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Salaries are high, but cost of living is also really high. If you are from the US, expect to eat out less and have a smaller house/apartment, but have nicer (an

Salaries are high, but cost of living is also really high. If you are from the US, expect to eat out less and have a smaller house/apartment, but have nicer (and longer) holidays.

cylinder 10y ago
Which is not so bad always. I know of many Americans who went to higher col places but saved more than before. High prices push you to be more disciplined with spending: pack your lunch, use less energy, take public transportation, buy less useless junk out of boredom, etc. Also, when you're surrounded by accessible natural beauty and loads of travel destinations close by there's less of a need to spend frivolously. Obviously if you're already very frugal and disciplined it's another story. But IMO high living standards are more important to me than cheap prices, otherwise I'd go to SE Asia or something like that.
Fnoord 10y ago
I would assume the balance is less ideal than US. Then again people from US compare to EU while in EU you get pension, insurance, and generally a social system to protect the weak (which might be you one day). Quite frankly I wouldn't mind not having much money to live on. My living standard doesn't evolve around e.g. eating out. I want my own apartment (for two), a cheap car, a good laptop, a reasonable good smartphone, and some interior stuff (the usual plus some expensive kitchen equipment as outlier). That's pretty much it. You don't need a high income for all of that. The only expensive one is the car and that's something you save up for (long term investment). Health is the most important to me; from which everything sprouts. I've been in Switzerland a couple of times. The air in Switzerland is night and day compared to where I live (NL), and I don't even live in a big city. If enough IT people move to Switzerland (I know some known figures who have) something nice can brew there. For example, Google has a lab there. Even if you can't get an IT job there's non IT jobs available, including low wage / low education. Perhaps Norway is a better country in that regard. Postal service delivery, for example, earns a lot compared to NL. The weather is Scandinavian, but due to the Mexican Gulf temperature near coast is higher than Sweden and Finland (this also keeps fishing trade alive in winter). Relatively clean air, and they're also neutral (tho less than Switzerland). Obviously it'd be a backup plan. I don't think you can get a visa for that anyway. Another option could be remote work.
- mahyarm 10y ago
  Immigration isn't that great in switzerland. It takes even longer than the USA to get citizenship. A high income is also good for saving, so you can bootstrap your own ventures in life instead of being beholden to a govt' retirement program or a specific employer.
  - Fnoord 10y ago
    > Immigration isn't that great in switzerland. It takes even longer than the USA to get citizenship. I assumed we were talking about a hypothetical situation because for one reason or another in our current situation we can't fulfil that dream. Is it that difficult to get a H1B visa in Switzerland? > A high income is also good for saving [...] Yes, but some rather costly business like chemo therapy is in the default insurance in NL. So you will always have it. Besides, if you got too much money, you end up paying more tax. So people end up saving, but also spending, and if they don't they gotta pay more tax. All of which is good for the economy. One other thing I like about Switzerland is the direct democracy approach. Although I think it also works so well because its a small country, we got a non binding referendum, and its barely ever used because it requires a petition. Last time it was used was Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum, 2016 [1]. Note, I voted 'for', but that doesn't mean I want the government or EU to ignore the vote. Which is what pretty much happened recently in action (not in words although those words, too, weren't binding). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Ukraine%E2%80%93European_Union_Association_Agreement_referendum,_2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Ukraine%E2%80%93European...
    - snovv_crash 10y ago
      >Is it that difficult to get a H1B visa in Switzerland? If you don't have an EU passport, yes. There are regional quotas, so if you want to live somewhere with lots of tech (read: non-EU people) getting in under the quotas is really hard.

Salaries are high, but cost of living is also really high. If you are from the US, expect to eat out less and have a smaller house/apartment, but have nicer (and longer) holidays.

cylinder 10y ago

Which is not so bad always. I know of many Americans who went to higher col places but saved more than before. High prices push you to be more disciplined with spending: pack your lunch, use less energy, take public transportation, buy less useless junk out of boredom, etc. Also, when you're surrounded by accessible natural beauty and loads of travel destinations close by there's less of a need to spend frivolously. Obviously if you're already very frugal and disciplined it's another story. But IMO high living standards are more important to me than cheap prices, otherwise I'd go to SE Asia or something like that.

Fnoord 10y ago

I would assume the balance is less ideal than US. Then again people from US compare to EU while in EU you get pension, insurance, and generally a social system to protect the weak (which might be you one day). Quite frankly I wouldn't mind not having much money to live on. My living standard doesn't evolve around e.g. eating out. I want my own apartment (for two), a cheap car, a good laptop, a reasonable good smartphone, and some interior stuff (the usual plus some expensive kitchen equipment as outlier). That's pretty much it. You don't need a high income for all of that. The only expensive one is the car and that's something you save up for (long term investment). Health is the most important to me; from which everything sprouts. I've been in Switzerland a couple of times. The air in Switzerland is night and day compared to where I live (NL), and I don't even live in a big city. If enough IT people move to Switzerland (I know some known figures who have) something nice can brew there. For example, Google has a lab there. Even if you can't get an IT job there's non IT jobs available, including low wage / low education. Perhaps Norway is a better country in that regard. Postal service delivery, for example, earns a lot compared to NL. The weather is Scandinavian, but due to the Mexican Gulf temperature near coast is higher than Sweden and Finland (this also keeps fishing trade alive in winter). Relatively clean air, and they're also neutral (tho less than Switzerland). Obviously it'd be a backup plan. I don't think you can get a visa for that anyway. Another option could be remote work.

mahyarm 10y ago
Immigration isn't that great in switzerland. It takes even longer than the USA to get citizenship. A high income is also good for saving, so you can bootstrap your own ventures in life instead of being beholden to a govt' retirement program or a specific employer.
- Fnoord 10y ago
  > Immigration isn't that great in switzerland. It takes even longer than the USA to get citizenship. I assumed we were talking about a hypothetical situation because for one reason or another in our current situation we can't fulfil that dream. Is it that difficult to get a H1B visa in Switzerland? > A high income is also good for saving [...] Yes, but some rather costly business like chemo therapy is in the default insurance in NL. So you will always have it. Besides, if you got too much money, you end up paying more tax. So people end up saving, but also spending, and if they don't they gotta pay more tax. All of which is good for the economy. One other thing I like about Switzerland is the direct democracy approach. Although I think it also works so well because its a small country, we got a non binding referendum, and its barely ever used because it requires a petition. Last time it was used was Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum, 2016 [1]. Note, I voted 'for', but that doesn't mean I want the government or EU to ignore the vote. Which is what pretty much happened recently in action (not in words although those words, too, weren't binding). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Ukraine%E2%80%93European_Union_Association_Agreement_referendum,_2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Ukraine%E2%80%93European...
  - snovv_crash 10y ago
    >Is it that difficult to get a H1B visa in Switzerland? If you don't have an EU passport, yes. There are regional quotas, so if you want to live somewhere with lots of tech (read: non-EU people) getting in under the quotas is really hard.