Given that your name looks familiar from Hacker News and your website suggests you like programming for its own sake, you should consider coming to Silicon Valley after the US congress finishes loosening up immigration restrictions for foreign STEM workers (which seems like it will probably happen). In the San Francisco area, $100K + stock is typical for entry-level people and good programmers in general are famously difficult to hire. Also, lots of LW peeps live here. My housemates and I ought to have a couch you can crash on while you look for a job. In the worst case it’ll just be a vacation for you to visit the US and hang out with the LW people that live around here. PM me if you want more info and stuff.
(This also goes for other people who are good programmers who don’t live in Silicon Valley and don’t have a good reason not to move here.)
Though for now, seriously considering moving to the US tends to trigger my Ugh shields. I’m quite scared.
Don’t feel bad, according to my models, that’s how most people would react (I’ve tried to train myself out of this sort reaction with some success mainly because I used to be really interested in starting companies, which requires this sort of audacious determination). You don’t have to make a decision now. If I were you, I’d just let it be an option in the back of your mind for the time being until you get comfortable enough to think calmly about it.
Hmm, leaving everything and everyone behind, and a general feeling of uncertainty: what live will be like? Will I find a job? Will I enjoy my job (super-important)? How will this affect my relationship with my SO? Less critically, should I bring my Cello, or should I buy another one? What about the rest of my stuff?
We’re not talking moving a couple hundred miles here. I’ve done it for a year and, I could see my family every 3 week-ends, and my SO twice as much. Living in Toulouse, France, I could even push to England if I had a good opportunity. But to go to the US, I have to Cross the Ocean. If I leave this summer and find a job by September, I likely won’t make a single trip back before the next summer.
Also, I don’t think I value money all that much. I mainly care about the sense of security it provides. If I were guaranteed half of what I currently make to work at home on the computer science research that I want to do, I would take it.
So, If I were to move to the US, it couldn’t be just about the money. The job matters. And I’d better get closer to the LW-MIRI-CFAR community. And even then, I’m still not sure. Indefinitely postponing such a big decision is so easy.
Relevant HN thread. Both the SF startups I’ve worked for have/had free meals, flexible work hours, on-premise fun like climbing walls, table tennis, foosball, etc., egalitarian laid-back work environments, and so on. In terms of technology you’re working with, I’d guess that you’re probably more likely to work with something relatively newer and sexier like Hadoop, Ruby on Rails, or node.js here in SF than something like Java. I don’t know what you work with in France. In terms of whether the work is interesting… well, that depends on the startup.
How will this affect my relationship with my SO?
That’s a tougher one… supposedly the dating scene is relatively bad for men in SF, but I only just moved here so I don’t have much firsthand experience. I don’t know what your SO’s visa options would be. I assume she’s not a programmer? If she is, maybe she could apply for a visa too? I don’t know how you guys feel about gaming the US visa system by getting married?
Less critically, should I bring my Cello, or should I buy another one? What about the rest of my stuff?
Figure out how much it’s worth to you and how long you’d have to work here in order to buy equivalents for all of it or things that made you equivalently happy with your extra salary?
Also, I don’t think I value money all that much. I mainly care about the sense of security it provides. If I were guaranteed half of what I currently make to work at home on the computer science research that I want to do, I would take it.
Do you have any interest in effective altruism?
Indefinitely postponing such a big decision is so easy.
Well, you can certainly postpone it until we learn what kind of immigration reform, if any, passes. Even then, I think it would only start to take effect at the start of 2014 (but I really have no clue).
I don’t have a driver’s license; currently taking BART to work. Our place has reasonably good BART access, and BART goes to SoMa where all the hot startups supposedly are (I’m not very plugged in to the startup scene here, so I won’t be super helpful in finding a job; most of my salary info comes from Quora, GlassDoor.com, and limited personal experience + anecdotes). If lots of LW people respond to this thread, maybe I should start working as recruiter though? :P
In any case, my uninformed guess is that any immigration reform changes will start taking effect at the beginning of 2014, so there will probably be time for you to learn to drive.
