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Coming from the uk, whilst I'd love to work for a US based tech company something that would strongly make me reconsider is the terrible lack of paid vacation.

Coming from the uk, whilst I'd love to work for a US based tech company something that would strongly make me reconsider is the terrible lack of paid vacation. 20 days is the minimum here - many (including me) get 25 and that allows for some proper breaks: a weeks skiing, two weeks for a long vacation, a long stretch off at Christmas and still enough for the odd day here and there. I'd be lucky to get half of that in the US, a big disincentive.

barrkel 16y ago
Indeed, it was one of the crucial reasons I didn't move myself - see my other post.
yummyfajitas 16y ago
Funny - I'm in the US, and I get a comparable amount of vacation. If you want vacation, negotiate for it. Your pay might be lowered commensurately, but there is no free lunch. Why would you care if other people choose money over time?
- lsc 16y ago
  this is not obvious to most people in America; Culturally, it's expected that we choose money over time. On the other hand, of the last 5 years I worked for other people, 2 of them were working 3 days a week. Most of the time, if you ask (and are willing to take the hit in wages) /my/ experience has been that employers are surprised when you ask, but they seem to be happy enough to accommodate. note, usually you have to work more than 30 hours a week to get employer-paid health insurance.
- simonsquiff 16y ago
  See Barrkel's post below http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2022642 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2022642 - it's not something you can always negotiate. I don't care if others choose money over time - I'm saying many just don't have that choice.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    You can always negotiate for it - that doesn't mean the other person is obligated to give it to you.
jbermudes 16y ago
Well there's also the other side of the spectrum as well. IBM for instance has essentially no vacation policy, and it's up to you to determine how much vacation you take. Of course some people claim that this ends up giving you less actual vacation time because the work culture promotes using the relaxed rules for a lot of remote work stuff, so you're more likely to get dirty looks if you were to try to tell them "Yeah, I'm going on vacation and I won't be on call"
arethuza 16y ago
25 isn't exactly on the high side - I get 33 and I would be very reluctant to go to fewer. Even in the UK some employers can be very "macho" about vacation - regarding holidays as something for wimps. I had someone trying to recruit me for an investment bank a while back and he got quite upset when I refused to consider the 22 days they were offering.... he more or less accused me of being soft for wanting so much holiday time! Given that they approached me I regarded this as a very odd way of trying to attract new employees.

barrkel 16y ago

Indeed, it was one of the crucial reasons I didn't move myself - see my other post.

yummyfajitas 16y ago

Funny - I'm in the US, and I get a comparable amount of vacation. If you want vacation, negotiate for it. Your pay might be lowered commensurately, but there is no free lunch. Why would you care if other people choose money over time?

lsc 16y ago
this is not obvious to most people in America; Culturally, it's expected that we choose money over time. On the other hand, of the last 5 years I worked for other people, 2 of them were working 3 days a week. Most of the time, if you ask (and are willing to take the hit in wages) /my/ experience has been that employers are surprised when you ask, but they seem to be happy enough to accommodate. note, usually you have to work more than 30 hours a week to get employer-paid health insurance.
simonsquiff 16y ago
See Barrkel's post below http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2022642 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2022642 - it's not something you can always negotiate. I don't care if others choose money over time - I'm saying many just don't have that choice.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  You can always negotiate for it - that doesn't mean the other person is obligated to give it to you.

jbermudes 16y ago

Well there's also the other side of the spectrum as well. IBM for instance has essentially no vacation policy, and it's up to you to determine how much vacation you take. Of course some people claim that this ends up giving you less actual vacation time because the work culture promotes using the relaxed rules for a lot of remote work stuff, so you're more likely to get dirty looks if you were to try to tell them "Yeah, I'm going on vacation and I won't be on call"

arethuza 16y ago

25 isn't exactly on the high side - I get 33 and I would be very reluctant to go to fewer. Even in the UK some employers can be very "macho" about vacation - regarding holidays as something for wimps. I had someone trying to recruit me for an investment bank a while back and he got quite upset when I refused to consider the 22 days they were offering.... he more or less accused me of being soft for wanting so much holiday time! Given that they approached me I regarded this as a very odd way of trying to attract new employees.