Switzerland vs Silicon Valley for Software Developers

Post by dmode » Tue, Oct 15, 2019, 11:03 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #77

greatgib wrote: post #53

Bullshit alert They start with: "Maybe it is because of the outrageous rents eating over 30% of the salary and houses you cannot afford unless you joined Facebook or Google at the right time? " Regarding the SV. Then, this is what they (proudly) say about Switzerland: 1) "In Zurich, you can rent a whole flat (50+ square meters) for something between 2500-4000 CHF " 2) "In Switzerland a Software Developer can easily e…

Personally, I'd rather avoid both SV and CH and just live in Texas. $1/sq. ft. ($10.76/m²) is still the norm in Dallas, and it's not too hard to find cheaper. You would pay less money for a decent-size house in the suburbs of Dallas than the cheapest 1-bedroom apartment in SV or Zurich.

Post by IdontRememberIt » Tue, Oct 15, 2019, 11:27 PM UTC

kgwgk wrote: post #312

IdontRememberIt wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each situation is different and depends on an infinity of parameters (for exemple do not forget that a married couple pays more taxes than two individuals). Income city+state+federal (30%), VAT (7,6%), AHV (11%) + all the rest I have lost count of. For exemple, I pay 2,7% for PCI (Family allowance tax). I have a very good revenue by Swiss standard. Everything from work, nothing from capital gain. - I work in Romandie…

> for exemple do not forget that a married couple pays more taxes than two individuals Not necessarily, it depends on details like the canton and the income of each person.

Post by monaghanboy » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 2:49 AM UTC

ThePadawan wrote: post #301

mistrial9 wrote: post #102

my brilliant colleague went to Zurich for a year to work with finance people on math problems. He said that it was not the culture to mix socially, he liked to ride his road bike in the good weather, and basically, he worked the entire year without making any friends or being social. Then he left. It was expensive for him at the time (no details) even as a well-paid young math programmer, so it was not a big financia…

Can confirm - the local media will reprint the same articles every few months on how expats are moving away because the Swiss are too standoffish. And that includes Germans. I don't want to lean too heavily on the cliches, but if you come across cold even compared to Germans, surely that's a sign. Source: German expat, living in Switzerland since 2008.

Post by monaghanboy » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 4:42 AM UTC

sails wrote: post #243

noelsusman wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a Swiss expat living in America who moved here for that exact reason. His wife is Cuban, and they said they felt more at home and accepted in the US after a few months than they did after 10 years of living in Switzerland. They both loved Switzerland, but they cited the insular culture as the primary reason for leaving. His wife just couldn't handle it anymore.

> the insular culture Anecdotally, this is the reason most people struggle as expats in CH.

Post by ThePadawan » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 5:29 AM UTC

kick wrote: post #28

The founder of Autodesk, John Walker, has written extensively on this topic since moving to Switzerland decades ago. https://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/pourquoi_la_suisse/