Will Americans Have Trouble Finding IT Jobs, Overseas?

pmancini asks: "I am a skilled senior engineer. Currently there are lots of choices for me to work just about anywhere in the United States. However, I do have an interest in living and working outside of the U.S. for a while, in particular France (though I am also considering Rome). Is it hard to get a job overseas? How is the market over there for jobs? What about the language barrier? My French is awful, but I do want to learn the language. I can get by in Italian and I am sure I would be fluent within 2 months. Any help would be greatly appreciated."

Comments

Re:Yup

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been living, studying, and working in Japan for the past four and a half years. The above poster has some points that I agree with, but I work in Fukuoka (city of just over 1 million people in Kyushu, southernmost of the four main islands) and it is not rural or old-fashioned, in my opinion.

I don't know what experience H310iSe has, but his or her comments sound a lot like someone who only lived in Tokyo and hung around with foreigners in foreigner-bars (filled with 'gaijin-zuki'-- foreigner-lovers), especially the comments about the dating-scene. Japan can be a very different (and much more normal, really) experience once you get out of the foreigner's ghetto.

True, once you get outside the larger cities (but there are a lot of these!) you will get the "wow a foreigner" reactions (good and bad). Although, even there your chances of being the first, or only, foreigner in town are pretty low. (You could well be one of only a half-dozen though, which is rare enough.) Of course, there are not many high-tech jobs available out in the boondocks!

If you want to come to Japan to actually get a feel for the country, I encourage you to get out of the foreigner ghetto and out of Tokyo as much as possible. One way to do this is to work with a Japanese company-- but then the language becomes much more important.

As far as the Japanese language goes, I think it goes without saying that you need a basic grasp of it to be a useful employee. I also agree that the basic grammar is pretty simple. However, I don't think you can really "avoid the chinese-based character system" if you actually want to read or (heaven forbid) write Japanese. There is hardly any point in just learning hiragana and katakana-- you won't be literate.

Also, maybe I'm stupid but, although Japanese has a pretty simple grammar, it is still not a particularly easy language. I learned basic Japanese in a six-month intensive course, and that is enough to start with. For a while I thought I was doing pretty well. However, recently my wife (Japanese) and some coworkers have finally started pointing out my mistakes, and I've started to notice them myself. Frankly, I'm surprised people can understand me sometimes. Bare communication is easy, actually speaking correctly is very very hard. Even so, I do get work done in an exclusively Japanese working environment, so I guess language barriers are not a huge deal.

I'm rambling I think, so that's my two yen (which is a bit less than two cents right now).

Some tips

[Calimero]

First of all, find an english speaking company. There's many out there in Europe, where everyone will speak English in the office, even between French, or Italian, or Dutch. That's a good start.
You can pick up a new language while you're there.

Also, note that the salaries over there are nowhere near what you make in the US. You'll earn half or (a lot) less for the same work. Of course, the cost of living is lower as well, but keep it in mind if you have payments to make in the US.

Also, the culture is different in Europe: contracts are more binding than in the US: you'll have to tell them you're moving on months in advance instead of not returning from lunch (as you could do in the US). The benefits are different as well. You may get coverage from the company for the first three months as you're 'in you trial period'.

Taxes get messy if you have both US and European income.

But it's worth it. I worked in London for three months and it was great. Rome would be even better...

Good luck.

Re:Some tips

[MarcoAtWork]

Cost of living is lower, please !

To give some background, I lived in Italy until I was 27, and moved to Canada after that: I've been here about three years.

If you move to Italy for a little while, the reality will be that, even if you will get a 'real' work permit (which means a lot of time fighting the Italian burocratical windmills) you will likely be offered several jobs 'in black', meaning that you will be paid cash, and you won't be officially an employee of the company.

Don't forget that salaries are not what you are used to, some of my friends (with MS degrees from the *best* Italian university) are making about $1000-$1200/mo net after 2-3 years in the workplace.

This would be fine and dandy if living there didn't cost you an arm and a leg. Some quick facts:

a dumpy apartment in a major town will set you back at *least* 500$/mo (this is just for the apartment itself), then you have to add up at least, say, 100$/mo in heating costs, another 50$/mo in hydro (if you're careful with the lights, and you don't have a hot shower every day), another 50-200$/mo in phone depending on how much time you spend surfing (yes, even local calls are metered, and not cheap).

Let's not forget food: forget about eating out, if you don't want minuscule portions at obscene prices (unless you go in 'inns' (osterie) or in pizzerias where you can usually get a sizeable plate of pasta or a pizza for 4-5$ (plus 2$ for getting a seat, plus 1$ for a half-liter bottle of water (no free refills) or 3$ for an orange juice etc. etc.). If you buy your own food, you'll be surprised to see that food prices in Italy are *much* higher than in the States: just one example, meat is about 7-8$/pound, the only cheap stuff is pretty much pasta and tomato sauce and in-season veggies/fruit if you go to the big open markets.

Also forget about picking what looks good, usually in these markets there is a pyramid of fruits, and the shopkeeper gets the amount that you want from the *back* of the pile, which means that you get stuff that's way more beaten up than at the front, and the bags are paper and you pay in advance, so you can't see what you got until you get home.

Clothing is fairly rippish too, a decent (i.e. you don't get your feet wet when it rains) pair of shoes will set you back anywhere from 60$ to 150$, but if you want to spend more the sky's the limit (I've seen shoes for 1000$ a pair).

