rail line (a commute not extraordinary by U.S. standards but s…
> pension If you move to Europe, build up a pension, and then move back to the U.S., you should be able extract the money from that pension (according to the conditions), regardless of where you reside in there future. > taxes You are obliged to report all of your foreign earnings to the IRS as well as all of your foreign bank account status each year. You are taxed on your income both in the local country and in the…
Find a job in your country of choice and get your visa - then move, about as simple as that. If you're looking at a job on the continent make sure you know the local language fluently (not English). It is said that its ok to know English alone but it really isn't. You'll come to the reason that most Europeans in the tech space opt for the US - the compensation factor in Europe is relatively poor.
I say this from my experience learning Norwegian in Norway which was much less painful and more successful than learning French at school in England even though I had many more hours of formal French instruction.
Europe is great. I have several friends who've made this move. I'd say that they have a higher and more relaxed quality of life at a much lower salary than I know of in the U.S. Salaries are lower, taxes are higher, but I think it balances out well. One thing I've noticed is that if you're willing to live a bit outside of a major city and along a commuter rail line (a commute not extraordinary by U.S. standards but s…
> One thing I've noticed is that if you're willing to live a bit outside of a major city and along a commuter rail line (a commute not extraordinary by U.S. standards but seemingly insane by European), housing costs can be much much lower. YMMV, IMHO etc, but living too close to the middle of cities is the biggest mistake I see people from who move to the UK make. Yes, you get a shorter commute and a great social lif…
I assume you want a career as a software engineer. This is my list: - Berlin: cheap (getting expensive quick, but still cheap for a large city), multicultural (many, many people from all around the world, lots of people speak English, those who don't usually understand you), Germans themselves are very open and interesting as a nation. Berlin has a vibrant startup scene, which is nice for getting your first job as a…
I would not suggest Germany or (german) Switzerland to people that don't speak german.
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Don't know why you are being downvoted - what you write is in general correct.
Parent is being downvoted because what they wrote is in general incorrect.
Living standards (GDP pr person) are lower in Europe. And developer wages are certainly a lot lower.