Given that your name looks familiar from Hacker News and your website suggests you like programming for its own sake, you should consider coming to Silicon Valley after the US congress finishes loosening up immigration restrictions for foreign STEM workers (which seems like it will probably happen). In the San Francisco area, $100K + stock is typical for entry-level people and good programmers in general are famously difficult to hire. Also, lots of LW peeps live here. My housemates and I ought to have a couch you can crash on while you look for a job. In the worst case it’ll just be a vacation for you to visit the US and hang out with the LW people that live around here. PM me if you want more info and stuff.
(This also goes for other people who are good programmers who don’t live in Silicon Valley and don’t have a good reason not to move here.)
(Yep, I’m loup-vaillant on HN too)
Thank you, I’ll think about it. Though for now, seriously considering moving to the US tends to trigger my Ugh shields. I’m quite scared.
Don’t feel bad, according to my models, that’s how most people would react (I’ve tried to train myself out of this sort reaction with some success mainly because I used to be really interested in starting companies, which requires this sort of audacious determination). You don’t have to make a decision now. If I were you, I’d just let it be an option in the back of your mind for the time being until you get comfortable enough to think calmly about it.
Scared of?
Hmm, leaving everything and everyone behind, and a general feeling of uncertainty: what live will be like? Will I find a job? Will I enjoy my job (super-important)? How will this affect my relationship with my SO? Less critically, should I bring my Cello, or should I buy another one? What about the rest of my stuff?
We’re not talking moving a couple hundred miles here. I’ve done it for a year and, I could see my family every 3 week-ends, and my SO twice as much. Living in Toulouse, France, I could even push to England if I had a good opportunity. But to go to the US, I have to Cross the Ocean. If I leave this summer and find a job by September, I likely won’t make a single trip back before the next summer.
Also, I don’t think I value money all that much. I mainly care about the sense of security it provides. If I were guaranteed half of what I currently make to work at home on the computer science research that I want to do, I would take it.
So, If I were to move to the US, it couldn’t be just about the money. The job matters. And I’d better get closer to the LW-MIRI-CFAR community. And even then, I’m still not sure. Indefinitely postponing such a big decision is so easy.
Relevant HN thread. Both the SF startups I’ve worked for have/had free meals, flexible work hours, on-premise fun like climbing walls, table tennis, foosball, etc., egalitarian laid-back work environments, and so on. In terms of technology you’re working with, I’d guess that you’re probably more likely to work with something relatively newer and sexier like Hadoop, Ruby on Rails, or node.js here in SF than something like Java. I don’t know what you work with in France. In terms of whether the work is interesting… well, that depends on the startup.
That’s a tougher one… supposedly the dating scene is relatively bad for men in SF, but I only just moved here so I don’t have much firsthand experience. I don’t know what your SO’s visa options would be. I assume she’s not a programmer? If she is, maybe she could apply for a visa too? I don’t know how you guys feel about gaming the US visa system by getting married?
Figure out how much it’s worth to you and how long you’d have to work here in order to buy equivalents for all of it or things that made you equivalently happy with your extra salary?
Do you have any interest in effective altruism?
Well, you can certainly postpone it until we learn what kind of immigration reform, if any, passes. Even then, I think it would only start to take effect at the start of 2014 (but I really have no clue).
I should learn to drive first, though, right?
I don’t have a driver’s license; currently taking BART to work. Our place has reasonably good BART access, and BART goes to SoMa where all the hot startups supposedly are (I’m not very plugged in to the startup scene here, so I won’t be super helpful in finding a job; most of my salary info comes from Quora, GlassDoor.com, and limited personal experience + anecdotes). If lots of LW people respond to this thread, maybe I should start working as recruiter though? :P
In any case, my uninformed guess is that any immigration reform changes will start taking effect at the beginning of 2014, so there will probably be time for you to learn to drive.