171–180 of 751 posts
So I tried to subscribe again and finally got a response, which reads: ` Bonjour, Nous vous confirmons que nous venons de recevoir votre email depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com Merci. A très vite. Bonne journée Envoyé depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com ` No big deal, I have a pretty good idea what that means, even though I don't speak French, but if they're trying to market to an English-speaking audience, me thin…
France has been in a state of emergency ("état d'urgence") since november 2015, having been prolonged many times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_emergency_in_France
Having said that, the longer vacations are indeed true but that's the case for other European countries too.
I don't see how making one administrative task a bit easier (while all others can be extremely difficult) is going attract talent, except through the usual misrepresentation.
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Freedom of speech issues in France ?? I'd say a good reason not to come here is bureaucracy and taxes, but not issues with freedom of speech... Do you have some facts you'd like to share ?
France tries to regulate what people wear while sitting on the beach. It seems downright opposed to multiculturalism and diversity. Freedom of expression isn't just the right to write blog posts.
What are salaries like for mid-senior level software engineers working in tech companies in Paris? What are the tax rates i.e pay after taxes?
Let me know if you find reliable numbers. The French culture on this is very different, people simply don't talk about money and salary. I found a starting salary survey in a business magazine that indicated graduates of the top 5 engineering schools are getting about 40-55K/year
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Freedom of speech issues in France ?? I'd say a good reason not to come here is bureaucracy and taxes, but not issues with freedom of speech... Do you have some facts you'd like to share ?
I don't think most of the issues with freedom of speech in France would be of much concern to a putative startup founder, but they are real. For example, "expressing support for acts of terror" is an imprisonable offense, and it has been interpreted incredibly broadly by the courts, to the point that drunk people have been sent to prison for years over tasteless jokes. Similarly, simply browsing websites that are dee…
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As someone from the UK, my main reason for not moving anywhere else in Europe is the language barrier. I'm not even sure I'm capable of learning another language; 5 years in school trying to learn French + German, and can still only put together about two sentences. From what I remember, no one else seemed to really pick up the languages either.
>As someone from the UK, my main reason for not moving anywhere else in Europe is the language barrier. I'm not even sure I'm capable of learning another language I moved to Poland from the UK yonks ago, and have equally disastrous - if not worse - language skills as you. Not long after arriving, I accidentally got a job at a startup, and I'd been led to believe everything was done in English internally: communicatio…
Interesting direction. As a Polish person I have to ask: was your reason to move personal, or did you notice a career opportunity and went after it?
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I'm actually a French who lived 5 years in Berlin. I can tell you that not speaking german was really a burden (again in the long term). Everyone below 40 speaks english, but as soon as you have to deal with the administration, or just even the doctor, it really was a PITA. Also, Even the tech support (e.g. for Internet) wasn't allowed to speaks English on phone. I'm pretty sure the same "issues" apply to any country…
Large companies in Switzerland (e.g. telcos) often provides customer services in English.
When you have to provide service in German, French and Italian, adding English doesn't require a huge effort :)
My foreign friends would complain mostly about real-estate agents (it's a sellers market, they make no effort).
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There's a healthy number of startups in Paris where English is the working language. It's true that day to day life may be more challenging without speaking any French, but probably less so in Paris than elsewhere
I disagree. I've heard this from people here, however after living here for some time, I believe the reality is that if you don't speak fluent French, you will be at a severe disadvantage.
So my advice to new comers would be to pay attention to this when you visit for interviews. Do you feel reluctance, are people hesitant and searching for words when speaking English? Could be a sign they're not used to it. If they speak casually OTOH (even with strong accent and the odd mistakes) it's likely they're used to it: good.
So I tried to subscribe again and finally got a response, which reads: ` Bonjour, Nous vous confirmons que nous venons de recevoir votre email depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com Merci. A très vite. Bonne journée Envoyé depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com ` No big deal, I have a pretty good idea what that means, even though I don't speak French, but if they're trying to market to an English-speaking audience, me thin…
French is the national language, and you'll be required to speak it in order to have a normal life.
Apropos of this, I was in Paris recently at a startup event, and was pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of startups and people I saw doing things. This is a good move by the French, and will help attract entrepreneurs away from other countries (particularly like those just across the channel currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves.)
As someone from the UK, my main reason for not moving anywhere else in Europe is the language barrier. I'm not even sure I'm capable of learning another language; 5 years in school trying to learn French + German, and can still only put together about two sentences. From what I remember, no one else seemed to really pick up the languages either.