Hola! Madrid native here. The scene is growing and it's exciting. I work at carto.com, and there are plenty other like it (growing startups). If you want to visit our offices, hit me up at @gfioravantti and I'll give you a tour! Salaries are low but quality of life is top notch
I'd be really interested in taking up your offer, thanks.
I don't think I can send you a DM on twitter without you following me first. If you'd be so kind, and would like to arrange something, would you mind shooting an email to throwawayhn0110@gmail.com with a way to get in touch? Using a throwaway for obvious reasons, sorry for the hoops!
I work as a Junior Javascript Developer (Nodejs / Angular2) in Bilbao and I earn 18k. I do believe this is only for entry-level work.
Do you mind sharing realistic cost of living in bilbao specifically? i.e. rent, utilities, public transportation, food and whatnot
Bilbao is relatively expensive. In fact the most expensive city to live in Spain is San Sebastian that is also in the vasque country. Barcelona is the second (or the first capital more expensive) and Madrid is the third but this is just an average. It depends heavily on the street and zone and how expensive is to reach your working place from your home.
Cáceres, Lugo and Palencia are the cheapest (but the tech scene should be close to unexistent in those places).
Strongly turistic areas closer to the sea are more expensive to rent a place in general terms, specially in summer, but can be cheaper in winter and off-season
Hello. Barcelona native here, lived and worked for years in the NY tech scene and now I am in London, although I go back to Barcelona often, and I'm seriously considering moving back. (I don't know the situation in Madrid well enough). Here are my points: On the one hand, the tech ecosystem is clearly not as strong as Berlin/London or even Paris, and the average engineer salary is _low_. That also might mean there is…
but high pollution in Barcelona and Madrid. They're big cities and a good part of the population relies on scooters on cars. Jogging there may not even be good for your health in such places. Of course, London is even worse, but Paris is better and the Riviera is the top.
I was afraid of air pollution in Barcelona too as my wife is allergic to some pollutants but if you don't take a flat facing the street and go slightly uphill (gracia, sant gervasi, sarria, ...) it is totally fine. She hasn't had any problems.
You can work in English in most tech companies in Madrid and Barcelona. In fact, if some company discard you because of that, it would be a good thing for you. I know people working for more than 10 years in Madrid and Barcelona with just English, without speaking Spanish (most people is not nationalist, so you'll not feel strong social push for learning the local language/s). In fact, most people will appreciate it,…
Absolute number wise, it's probably hard to beat the united states. Life quality wise, probably that changes. I make well above the ranges you were mentioning in the US, and still feel poor in comparison :) If your end game is to come back to USA after 2-3 years, it might be ok. But if you want to come back after 20-30 years, you might be losing on quite a lot of income. That assumes, you know, you want to work as an…
Also, universal medical coverage in Spain covers you and all your family members, without additional cost. E.g. if you're married and having 4 kids, all 6 people would be 100% covered by the public health insurance. E.g. If you have a child with problems requiring medical treatments costing 2 millions of USD (e.g. unlimited surgeries, unlimited hospital time, unlimited treatment), it would be covered.
Depends on the Spanish ;) I saw a barista ask a Colombian couple to speak in English because Catalan was his native language and he couldn't understand their accent. I do get the feeling, at least in Barcelona, that the preference is Catalan > English > Spanish. I've only visited as a tourist though; so I don't know how much of that carries over to the business world.
Both Catalan and Spanish are the native language for people born in Catalonia. So most likely he wanted to be polite to them so they didn't feel bad for not being understood. I can tell you that you are highly misinformed if you think the preference is Catalan > English > Spanish :)
I got the same impression as a tourist too. People had no interest in speaking Spanish with me. Admittedly, my Spanish isn't great, but then people in the service industry in Barcelona don't necessarily speak amazing English either. I got the impression that they'd just rather communicate in English. I think you would have to speak Spanish very confidently and fluently to do things in Spanish without feeling like a bit of a putz.
Hello. Barcelona native here, lived and worked for years in the NY tech scene and now I am in London, although I go back to Barcelona often, and I'm seriously considering moving back. (I don't know the situation in Madrid well enough). Here are my points: On the one hand, the tech ecosystem is clearly not as strong as Berlin/London or even Paris, and the average engineer salary is _low_. That also might mean there is…
but high pollution in Barcelona and Madrid. They're big cities and a good part of the population relies on scooters on cars. Jogging there may not even be good for your health in such places. Of course, London is even worse, but Paris is better and the Riviera is the top.
Is a legit concern. This is another advantage of living in smaller cities.
I strongly disagree, you can work in Barcelona without knowing Catalan if you don't have a public facing job, like most tech-related duties are. Spanish and Catalan are both official languages in Catalonia and everyone there understands and is able to speak Spanish (even more so than Catalan, given the amount of immigrants in Barcelona). I'm from Spain and have lived in Barcelona without speaking Catalan at all, so d…
> I'm from Spain and have lived in Barcelona without speaking Catalan at all. Ok, but this advice is not useful to the second-language learner. To become fluent one needs immersion, and learning two similar languages at once is going to slow that down a lot. Not to mention a business trip to Mexico City or Lima, not helpful. Similar to advising a Chinese person to study English in Edinburgh or the Netherlands, while…
You do know they speak in English in Scotland, right?
I strongly disagree, you can work in Barcelona without knowing Catalan if you don't have a public facing job, like most tech-related duties are. Spanish and Catalan are both official languages in Catalonia and everyone there understands and is able to speak Spanish (even more so than Catalan, given the amount of immigrants in Barcelona). I'm from Spain and have lived in Barcelona without speaking Catalan at all, so d…
> I'm from Spain and have lived in Barcelona without speaking Catalan at all. Ok, but this advice is not useful to the second-language learner. To become fluent one needs immersion, and learning two similar languages at once is going to slow that down a lot. Not to mention a business trip to Mexico City or Lima, not helpful. Similar to advising a Chinese person to study English in Edinburgh or the Netherlands, while…
This is an exact metaphor. Should I go to Scotland if my main goal were to learn english? Is a beautiful place, no doubt about it, and totally worth it to pay a visit, but there are easier ways.