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Jobs for Americans in Europe?

8 points by wsinks ↗ HN
Hello everyone! I thought if I didn't ask the collective of smart people in the tech world that I wouldn't be doing my proper due diligence.

I need to move to Europe for love, for adventure, for a change of pace. I currently work for Cisco in Silicon Valley, and my experience is focused on QA of technology for big keynotes that Cisco does.

I'm currently working on developing my own iOS & ATV app as well as starting on python for the back end.

Does anyone know a company that would want to help bring an American with this sort of business first, tech savvy experience to Porto or Lisbon or Copenhagen?

Where would you suggest me to look?

Thank you! Will

P.S. If you want to see one of the keynotes I worked on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEE8iM0uqbk

10 comments

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karim
Hi Will. I don't really have advice for you, but there's a very useful subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IWantOut . The people there are really helpful and know a lot about the various immigration procedures.
CCing
(sorry for english mistakes)

Before start to search for a job in europe you must decide WHERE you want go. Europe is a bit different from America...we're a union but every country has his own immigration rules and culture.

You are ok with the cold and snow of denmark ? or you prefer the sun ? you know spanish(this could help a bit to learn portuguese quickly)

Btw isn't very diffucult for an american that has lived and workex in silicon valley find a job here(see the HN job offers thread)

Wish you the best.

afarrell
Hi Will,

My wife and I moved from the US to London back in July for the sake of adventure and it has been great. In fact, I'm answering this from Sorrento next to my wife who has already fallen asleep from a day hiking around Pompeii. I highly recommend London as a city both to travel from and to explore in its is right.

I'd be happy to hop on a video chat to give you more in-depth advice, but the short answer to your question is that yes, there are a number of companies tho are hiring and willing to sponsor visas. GoCardless, the company I work for does and the engineering team there is pretty great.

There are also a couple recruiters I know who are ethical, knowledgeable, and communicative.

As far as your specific background, am I correct in thinking that you doing network/telecom programming right now and you are looking to do more web/mobile?

toomuchtodo
How's the work/life balance compared to US companies? I'd expect it to be much better?
afarrell
It is significantly better than the particular US companies I've worked for, but I've only got a sample size of 3.
frankhn
Try Netherlands, a few American companies here (including Cisco) which should make transition easier.
jventura
For Portugal, check https://landing.jobs/. But not sure if there's many QA jobs around here, and even then, the payment is not what you usually see in places like Silicon Valley..
id122015
The Americans I met who visited different part of Europe were not comfortable here. They said about different culture, everything is too slow, shops close too early, it was like moving to Mars to some.

It would be easier if your company provided help, but much harder without that help. Try to learn from those American people who visited Europe and read both positive and negative feedback they left.

You work in one of the best places.

namechecksout
Every now and then I (in France) see positions that require being a native English speaker, so you might try looking into that. There also is a community of expats who sometimes post open jobs or in generally can share their experiences of finding a job. However, due to quite high taxes and complicated hiring process, many American companies choose to open their offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, etc.