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Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#121

Post by kilburn »

majormajor wrote: post #116
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After you become a permanent resident in a EU country, you are no longer legally a "foreign worker" but rather state services treat you the same as any native-born person.

So googling says this is available to apply for after 5 years for Spain. Which suggests that the health care benefits may not be substantially better for quite some time after moving. Especially if moving from the US and giving up several tens of thousands of dollars per year in salary. The last part of this sentence makes thing increasingly unclear-sounding: > You have to prove that you have adequate financial resou…

Because you can apply for permanent residency while being retired and living your elder days under the spanish sun, in which case you don't get health coverage because you are not (and never were) a spanish worker.

If you have been working in spain, you are covered by the spanish public health system which is your proof of public health insurance right there. Also, so long as you keep being an "active worker" (that means either actually working or inscribed in the public job-seeking people registry INEM) you will maintain your health coverage whether you are a permanent resident or not.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#122

Post by kilburn »

majormajor wrote: post #105
faragon wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My question: what happens if you lose your job as a foreign worker (say, too sick to keep working)? The family scenarios are all also covered by my US employee-based coverage, with a small-compared-to-the-salary-numbers out-of-pocket annual max, but in the US where you can get screwed is if you get too sick to work.

Up to 4 days (sickness paid leave): your employer pays your full salary.

Between 4 days and 1.5-2 years (temporary disability / incapacidad temporal): the state pays you 60 to 75% of your salary (depending on some specific conditions, whether it was a work-related issue or not, etc.). You and your entire family keep all social benefits, including healthcare.

More than 2 years (permanent disability / incapacidad permanente): I don't really know, but I suspect it depends even more on the specifics. These are always hairy cases, even for natives.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#123

Post by eyko »

exelius wrote: post #38
farresito wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the language, I don't think Catalan is much of an issue, to be honest. If you talk in Spanish, you get an answer in Spanish. I would say that the climate and the city are well worth it, but I am of course biased, since I live in Barcelona.

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.

> 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 find that very hard to believe, but if it did happen, it's either a joke or a one-off case.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#124

Post by eyko »

A lot of people have commented on the cost of living to salary balance, but the part they're missing out (which I think is crucial and the main reason I won't go back to Spain) is that it's quite inconvenient if you travel regularly to more expensive countries. Yes, 3k/month will do wonders in Spain but if you want to spend a few weeks in NYC and then some in London, your savings aren't gonna take you very far (first hand experience).

My suggestion is get a remote job that pays close to what you'd earn on SF or NYC and then spend your time wherever you want. Barcelona is a great city. Don't believe the scaremongering expats with their "oh they spoke to me in Catalan" horror stories because it's mostly bullshit or very rare. I'm mixed race and grew up in Spain (which means the often assume I'm a foreigner and they default to English) so trust me when I tell you that you won't have any problems whatsoever. I can speak Catalan and Castellano as well but I've never had any issues speaking whichever I preferred. Trust me, 99.999% of people in Barcelona (city) speak perfect Castellano and if you hear stories of bartenders speaking Catalan or Russian, be suspicious simply call their bullshit. Everybody loves having an interesting story to tell, but they're just stories.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#125

Post by brogrammernot »

Symbiote wrote: post #32
tjr225 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a moment during my wife and I's honeymoon to Mallorca/Barcelona where I was jogging through Gracia and I truly thought that this was where I was meant to live. A really...really beautiful and amazing city. Once my two huge dogs pass(I can't bear the thought of moving them overseas) I will try my darnedest to move to Catalonia.

If you didn't want to wait, and if the problem is the flight, you could take the QE2 ship from New York to Southampton with your dogs. Unless they're particularly huge. From Portsmouth harbour (30 minutes from Southampton docks) there are ferries to Santander or Bilbao in Spain, which also allow pets.

Omg. Bookmarking this. Had the chance to take a job overseas but had no idea how to transport my animal.

I clearly failed at googling, and the thought of a cruise ship never crossed my mind.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#126

Post by pvaldes »

majormajor wrote: post #116
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After you become a permanent resident in a EU country, you are no longer legally a "foreign worker" but rather state services treat you the same as any native-born person.

