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A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

visa.lafrenchtech.com

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Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#291

Post by scrollaway »

omginternets wrote: post #259
scrollaway wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how your general point about political censorship could be true (I don't know enough about this to pass judgement), but I'm asking specifically about your comment on homosexuals. Just to recontextualize this: This is a thread about the viability of startups in France. As I mentioned a bit further up, there are "no hate speech" rules all over Europe. Germany for example is far, far stricter than France about…

Hmm we may have a misunderstanding. I didn't make a comment about homosexuals, specifically. My point was rather that there are, de facto , state-enforced standards for political correctness in France and that this maps directly onto a form of censorship. Or am I still missing your point?

I see what you're saying, yeah. I don't think we disagree, I misunderstood your original post.

I wrote a bit more about this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13411875

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#292

Post by School-Cotton »

friedman23 wrote: post #281
chrisper wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, a lot of CS people in the US seem to really love the US and say stuff like "it sucks not to be in the US." They usually mention how they can afford everything since they make so much money and how they prefer to work 600 hours a week instead of having forced days off and that health care through Employer is so much better than through government. Admittedly, this was on Reddit, which is just a huge echo cha…

> how they prefer to work 600 hours a week instead of having forced days off Your idea of jobs in the US is wrong. I work 40 hrs a week and sometimes that goes up to 45 or 50 but not often. I get breakfast and lunch provided to me (also dinner but I don't stay for it because I would go insane) and I make 150k + 80k a year in equity. You could also however work at amazon and get paid the same but also work 60 hours a…

The Amazon thing is not necessarily true, I worked there for two years and nearly consistently did 40/h weeks.

There is a lot of variance between teams.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#293

Post by fancy_pantser »

adventured wrote: post #229
rfrey wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That works out to 37.5% tax. I paid considerably more than that working in California when you include health insurance.

Considerably more - that's surprising. Would you mind breaking out more exact numbers?

Just to use round numbers, here is a breakdown for a single person making $120k/yr in California at a typical tech company.

Monthly gross income: $10000

Federal tax $1494

Medicare $144

Social Security $616

CA Income Tax $751

CA Disability $89

Pretax deductions:

Medical $56

Dental $5

Vision $2

Monthly take-home amount: $6843 (68.4% of gross)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#294

Post by School-Cotton »

Chris2048 wrote: post #242
true_religion wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think they're trying to market to an English speaking audience, as opposed to a French speaking audience? French is the national language, and you'll be required to speak it in order to have a normal life.

In France, not necessarily Paris, or most large French cities. > French is the national language And what is the national language of Ireland?

In 2017 the national language of Ireland is, in practice, English, whatever their Constitution may say.

In France it's absolutely still French. Many, many people do not speak English well enough to have a conversation.

How is this analogy with Ireland even remotely relevant?

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#295

Post by closeparen »

esw wrote: post #272
adventured wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People making the kind of money being discussed here, such that you trigger higher bracket income taxes, have great health insurance in the US as well. Further, decent jobs in the US almost always include health insurance compensation above the salary. I have a brother that works in a pretty normal job earning $42,000 per year (not an outsized salary in the US), he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through…

>he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through his employer, and it's a nice plan. This is really an outlier. The US average for employee premiums is $104/month for individuals and $392/month for families.

For even entry-level tech jobs in the Bay Area, it is quite high. I pay $5.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#297

Post by renaudg »

chrisper wrote: post #139
intralizee wrote: post #85

I would love to go to France. I'm in US right now, 1 semester left for degree and have interned at a respectable company. I wonder if they're looking for experienced engineers over fresh ones. I've read so much that work life and culture is so much better in France, so heres hoping...

You know, a lot of CS people in the US seem to really love the US and say stuff like "it sucks not to be in the US." They usually mention how they can afford everything since they make so much money and how they prefer to work 600 hours a week instead of having forced days off and that health care through Employer is so much better than through government. Admittedly, this was on Reddit, which is just a huge echo cha…

To me (working in London), the biggest difference in France is the attitude towards healthcare : it's not a business, rather a right. I first heard the words "Preexisting condition" when I moved to London and researched private insurance there.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#298

Post by School-Cotton »

finid wrote: post #165

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…

I strongly recommend against moving to France if you do not speak French (unless you have strong language aptitude and are willing to make serious, concerted effort to learn quickly).

France is not like Sweden or Iceland where everyone speaks English.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#299

Post by Igpoawsh »

jchampem wrote: post #283
Igpoawsh wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another data point (throwaway for privacy reasons) -- senior data scientist, 5 years experience, in Paris, working for a large American networking company. I am making 65 kEUR gross incl. bonus, i.e. 40 kEUR after all taxes. And I am happy to be leaving soon for job in London paying 85 kGBP gross.

Afaik, rents in London are pretty outrageous if you don't want something at the far end of a Tube line...

I still expect to be better off there. I rent a 1BR place in Paris for 850 EUR, and I expect to find something comparable in London for 1500 GBP. That means that the flat in London costs about 800 EUR more, which is less than the salary increase I'll be making.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#300

Post by hinkley »

Raphmedia wrote: post #228

As someone who lives in Montreal, that's very strange to see. We import French talent by the hundreds because they are lacking interesting tech jobs over there.

The number of times I've heard, "We can't find developers" from people in my city is uncountable. Sometimes it's for companies where the word has gotten out about bad dev culture, others it's for boring me-too projects. Sometimes the two are hand-in-glove (bad culture -> 'safe' projects).

Someone once told me that if a company has to hire from out of town, there may be a reason, and you should investigate. They may have a bad local reputation, or they may just be too big for the town (and what happens when you get tired of working there or get laid off?). I didn't listen and ended up at a place the locals wouldn't touch when I moved here.

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