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Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

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Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#121

Post by weberc2 »

romwell wrote: post #113
weberc2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent is far cheaper in the U.S. My last apartment was $450/month for 600 sq ft in a good neighborhood. I paid $650 for less than half of that in rural France. Food is probably cheaper too, though not as dramatically. I'm sure there are lots of perks to living in Europe, but rent is not among them.

Where the hell are you living in this country? Just curious, 'cause the rent in places like Waterloo, IA is about twice the number you quoted. And there's not much going on in Waterloo, IA.

For 600 sq ft? That's not hard to find anywhere in the Midwest. Here are dozens of results for Waterloo, IA for below $600, many of which are much larger than 600 sq ft:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/21174_rid/42.570466,-92.248879,...

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#123

Post by byroot »

realusername wrote: post #57
GordonS wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a self taught dev with 15+ years' experience. I only got a degree a few years ago (did it while working). Honestly, I learned exactly nothing useful that I didn't already know. I do a lot of hiring and, in my experience, having a degree (or indeed the class/score of said degree) has no relation to the real-world abilities of candidates.

"engineer" in France is a regulated title you can only get through a degree (like Germany?). Actually I'm not even sure most foreign schools degrees would be accepted as engineers in France.

That is slightly inacurate, "Engineer" is not a regulated title in France. What is though is the "graduated engineer" (Ingénieur diplômé) title.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_des_titres_d%27ing%...

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#124

Post by byroot »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #76
elygre wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My French friends would choke over that statement. To themm Macron is fairly right wing, with little connection to the socialist party. Of course, with the way the election system works, once you were in the final round, it was macron or the devil, and most socialists went with macron,

How is he right wing? He was the economy minister for Hollande...

Yes, but Hollande, while branded as a left wings, had a fairly center / center right politic. Macron is similar but even more on the right.

The Parti Socialiste, basically imploded because of the size of the ideological gap between it's left and right wings.

A bit like the british labour, with the gap between Blair and Corbyn.

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#125

Post by uiri »

davidivadavid wrote: post #82
jgh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe a "Masters" in France is roughly equivalent to a Bachelors in USA/Canada. At least that's my understanding from friends in France who basically refer to a high school diploma as Baccalaureate.

Nope. At the university, a "master" is something you get after studying for 5 years, roughly. After 3 years, you get a "licence", which is equivalent to a BA/BS. Engineering schools use a slightly different system, but it's roughly equivalent.

Engineering degrees are largely homogenized throughout the English-speaking world (plus a few other countries, but interestingly enough, not France) under the Washington accord.

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#126

Post by ToFundorNot »

GuiA wrote: post #118
davidivadavid wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. At the university, a "master" is something you get after studying for 5 years, roughly. After 3 years, you get a "licence", which is equivalent to a BA/BS. Engineering schools use a slightly different system, but it's roughly equivalent.

Yeah that's the big debate, isn't it? Is a 4 years anglophone BSc equivalent to a 3 years european Licence, or 5 years Master? When I was applying to grad schools in the US, my French undergrad was not recognized as a proper undergrad - it had to be a 5 year Master (I snuck around that restriction by spending a year in the UK and getting a british BSc). But of course, French institutions consider 4 years american deg…

If their system is anything like in Quebec (probably is), the three year is the same as a 4 year (or 4 is the same as 5 for engineers).

In Quebec there's a stage between secondary school, and post secondary which lasts 2-3 years.

In terms of years, it looks like this: Primary:1-6 Secondary:6-11 Pre-Post Secondary: 12-13 Post Secondary 14-17(14-18 for engineering/etc.)

In the end they are equivalent, however differently structured.

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#127

Post by kakwa_ »

corford wrote: post #46

It looks great on paper but the devil will be in the detail and how well they execute on the admin/bureaucracy side. If my experience a few years ago with the auto entrepreneur scheme and URSAFF are anything to go by, you'll need a lot of patience, the ability to speak half decent French and a sense of humour if you want to avoid ripping all your hair out :) I love France (have even married one of their citizens!) bu…

You should change bank ^^.

Personally, I've moved two times and I didn't have to do the close/open/cheque stuff. And the direct debit authorization I've since before the first move keep working.

As for cheques, It's very rarely used, I still use the first chequebook I was given when I opened my bank account more than 10 years ago. I've never experienced the "pay by cheque" at the super market since I was a child. Cheques are used in very few situations, the last I encountered was for the "solde de tout compte" when I left my previous job.

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#128

Post by pedrosorio »

muninn_ wrote: post #109
dna_polymerase wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might get higher numbers, but they are paid in Dollar which is less worth than Euro, also everything is more expensive there than it is here, especially rent and food.

Uh, what? Have you been to the United States before? Everything, and I mean everything is incredibly cheap here. I'm just like an average dev in flyover country and I max out my retirement savings, bought a house, and can go buy a BMW and fill it up with <$2.00/gal gasoline, oh and that's just on my income. Doesn't include spouse. And after I fill up with gas I can go to an average grocery store that is far larger th…

"I can go to an average grocery store that is far larger than just about anything I've seen in all my European travels"

How is this relevant?

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#129

Post by hkmurakami »

If they're looking to attract founders, founders will obviously care about exits. It might not be the #1 concern, but it's up there. France has a reputation for very high taxes and a seeming contempt for very large cash windfalls. I'd be curious how they plan to improve this international image.

Re: Welcoming Tech Talent from Around the World to France

#130

Post by anonyfox »

cmahler7 wrote: post #93
anonyfox wrote: post #15

At this point it seems that many Europe nations are more "free" than the US. Now with same-sex marriage getting legal in germany the probably last big issue is resolved. You will not get extreme high salaries like in the US, but there is stuff like free higher education and getting serious medical care won't be expensive at all. Also remember that the EU has a higher population than the US with very diverse countries…

Germany is currently raiding people's homes for posting anything they deem "hate speech" online. Facebook can be fined 50 million now for not removing what the German government deems hate speech. No WrongThink allowed in Germany. That isn't "freedom" in my mind and I think any member of HN should be horrified at the precedent being set for the future. What happens when someone who comes into power determines "hate s…

Your freedom ends where my freedom begins. Hate speech only does harm other people, so why should we tolerate it? Sure it may be abused under circumstances, but afaik most people here are in favor of these laws. Just because you disagree doesn't make us less free. Oh and of course we're talking about obvious hate speech here, not suppressing political discussion.

By the way, we already had the "Stasi" in Germany and know exactly how real political censorship feels like. There is quite a difference between that and trying to protect peasants from being harassed to death.

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