So googling says this is available to apply for after 5 years for Spain. Which suggests that the health care benefits may not be substantially better for quite some time after moving. Especially if moving from the US and giving up several tens of thousands of dollars per year in salary. The last part of this sentence makes thing increasingly unclear-sounding: > You have to prove that you have adequate financial resou…

You can't just take the first plane to Spain and say, "please treat my cancer for free because my country refuses to spend any money on me". This do not work like this.

Spain has health agreements with many countries concerning its citizens. Sometimes they are symmetric, other not so. If Spain will be billed if a Spaniard needs to use the public health care system in the country X, then the country X will be billed in return also if one of their citizens needs to receive public health care in Spain. As foreigner turist either your country or your insurance will pay for you, but you are guaranteed to be treated by fine physicians if you really need it.

You could need a health insurance if you are a retired citizen of other country living as expat in Spain but that never worked there, (therefore never contributed to support the public health-care system).

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#127

Post by bogomipz »

HenryBemis wrote: post #82
dieterrams wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Amazon-Spain-Salaries-EI_IE... Doing a Numbeo cost of living conversion suggests at least the base salary is roughly comparable to what you'd be making in the US. The total comp numbers seem low to me, however.

I've been using Numbeo for a few years now (traveling plenty for work). 1. Numbeo: add a 10% "against" you to be on the safe side 2. Salary Calculators: whichever "salary calculator" you are using, add a 10% "against" you (taxes-taxes-taxes) 3. To whatever utilities you are calculating, add another 10% "against" you to for "building administration", "council/city tax". Do 1-2-3 and you will not have any surprised to…

Can you elaborate on number 1? For instance Numbeo summarizes:

Cost of living in Barcelona is 35.00% lower than in ____

You would figure it is really only 25% cheaper? Are you comparing just some itemized costs you incur on a business trip or are you actually moving to these places as a resident and making that observation? I ask because a 10% margin of error hasn't been my experience.

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#128

Post by kayoone »

francamps wrote: post #80
kayoone wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, BCN is mostly as expensive as Berlin, but salaries seem considerably lower for developers. I love BCN, but prefer to work and live in Berlin and visit BCN once or twice a year. Berlin has a lot to offer as well, certainly no beach and pretty bad winters though.

That is all true. I really love Berlin and I consider it as much an option as Barcelona, or better. The amount of culture and stimulating things happening is incredible, plus the most liberal city and the most interesting tech scene in Europe (sorry London). The weather has the worst of NYC and the worst of London together though.

How long have you been here? I would be very surprised if the weather was considerably worse than NY and especially London. Current 7 day forecast looks pretty comparable :)

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#129

Post by soci »

In my company we aggregate ALL public job listing in Tech companies in Barcelona & Madrid so I have some real data to share:

Barcelona doubles Madrid in number of Tech Companies currently hiring:

- Barcelona -> 299 startups offering 776 jobs

- Madrid -> 157 startups offering 359 jobs

As for language:

- Barcelona -> 90% of the job offers are written in English rest in Spanish. This could mean that English is more or less a required language for all the jobs in Barcelona

- Madrid -> 50% of the offers are written in English, the other half in Spanish.

About salaries, making a quick SQL query in the job offers database shows that Barcelona pays 15% more than Madrid as average. Although I would say that Top companies in Barcelona and Madrid are paying the same.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you need further information, we have lots of data to share.

[Update] data shared comes from https://www.jobfluent.com/jobs-barcelona (Barcelona) and https://www.jobfluent.com/jobs-madrid (Madrid)

Re: Ask HN: What are the Madrid and Barcelona tech scenes like?

#130

Post by faragon »

majormajor wrote: post #116
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After you become a permanent resident in a EU country, you are no longer legally a "foreign worker" but rather state services treat you the same as any native-born person.

So googling says this is available to apply for after 5 years for Spain. Which suggests that the health care benefits may not be substantially better for quite some time after moving. Especially if moving from the US and giving up several tens of thousands of dollars per year in salary. The last part of this sentence makes thing increasingly unclear-sounding: > You have to prove that you have adequate financial resou…

If you work legally (EU Shengen area, or having a work visa) with salary, for a company, you have full public health coverage for you and your family, just like every Spanish citizen (Spanish citizens have public universal health-care coverage even being unemployed).
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