Don't discard Mountain View or Palo Alto (two nearby cities) in favor of San Francisco. But high-level, yes, the SF Bay area is a fantastic place for techies. S

Don't discard Mountain View or Palo Alto (two nearby cities) in favor of San Francisco. But high-level, yes, the SF Bay area is a fantastic place for techies. Some caveats: you will likely see a lowering a standard of living initially. For instance, vacation time in the US is a lot less than in other places. Your expenses may also increase drastically. Have you considered checking out the Bay area for a vacation? A conference might be an excellent opportunity. I think the next PyCon is happening in San Jose (also nearby). Just replace PyCon with whatever technology stack you may be in love with. This lets you kill three birds with one stone. 1) You get the see the Bay area first hand ... the good and the bad. 2) You'll get to meet people in love with the same tech stuff as you from other parts of the country/world. This is a really nice feeling + networking opportunity. 3) It is probably much easier to get a visitor visa for a conference. (Do note - I'm not saying you should use a visitor visa to get into the country and do something inappropriate, like get a job. In my opinion, that's a risky proposition and plain wrong.) Once you have a network in place, you can probably find a job in a company and get visa sponsorship. I don't know how hard this is for people from the EU. Silicon Valley is built on the back of immigrants ... don't think this is impossible.