181–190 of 239 posts
EU citizen currently living in the US here. Hugely recommended, if only for comparison purposes. From my own experience, English speaking countries are a must. If that's not an option, cities like Barcelona or Berlin should cover your bases for at least a year, but you won't survive for long without speaking Spanish or German. There are more things than work in life, and you'll soon get tired of only dealing with exp…
>"Salaries are not what you expect coming from the US, your $200k rated job is no more than 80k€" Is that a good rule of thumb then? $200k is fairly top end in the US. Obviously there are people at the big SV companies that make more but 200K is pretty close to top end for senior people. So you are saying that that 80K Euros is the general top end for EU tech companies? Given that there is more or less dollar to Euro…
There is huge demand for developers here at the moment. You're guaranteed a job in Dublin, but rent can be a mini nightmare there. It starts at around 800 euro for single room bedsits, you could pay 1200-1500 per month for a house in the suburbs with an hour commute. You may find work in other parts of the country but most companies are in or around the capital.
Food here is good, standards of living are high, crime low, services (health etc) competitively good. Irish people like to complain about it here but we have it good
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…
Wouldn't it be smarter to just make use of his U.S. citizenship, contract for a Silicon Valley startup, make like $100k, and just travel in and out of the Eurozone whenever necessary to still be considered a tourist? Seems like he'd probably net around $2k a month after taxes doing that.
If you are fine with this then that's a good idea. But it's hard to really settle down knowing you need to leave in 3 months, and can't return again for another 3 months. I recommend getting a residence visa like the freelance visa. You can still consult for a US company after getting the visa.
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/schengen-fa...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Source? Not just an opinion please, I mean an actual source - with facts, figures, data. Also, you would have to define what you actually mean by "better" (as well as what "fresh start" really means). Details. What kind of person (with enough relevant details to actually be a useful description) doing what can expect what based on what where exactly (US and Europe are both huge and very diverse places)?
I'm not obligated to provide a "source." It's called an opinion. If one seeks merely a "fresh start," then just move somewhere else in the USA. If frustrated with the government, politics, culture of the USA, then move to Europe or some other country.
The New World is better for fresh starts than Europe.
If you ask on HN, and given you're American, you could start by writing more correctly. Reading your "ask" is a bit annoying, it contains so many grammar mistakes. It shows that you did this quickly and without regard to your audience.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Typically these are measured in absolute numbers. I'm not sure why you'd want to measure as relative ratios.
The ratio of savings:spending lets me know when I can retire early. Using exaggerated figures, if I earn 100k in the US, save 10k a year but I spend 90k, then it's going to take me longer to retire than if I earn 35k in Europe, spend 30k and save 5k. Because in the US, it'll take 9 years to save enough to live off one year, while in Europe it'll take six years to do the same. Of course you can move to a cheaper count…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the insight. Could you share more about how you went about getting a freelance visa as a programmer. Most of the bullet points for Documents Required in you link actually say "not required for freelance" but then I see: "Proof of a secure livelihood must also include sufficient health insurance." Did you have to show a current consulting contract? Do you have to show that you are currently contracting for…
I don't want to go into how I got the visa, but I will say that most people get friends with German companies (even single person companies) to write contracts for them :) The contract simply has to state the project, date of future employment, and how much you will be paid upon completion. The contract can be for future dates. Does not need to be a project that is currently paying you. I had one German company and o…