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Ask HN: got a proposal to relocate from Europe to SF

15 points by yannski ↗ HN
I'm currently living in Strasbourg, east of France, near the german border. I've started Novelys, a small Ruby/Rails shop, nearly 6 years ago.

I've just got a proposal to get hired and relocated to SF. The proposal is valid for me and my team (we're 5).

Difficult choice : be an entrepreneur in Strasbourg or a software engineer in SF.

Have you ever encounter a similar choice ? What did you choose ? Any advices ?

29 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 62.7 ms ] thread
swah
Why don't you discuss this with them? If you're still single/no kids, I think you should go even if to get to know another culture.
dmathieu
Stay in France. Novely is one of the rare awesome agencies here and SF already has a lot of brains. Don't put everybody in the same place.
yannski
Thanks for your kind words :)
tudorizer
"Difficult choice : be an entrepreneur in Strasbourg or a software engineer in SF."

Being an entrepeneur is not only about being the boss of your own company. I think many people get this wrong. Entrepreneurship should be in the blood. The hunger, the curiosity, the will to change the daily-job status quo.

I used to run my own 2 companies with 2 partners, but I decided to change something and try another approach. Currently I have a well payed job which allows me to save money for peronal business experiments. The main reason why I decided to give up my previous 2 companies was that I did not like the enviroment. Don't get me wrong, my partners were good guys, but I felt no chemistry and no inspiration.

My suggestion: go for it. Being a software engineer in SF will open new gates for you and if entrepreurship is in your blood, you can not fail. ;)

lolizbak
Short: don't hesitate a second (though negotiate hard).

Long: How many times can this happen? Honestly?? How big is the startup? How much press do they get ON A DAILY BASIS? How much equity would you get? How big is their market?

You can always come back to (beautiful!) Strasbourg. You won't have many other similar opportunities.

lolizbak
Also: what about leaving your comp in France, with some trustworthy guy heading it, and leaving to SF with the guys from your team that want to follow you? That way, you keep you Co and can always come back to it - if need be.
yannski
Well, that's one of the many plans :)
mal3x
france is better for your family in the future.. My opinion.. You work like 4 days and a half (if I am not wrong), free school etc.. Europe: you work to live SF: you live to work

Choose what you think is best for you..

lolizbak
I've worked on both sides of the pond. Trust me, entrepreneurs in France/Europe work as hard as the others!
mal3x
I understand but how about working days? if you want you can always work when you want with a better time management..
roel_v
"Working days" is an alien concept when you run your own business. As for the second sentence, all I can say is that I think it's incredibly naive.
gte910h
He is correct on sentence two, if you value control of your time over certain amounts of money.
yannski
Well, in some big companies or in the administration, they may work 4 days an half. In all small companies in France, especially in the IT field, we work at least the same amout of hours than in SF :) So that's not really the problem.
mal3x
how about the future? what do you think about free studying? I think is a big deal.. But.. maybe I am just subjective because I prefer europe over SF...
mal3x
and I am not talking only about how people are.. in france or SF... I see europe more sociable...
p4bl0
He also could rellocate and send his children in France for their studies, he certainly have family there who will be happy to host them :-).
nekgrim
35 hours / week doesn't apply for engineers (and even less for entrepreneurs)
nmerouze
I think it depends what you want for your life in the next 3 years.

It's always a good opportunity to save money and see in 3 years where you are and decide which way to go (continue to SF or come back in France). It could be a good stimulant for your entrepreneurship and intellectual skills as well.

But your current position has a lot of good points too.

I'm always thinking about what I want in my life, this is what is really important here.

beseku
I can't claim to know anything about your own personal life but I would say one thing - whats the worst that could happen?

I moved from the UK to Japan nearly two years ago (with g/f of 7 years). Sometimes being away form home sucks, as does the frequent feeling of isolation and knowledge that if the work life sucks you have to leave the country. Sometimes its amazing - I love the country (and my work) and the people I have met. My overriding feeling is that even though I really miss a lot of my UK life, (including the company I worked for on the odd occasion) I am glad I took the leap, for no other reason than I got to experience this.

YMMV

beseku
I should just add to this - I took a step down career wise, (Tech Lead of a good UK agency to a developer position) so I could make the move, so my perspective may be very different to yours as we actively wanted to move abroad (and specifically to Japan) for a while.
bambax
How did this happen? What about visas? Tell us more!
yannski
I think that we are pretty "visible" in the Ruby/Rails landscape in France, because of our tech and social activities (we organize several barcamps, railscamps, Agile stuff and speak at a lof of events) and we worked for some visible startups too. And a guy eventually came accross my LinkedIn profile, our company website and my personnal website.

We didn't speak about visas ATM.

henrikschroder
If anyone ever offers you to come live and work in another country for a while, the answer should always be yes.

Going to a different country will teach you things both about the place you move to, and about your home. It will give you new perspectives and experiences that you can't get any other way. You will be a better person for it.

And if it doesn't work out, you can always move back.

edge17
the 'no two ways about it'-ness of your comment struck a chord with me. I was wondering if you had a story?

This is something I've thought about a lot, partially because I feel fortunate in the opportunities in my life presently, so when there's a chance to up and go some place I'm forced to weigh opportunity cost. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me it sounds like you're saying that the opportunity to work in another country is almost always a greater opportunity?

henrikschroder
Only anecdotal, but of all my friends and acquaintances that have worked abroad, either for a limited time, or permanently, none of them regretted it, even those that went to weirder places like Armenia or Mocambique.

Of course there is an opportunity cost, and if you have family and kids it might be too high, but if I was in that situation, I'd try to take my family with me. I have other friends and acquaintances that lived elsewhere for a few years as a kid, and all of them only had positive stories to tell of it.

The cornerstone of intellectualism is the ability to imagine the world from different perspectives, to realize that not everyone is the same, and nothing teaches you that like traveling or moving to a different country, and it will make you a better person.

edge17
thanks for the anecdote, could not agree more. first thing I did upon graduating college was pack a bag and buy one of those around the world tickets till i was broke.

for the last several years of my life since I did it, it's been one of my cornerstone experiences.

ayers
It really depends on if you have family/kids. That sort of move will require a lot more thought and planning if you are to move your whole family. Compared to if you are single, you only have yourself to look after and provide for. I have just immigrated to England from New Zealand with my wife without the certainty of work. Luckily we have a family friend who is housing us while we look. I would say that the chance to move over to SF with the certainty of work is something that might not come up very often. If you did decided to go I would definitely try to arrange to keep your company in France going.
AngeloAnolin
Get the opinion of your whole team. Whatever all of you would agree upon (and I am sure that everyone would have the team's betterment in perspective), then you decide.