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> In Zurich, you can rent a whole flat (50+ square meters) for something between 2500-4000 CHF Is USD 2500 - USD 4000 supposed to be cheap?!
Yeah and that's for a 538 sqft apartment. I don't know the specifics of the San Francisco rental market, but you can easily beat $4k/mo for a studio in desirable parts of Manhattan, so I assume the same is true of SV
A maybe minor point: It's more or less impossible to become a Swiss if you aren't already whereas it's kind of possible to become an American. If your company makes it it's entirely possible this can become a problem down the line, for instance regarding your tax status or rights and obligations. Also, the culture is remarkably different, so if you're expecting something similar to the american college campus-like ex…
While Switzerland might not be strictly in the EU it is very much a grey area -- it is in some ways effectively in the EU so -- personally I'm Irish and pretty sure I could live and work in Switzerland tomorrow. I'm just pointing out you don't need to be Swiss to be on a level playing field.
Worth nothing though as well Switzerland is often very hostile to employing US Passports in any financial firms (alot of finanical firms employe devs in SW) (as apposed to Americans they represent) -- laregely because of banking culture and FACTA.
Cons: no Sun and the salaries seem to be capped at CHF 120-140K. Has that old school European mindset that managers and MBAs should be paid more than individual contributors, engineers.
They still have the highest salaries in Europe. Anybody moving there from another European country would see those salaries as pretty awesome. I don't care what managers and MBA-s make until I can make an awesome living. I'm not more special.
> In Zurich, you can rent a whole flat (50+ square meters) for something between 2500-4000 CHF Is USD 2500 - USD 4000 supposed to be cheap?!
Please note that the labour market is regulated in Switzerland and that, depending on where you come from (especially outside EU), it may be difficult or impossible to obtain a work permit.
1) Salaries are essentially capped at $120,000.
2) Stock options are very rare.
Basically, you can't get rich. No different than working at Google but with lower salary potential. This is why Switzerland will never be the next SV.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you found there to be a significant language barrier when moving to Switzerland? I know Europeans generally know English, but is there an expectation that you speak German or another local language?
Not OP, but I have so e experience particularly in Zurich. English is widely spoken by a majority of the people you'll be working with, but some sort of basic German can go a very long way. Compared to other cities like Paris or Strasbourg (other tech-ish cities), Zurich is far more English friendly, perhaps only second to Amsterdam.
The police l, if you have to interact with them, might treat you more roughly if you don’t speak the local language.
Cons: no Sun and the salaries seem to be capped at CHF 120-140K. Has that old school European mindset that managers and MBAs should be paid more than individual contributors, engineers.
Lots of Sun, but maybe not as much as Southern California. San Francisco is famously non-sunny (all that cloud). Salaries are certainly not capped at 140k CHF, I've seen a number of job ads for 180K CHF and that doesn't count stock options which is usually the bulk of compensation at the high end. Not sure about the MBA vs IC thing though.
San Francisco is on a peninsula, so it gets lots of fog. Its weather pattern does not represent the area in general.
San Jose is further inland and very sunny most of the year.
Today SF high will be 66F and San Jose 75F; big difference but in either case its mid-October and still t-shirt weather.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This guide answers a lot of questions: https://swissdevjobs.ch/blog/how-to-find-job-as-software-dev... Long story short: it's super easy if you are from the EU. If not, it is quite hard.
AS an American I am sure its almost impossible. On a positive note I do speak German already.
We managed to hire Americans (and Russians, Chinese, Indians, ...) all right at my previous job. Not every employer is willing or able though, so it definitely limits your options.