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Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

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Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#91

Post by reaperducer »

ousta wrote: post #59
Jonas_ba wrote: post #58

Expat who moved to Paris here. The tech scene is definitely very active, lots of events and meetups to join and some very active companies with good products around as well as active VC's in the city. Add Station F and The Family and you got a nice place to start a company. Salary wise, I guess you are looking at 40-70k range, depending on experience and role. The part where Paris is not that great is moving into the…

please give me one example of a major city where renting an apartment as a foreigner is not a nightmare lol.. in USA you need a credit score....

Yet strangely, millions of people from overseas do rent apartments in the U.S. every year.

There are even apartment complex chains that specialize in this sort of thing. Oakwood was one, last time I checked, and has buildings in most major cities.

As noted by my Austrian friends, you can do anything you want in America as long as you have the money up front.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#92

Post by runT1ME »

sailingparrot wrote: post #32
sametmax wrote: post #17

Ok, so a lot of people here are comparing the french Startup scene to what it was before. I understand why, but it's misleading. Yes, compared to what it was before, it's booming. But it was ridiculously bad before. However compared to what's happening in the US, it's still lagging. Innovation is alright, however investment and risk taking are nowhere close to the American standard. It's still very meh. The culture o…

> even including social benefits, the salary is 2 to 3 times less Yea... no. Especially if you factor in the cost of life. Edit: Average salary in SF for tech workers is $142k vs $56k in Paris [1]. Once adjusted for cost of living, Paris is roughly 86k$ [1]. Now, you add all the social benefits, like free health care, retirements etc. And if you have/plan on having children, you can add free education as well. All in…

A couple things... salary is a small part of overall compensation. A 10% or more cash bonus is the minimum as well as some equity (which may or may not be worth something).

Health care is also free for most tech workers or if not free, a blip on the radar. I think I pay $40 a month for amazing healthcare (and I'm in SoCal not in the Bay).

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#93

Post by arendtio »

cassandrajam wrote: post #26
arendtio wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and it is kinda annoying if there's only one country which doesn't want to adopt English, forcing everyone to learn their language ;-) So it is just a matter of perspective. I wonder how the chinese see that picture.

> only one country which doesn't want to adopt English What? You've never been to Europe have you? Try travelling here and speaking English in any country other than the obvious champions like Norway / Sweden / Danemark and you'll come to the crazy realization that people like speaking their own language.

In fact, I am German. I had both English and French as foreign languages in school. I know that Germans aren't that good at English either but the French people are by far the most resistant I have met when it comes to learning English. Yes, they are also the most forgiving when it comes to trying to understand someone who is trying to speak their language but that does not change the first issue.

But hey, on the positive side of things I have a feeling that the younger generations depend less on their own language and have better English skills.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#94

Post by arendtio »

Jaxan wrote: post #35
arendtio wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and it is kinda annoying if there's only one country which doesn't want to adopt English, forcing everyone to learn their language ;-) So it is just a matter of perspective. I wonder how the chinese see that picture.

Since English is only third most spoken language, why would they adopt English?

I think the head count is not as imporant as the number of affected countries and the attractivesness of doing business with the people in those countries. Another factor might be the difficulty of learning the language, as English is considered one of the easier lagnuages.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#95

Post by boubiyeah »

oblio wrote: post #34
mtremsal wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rule of thumb is that half the salary amount (e.g. 120k USD to 60k EUR) in Paris will get you about the same or better quality of life as you have in NYC or SF, once you account for differences in how real estate, taxes, healthcare, and retirement work.

For the retirement bit, that's assuming that France's 110% of GDP debt or so won't balloon in the future and pensions won't be slashed by the time your retire.

Yeah... I wouldn't count on retirement too much.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#96

Post by arendtio »

hluska wrote: post #38
arendtio wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and it is kinda annoying if there's only one country which doesn't want to adopt English, forcing everyone to learn their language ;-) So it is just a matter of perspective. I wonder how the chinese see that picture.

If you're going to immigrate, learn the local language and do your best to adopt the local accent. It's tough, but it's the best investment you'll make in your new home.

Yes, when you are coming to a foreign country you should adapt to that country and not vice versa, the but that wasn't the point of my critique.

I critizied that the people in France are known for their hostility against English. So I just wish they would embrace the international nature of English a bit more.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#97

Post by ousta »

reaperducer wrote: post #91
ousta wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

please give me one example of a major city where renting an apartment as a foreigner is not a nightmare lol.. in USA you need a credit score....

Yet strangely, millions of people from overseas do rent apartments in the U.S. every year. There are even apartment complex chains that specialize in this sort of thing. Oakwood was one, last time I checked, and has buildings in most major cities. As noted by my Austrian friends, you can do anything you want in America as long as you have the money up front.

oh okey so paying up front 6 months of rent is not a nightmare?

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#98

Post by tom_mellior »

baud147258 wrote: post #9
cassandrajam wrote: post #4

Hi, French here but I don't know much about the Paris scene, more the Lyon scene but they're probably close. Regarding the French language: you don't need to be good at it. Just learn enough of it so you can show the locals you tried, and soon they'll be ok speaking to you in English. All coding languages are English-based so everybody knows enough to work efficiently with non French-speaking people. Like the other u…

French here too; regarding language, it's rather annoying when there's one only person who don't speak French at work, forcing everyone else to switch. But if the co-workers are young enough, there shouldn't have too much difficulty for them to speak English. And regarding code, all the variable + comment are usually in English.

Expat here, moved to Paris with my SO a few years ago, both working in software development.

It's true that everyone here must know some English, but the average level is bad to atrocious (even among people in their early 20s), and like others in this thread have said, many people hate being forced to switch to English for a colleague who can't be bothered to learn French. You may get by professionally (assuming a company is even willing to hire you if they know all your colleagues will hate you; think "culture fit" for a Silicon Valley way of putting this), but you will not be treated in a welcoming way and will de facto be excluded from conversations at lunch, in breaks, and at social events. I've seen this happen to expat colleagues. All this gets much better if you show that you are putting in the effort and learning, even if your current level is poor.

Really, if you settle anywhere, learn the language. Especially in France. French is neither super easy nor particularly beautiful IMHO, but it's not rocket science either. Not putting in the effort will harm you both professionally and socially.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#99

Post by dawhizkid »

sametmax wrote: post #17

Ok, so a lot of people here are comparing the french Startup scene to what it was before. I understand why, but it's misleading. Yes, compared to what it was before, it's booming. But it was ridiculously bad before. However compared to what's happening in the US, it's still lagging. Innovation is alright, however investment and risk taking are nowhere close to the American standard. It's still very meh. The culture o…

Ehh I just left Paris after visiting for a few days. Not that I bought fruits and veggies there, but I found the restaurant scene to be very average. The bistros are all indistinguishable from each other, pretty expensive (probably 25 euros for an entree and a drink), and very mediocre quality. I know you were talking about grocery store produce but a CA area farmers market is probably higher quality than an analogous one there too.

Re: Ask HN: How's the Paris startup scene?

#100

Post by dawhizkid »

rhaps0dy wrote: post #43
sametmax wrote: post #17

Ok, so a lot of people here are comparing the french Startup scene to what it was before. I understand why, but it's misleading. Yes, compared to what it was before, it's booming. But it was ridiculously bad before. However compared to what's happening in the US, it's still lagging. Innovation is alright, however investment and risk taking are nowhere close to the American standard. It's still very meh. The culture o…

>Plus you can buy actual tomatoes and not red plastic balls. That's an important perk.

CA has amazing farmers markets.
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