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I live in Paris, am french, and have been working at the same startup for more than a year and some months now. The scene is very active, any new company these

I live in Paris, am french, and have been working at the same startup for more than a year and some months now. The scene is very active, any new company these days will always brand themselves as a "startup" no matter how they function behind the scenes. So alot of "false advertising" when you postulate, "we're cool and all, we SOMETIMES allow a day of remote work a week" and typical bs like that. Your french will need to be good, because it has been proven time and time again that we are bad as flip at learning languages and if you watch statistics online you'll see we're worst ranked in the entirety of Europe in languages. Used to be that there were some "startup heavy" districts inside Paris, still is the case, but now we also have the brand new "Station F" that sells itself (or rather Macron sells as) the next Silicon Valley of Europe.... Never heard that anywhere... My SO is currently in internship at station F and she told me the turnover is pretty crazy, it's more of an incubator that helps new startups get on their feet, so they'll probably stay around 6 months and then move far away to get cheap offices. Also apparently their selection process is run by old investors that have no idea what they are doing and if you simply sell your sh#t product/service well enough you'll get in. From what my SO told me about 50% of the startups over there are your typical "marketing" based "services" that sell you vaporware and invest 99% of their revenue in better "packaging" and what not, if you know what type of "company" I'm talking about... Last thing, you'll probably get a good pay since your resume mentions the words "worked at Silicon Valley", but from my experience, every single HR will try to f#ck you over when you are being hired, so you better be a tough negotiator. For reference I currently earn 30k eur (about 21k after tax) a year as a junior (2 year xp) full-stack dev (mainly node, php and alot of sysops) I'd resume by saying that overall, startups in Paris are more akin to those in SF than the Silicon Valley if you know what I mean. That might be your sort of thing, but I'm more of a "I want to build the future with my new js framework" type of guy... So have been considering moving out of France.

Dannymetconan 8y ago
Just a comment but 30k for 2 years full experience seems low. I'm working in another European capital and I'm at 40k for a similar full-stack dev role.
- baud147258 8y ago
  It's low for Paris too. I'm doing mostly back-end, at 2 full years of experience (discounting internship, though) and I'm at 36k€.
- kjullien 8y ago
  I know it's low and am currently looking for a better job somewhere else (which I am pretty confident I could get) but these things take time and I have alot of other stuff to deal with in my life atm. Don't really like my job right now at all, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...
  - l-p 8y ago
    If you need a better paying job and need it fast, everyone in Paris is looking for developers, including myself. I'd love a good dev with some skills in sys, you can easily find my mail by taking a look at my HN profile if you're interested.
- pier25 8y ago
  What country?
  - Dannymetconan 8y ago
    Ireland
- Jacqued 8y ago
  It's on the low end, depending on what you work on. In my experience (on the recruiting end) beginner developers in Paris can get ~40k€ pretty easily by getting several offers. More if they're good negotiators / come from a prestigious school.
mbaha 8y ago
Were you an engineering graduate ? Because 30k€ even in Province right now is extremely low (university graduates are starting at 33k€ in Lyon for example, with engineers 33-38k€)...
- kjullien 8y ago
  Nope, dropout because of financial reasons, got the job because I showed them what I was capable of (which I think is way more important than any diploma in the sector we are in, web) so it was somewhat of a gamble on their part to hire me, hence the low salary, but I just wanted some xp to put on my resume and a roof over my head ^^
Chiminh 8y ago
Those 30k seem really low for current Paris standard. I started at 40k as a graduate in a seed-funded startup 2 years ago. If I had stayed there, I would definitively be between 50k to 60k.
yardie 8y ago
Do you have a portfolio? I have some colleagues in Paris looking for a full stack dev right now.
joparisot 8y ago
Finding a flat in Paris is a hassle, even when you're French. There is this great startup (disclaimer: they're friends) who can act as you guarantor should you need one: https://www.garantme.fr/en https://www.garantme.fr/en They have a discount for the HN community that you can redeem using the coupon YC2018

Dannymetconan 8y ago

Just a comment but 30k for 2 years full experience seems low. I'm working in another European capital and I'm at 40k for a similar full-stack dev role.

baud147258 8y ago
It's low for Paris too. I'm doing mostly back-end, at 2 full years of experience (discounting internship, though) and I'm at 36k€.
kjullien 8y ago
I know it's low and am currently looking for a better job somewhere else (which I am pretty confident I could get) but these things take time and I have alot of other stuff to deal with in my life atm. Don't really like my job right now at all, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...
- l-p 8y ago
  If you need a better paying job and need it fast, everyone in Paris is looking for developers, including myself. I'd love a good dev with some skills in sys, you can easily find my mail by taking a look at my HN profile if you're interested.
pier25 8y ago
What country?
- Dannymetconan 8y ago
  Ireland
Jacqued 8y ago
It's on the low end, depending on what you work on. In my experience (on the recruiting end) beginner developers in Paris can get ~40k€ pretty easily by getting several offers. More if they're good negotiators / come from a prestigious school.

mbaha 8y ago

Were you an engineering graduate ? Because 30k€ even in Province right now is extremely low (university graduates are starting at 33k€ in Lyon for example, with engineers 33-38k€)...

kjullien 8y ago
Nope, dropout because of financial reasons, got the job because I showed them what I was capable of (which I think is way more important than any diploma in the sector we are in, web) so it was somewhat of a gamble on their part to hire me, hence the low salary, but I just wanted some xp to put on my resume and a roof over my head ^^

Chiminh 8y ago

Those 30k seem really low for current Paris standard. I started at 40k as a graduate in a seed-funded startup 2 years ago. If I had stayed there, I would definitively be between 50k to 60k.

yardie 8y ago

Do you have a portfolio? I have some colleagues in Paris looking for a full stack dev right now.

joparisot 8y ago

Finding a flat in Paris is a hassle, even when you're French. There is this great startup (disclaimer: they're friends) who can act as you guarantor should you need one: https://www.garantme.fr/en https://www.garantme.fr/en They have a discount for the HN community that you can redeem using the coupon YC2018