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Find a job in your country of choice and get your visa - then move, about as simple as that. If you're looking at a job on the continent make sure you know the

Find a job in your country of choice and get your visa - then move, about as simple as that. If you're looking at a job on the continent make sure you know the local language fluently (not English). It is said that its ok to know English alone but it really isn't. You'll come to the reason that most Europeans in the tech space opt for the US - the compensation factor in Europe is relatively poor.

pg314 10y ago
Lower compensation, but better social security (if you manage to get citizenship), better working hours, more holidays. I second learning the local language. That is one of the most important requirements to truly integrate.
- neximo64 10y ago
  Having gone through the experience myself it depends what you're aiming at. In my opinion, in the tech space in particular the US is a no brainer for the European to move to: If you're aiming at your own startup, Europe is downright awful you control the working hours, holidays and social security. Entrepreneurship is terrible because the culture doesn't adapt well to it. Raising cash is like selling a fridge to eskimos. There is a culture of hitting yourself at failure and extremely conservative risk. Your own parents wont support you in a startup. For a job in tech: In Silicon valley all those things you mentioned are quite easy to come by? Social security, holidays, working hours and even better + a wage which is why the draw is the other way from here.
  - drakonka 10y ago
    This is really interesting, I wonder if Stockholm is for some reason in its own bubble when it comes to startups in the EU. We have so many (funded) startups forming here it's kind of getting crazy (but in a good way). I mostly only hear about new games companies forming as that's the industry I'm in - quite a few people have recently left larger companies in Stockholm to start their own game dev studios. I guess with time we will know how successful they will be, but at least the process of branching off and starting your own studio here seems quite accessible.
- kgwgk 10y ago
  Social security is mostly independent of citizenship.
- kwhitefoot 10y ago
  You don't have to be a citizen to get at least some forms of social security in many European/Scandinavian countries. Norway will pay me unemployment if I am made redundant even though I am not a citizen because I have been paying tax here for the last thirty years.
kwhitefoot 10y ago
Go first, then learn the language. It will be much easier to learn a language when you are in a country that uses it. Tell all your Anglophile friends and colleagues to speak the local language to you as much as possible and attend evening classes for immigrants (many of whom won't speak English). It's much faster and easier than learning it on your own. I say this from my experience learning Norwegian in Norway which was much less painful and more successful than learning French at school in England even though I had many more hours of formal French instruction.
- neximo64 10y ago
  You can't easily go first because of the Visa issue, where you need the job first where you need the language first.

pg314 10y ago

Lower compensation, but better social security (if you manage to get citizenship), better working hours, more holidays. I second learning the local language. That is one of the most important requirements to truly integrate.

neximo64 10y ago
Having gone through the experience myself it depends what you're aiming at. In my opinion, in the tech space in particular the US is a no brainer for the European to move to: If you're aiming at your own startup, Europe is downright awful you control the working hours, holidays and social security. Entrepreneurship is terrible because the culture doesn't adapt well to it. Raising cash is like selling a fridge to eskimos. There is a culture of hitting yourself at failure and extremely conservative risk. Your own parents wont support you in a startup. For a job in tech: In Silicon valley all those things you mentioned are quite easy to come by? Social security, holidays, working hours and even better + a wage which is why the draw is the other way from here.
- drakonka 10y ago
  This is really interesting, I wonder if Stockholm is for some reason in its own bubble when it comes to startups in the EU. We have so many (funded) startups forming here it's kind of getting crazy (but in a good way). I mostly only hear about new games companies forming as that's the industry I'm in - quite a few people have recently left larger companies in Stockholm to start their own game dev studios. I guess with time we will know how successful they will be, but at least the process of branching off and starting your own studio here seems quite accessible.
kgwgk 10y ago
Social security is mostly independent of citizenship.
kwhitefoot 10y ago
You don't have to be a citizen to get at least some forms of social security in many European/Scandinavian countries. Norway will pay me unemployment if I am made redundant even though I am not a citizen because I have been paying tax here for the last thirty years.

kwhitefoot 10y ago

Go first, then learn the language. It will be much easier to learn a language when you are in a country that uses it. Tell all your Anglophile friends and colleagues to speak the local language to you as much as possible and attend evening classes for immigrants (many of whom won't speak English). It's much faster and easier than learning it on your own. I say this from my experience learning Norwegian in Norway which was much less painful and more successful than learning French at school in England even though I had many more hours of formal French instruction.

neximo64 10y ago
You can't easily go first because of the Visa issue, where you need the job first where you need the language first.