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Interview with a bunch of companies and see what kind of offers you get. Now is a good time because all the interview processes are remote, so you're not limit

Interview with a bunch of companies and see what kind of offers you get. Now is a good time because all the interview processes are remote, so you're not limited to traveling to the Bay Area for interviews and can do as many of them as your schedule & stamina allows. Many companies are also going remote, so you may also be able to stay in London and work for a Silicon Valley company (my Coinbase interviewer lived in London, for example). The company would probably sponsor your visa if you do move. My gut is that if you're good and interview well, you could probably pull in $300-400K including stock compensation (maybe $150-160K salary), which would easily make it worth your while. The final word is always the offer letter, though, so get as many offer letters as you can and play them off each other.

greedythrowaway 6y ago
Thanks for the comment. Any tips on popular job sites in the Bay Area?
- nostrademons 6y ago
  Go for the companies that you've heard of - basically any company with a hot product and global reach. FANGs, Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, Stripe, Roblox, Coinbase, DoorDash, DropBox, SnapChat, Tesla, Zoom, etc. Most of them have job pages on their website. Even better if you can get a referral, though that's harder if you're not local for networking. HN also has a monthly "who's hiring" thread that has some good leads.
  - burntoutfire 6y ago
    Is for example Google in MV open to hiring people from Europe? Won't they just tell me to go apply at one of the numerous European Google offices?
    - nostrademons 6y ago
      You indicate your preference for office when you apply - if you go through their Jobs site it's part of the position, or you can tell the recruiter that you'd prefer Mountain View positions. I was living in Boston (a little bit easier than UK since it's still in the US, but still cross-country) when I first applied - I said that I was open to roles in either Boston or Mountain View, but would prefer Mountain View since I was looking to relocate. Oftentimes it makes it easier for the company, since there are more roles available at headquarters. Visa issues are usually easier to resolve than team-fit issues.
- RemingtonLak 6y ago
  indeed by far seems like the best job scraper, 2nd be Dice? But I can tell without question. If you're looking for an interview. You need to find someone in the inside who can refer. A typical job could literally have hundreds if not thousands of resumes of course all scanned by machines. The only ones that gets any considering are always the inside referral. I've hired almost 90% from inside referrals, the outside even pre-screened takes days weeks even months to work through. For the hiring mgr, that's too much pain. Also the pressure from inside to hire the "referred" candidate is also another factor. So yeah, if you're trying to come in cold, your chances are slim to none. One way in if no directly referral is through LinkedIn's network of "connections.' PS> However, now a days, if you're a dev and can show, exhibit, describe your work. In particular one you created, lead, and managed is to have articles/GitHub to showcase them. Depending on the problem and the solution you're showcasing. That could get you the interview if not the job outright since machines can't scan and quantify that so will need to be flagged for human review.
burntoutfire 6y ago
Isn't visa the main issue here? H1-B is a lottery with unfavorable odds, O-1 requires being exceptional (I guess you can try gaming that with a bunch of bullshit conference talks and hoping the immigration officers do not catch wind that, in tech, most conferences are low-status careerist bs fest).
- nostrademons 6y ago
  Yes but once you get to the multi-billion-$, major consumer name companies, they have whole departments dedicated to figuring out what visa is most likely to get the applicant into the U.S. and what they need to present to the government to make it happen. I hired an intern from Canada once and my understanding was that behind the scenes the process was complex, but all they needed from me was a description of the work and a few signatures. It definitely is more of a hassle for the employer, it introduces additional risk and uncertainty for the employee, but they have a lot of levers they can pull to get the right employee into the right role. As an employee your best bet is to ace the interview so you can convince them that you're the best employee, then let them worry about how to get you into the country. OP also has an advantage being from the UK - I've heard that the odds are much more favorable for European tech workers, because quotas are higher and immigrant populations are lower for European countries than say India.

greedythrowaway 6y ago

Thanks for the comment. Any tips on popular job sites in the Bay Area?

nostrademons 6y ago
Go for the companies that you've heard of - basically any company with a hot product and global reach. FANGs, Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, Stripe, Roblox, Coinbase, DoorDash, DropBox, SnapChat, Tesla, Zoom, etc. Most of them have job pages on their website. Even better if you can get a referral, though that's harder if you're not local for networking. HN also has a monthly "who's hiring" thread that has some good leads.
- burntoutfire 6y ago
  Is for example Google in MV open to hiring people from Europe? Won't they just tell me to go apply at one of the numerous European Google offices?
  - nostrademons 6y ago
    You indicate your preference for office when you apply - if you go through their Jobs site it's part of the position, or you can tell the recruiter that you'd prefer Mountain View positions. I was living in Boston (a little bit easier than UK since it's still in the US, but still cross-country) when I first applied - I said that I was open to roles in either Boston or Mountain View, but would prefer Mountain View since I was looking to relocate. Oftentimes it makes it easier for the company, since there are more roles available at headquarters. Visa issues are usually easier to resolve than team-fit issues.
RemingtonLak 6y ago
indeed by far seems like the best job scraper, 2nd be Dice? But I can tell without question. If you're looking for an interview. You need to find someone in the inside who can refer. A typical job could literally have hundreds if not thousands of resumes of course all scanned by machines. The only ones that gets any considering are always the inside referral. I've hired almost 90% from inside referrals, the outside even pre-screened takes days weeks even months to work through. For the hiring mgr, that's too much pain. Also the pressure from inside to hire the "referred" candidate is also another factor. So yeah, if you're trying to come in cold, your chances are slim to none. One way in if no directly referral is through LinkedIn's network of "connections.' PS> However, now a days, if you're a dev and can show, exhibit, describe your work. In particular one you created, lead, and managed is to have articles/GitHub to showcase them. Depending on the problem and the solution you're showcasing. That could get you the interview if not the job outright since machines can't scan and quantify that so will need to be flagged for human review.

burntoutfire 6y ago

Isn't visa the main issue here? H1-B is a lottery with unfavorable odds, O-1 requires being exceptional (I guess you can try gaming that with a bunch of bullshit conference talks and hoping the immigration officers do not catch wind that, in tech, most conferences are low-status careerist bs fest).

nostrademons 6y ago
Yes but once you get to the multi-billion-$, major consumer name companies, they have whole departments dedicated to figuring out what visa is most likely to get the applicant into the U.S. and what they need to present to the government to make it happen. I hired an intern from Canada once and my understanding was that behind the scenes the process was complex, but all they needed from me was a description of the work and a few signatures. It definitely is more of a hassle for the employer, it introduces additional risk and uncertainty for the employee, but they have a lot of levers they can pull to get the right employee into the right role. As an employee your best bet is to ace the interview so you can convince them that you're the best employee, then let them worry about how to get you into the country. OP also has an advantage being from the UK - I've heard that the odds are much more favorable for European tech workers, because quotas are higher and immigrant populations are lower for European countries than say India.