One of the few good points is that everything is very close together, so you'll be able to do everything that you need via public transit (fairly inexpensive for monthly passes) or at most with a bike (the crappier it looks the better, otherwise it *will* be stolen). If you plan to get a car, remember that the cheapest piece of junk that you can get in Italy will set you back at least 10,000$ new, a *neon* (which is not exactly a ferrari) costs like 20,000$ ;)

Italy is a really nice country if one has lots of money, for the low-to-middle class people it's a major rip. If I stayed in Italy I would probably still be living with my parents trying to scrape by some savings in order for one day to be able to buy a very small apartment (I grew up in a 400sqf one) while here in Canada I was able to get a really nice townhouse after only *1 year* of employment. Now I could afford much more, but until the mortgage rates will go down I won't move.

I was forgetting: people that say that the Valley is polluted should take a hike where I used to live (northern Italy, close to Milan), after 2-3 months without rain, just walking outside gives you a permanent headache: when I went out with a motorbike for an hour, the part of the face that was exposed (helmets are mandatory) would be grey with soot-like stuff, I don't want to imagine what my lungs were like.

The situation is this bad because of an incompetent and corrupt class of politicians, and because Italians are very family oriented, and don't want to leave Italy no matter how bad it gets, also English is not taught very well in school, I didn't learn to speak and understand English until I went to England for a while...

Italy has its strong points: excellent education system, great history, awesome monuments, great night life *in some cities*, people tend to be more willing to help you if you are in need, but right now my feeling is that unless you have a lot of money and you plan to go to Italy just for fun for a while, you'd better look more northward, a friend of mine did his Ph. D. in Dublin, and loved every moment of the two years he spent there.

P.S. Prices quoted are intended to be in US$

We're British now, anyway.

[cswiii]

According to this email I received, Britain has revoked home rule.

NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE

To the citizens of the United States of America,

In the light of your failure to elect a President of
the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the
revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume
monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other
territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime
minister (The rt. hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have
until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders)
will appoint a minister for America without the need for further
elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A
questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you
noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency,
the
following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford
English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the
pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have
been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your
vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the
same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as
"like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of
communication. Look up "interspersed".

2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let
Microsoft know on your behalf.

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and
Australian accents. It really isn't that hard.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast
English actors as the good guys.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem,
"God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We
would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football". There
is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American
"football" is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world
outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays
"American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and
should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you
played with the
girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in
time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American
"football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty
seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are
hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.

7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using
nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you
who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should
count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad
guys. "Merde" is French for "sh*t".

8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November
8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be
called "Indecisive Day".

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap
and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you
will understand what we mean.

10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Re:We're British now, anyway.

[Not A Troll]

The letter below is in response to the 'NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF
INDEPENDENCE'.

To the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

We welcome your concern about our electoral process. It must be exciting
for you to see a real Republic in action, even if from a distance. As
always we're amused by your quaint belief that you're actually a world power.

The sun never sets on the British Empire! Right-o chum!

However, we regretfully have to decline your offer for intervention. On
the other hand, it would be amusing to see you try to enforce your new policy
(for the 96.3% of you that seem to have forgotten that you have little to
no real power). After much deliberation, we have decided to continue our
tradition as the longest running democratic republic. It seems that
switching to a monarchy is in fact considered a "backwards step" by the majority of the world.

To help you rise from your current anachronistic status, we have compiled
a series of helpful suggestions that we hope you adopt:

1. Realize that language is an organic structure, and that you aren't
always correct in your pronunciation or spelling. Let's use your
"aluminium" example. Sir Humphrey Davy (an Englishman) invented the name
"aluminum" (note spelling) for the metal. However, in common usage the
name evolved into "aluminium" to match the naming convention of other
elements. In 1925 the United States decided to switch back to the
_original_spelling and pronunciation of the word, at which point we
dominated the aluminum industry. We'd also like to point out that the
process of actually producing aluminum was developed by an American and a
Frenchman (not an Englishman). However, we'd like to thank you for the
Oxford English Dictionary. It's an interesting collection, considering
that over 10,000 of the words in the original edition were submitted by a
crazy American civil-war veteran called Dr. William Charles Minor.

2. Learn to distinguish the American and Canadian accents, and then we'll
talk about the English and Australian accent issue.

3. Review your basic arithmetic.
(Hint 100 - 98.85 = 1.15 and 100 - 97.85 = 2.15)

4. If you want English actors as good guys, then make your own movies.
Don't rely on us for your modern popular culture. We liked "Lock, Stock,
and Two Smoking Barrels", "Trainspotting", and "The Full Monty". We've also
heard good things about this "Billy Elliot". But one good movie a year
doesn't exactly make a cultural powerhouse. However, you're doing pretty
well with music, so keep up the good work on that front.

5. It's inefficient to have a national anthem that changes its title
whenever your monarch dies. Let's not forget that your national anthem
has an extremely boring tune. We suggest switching to that Rule Brittania
ditty, it's toetapping. Or maybe Elton John could adapt
"Candle In The Wind" again for you guys.

6. Improve at your national sport. Football? Soccer? This just in:
United States gets fourth place in men's soccer at the 2000 Summer
Olympics.

United Kingdom? Not even close. By the way, impressive showing at Euro 2000.
You almost managed to get through the tournament without having your fans start an international incident.

7. Learn how to cook. England has some top notch candy. Salt 'n' Vinegar
chips are quite yummy. However, there's a reason why the best food in
your country is Indian or Chinese. Your contributions to the culinary
arts are soggy beans and warm beer. Perhaps when you finally realize
the French aren't the spawn of satan they'll teach you how to cook.

8. You're doing a terrible job at understanding cars. The obvious error is
that you drive on the wrong side of the road. A second problem is
pricing, it's cheaper to buy a car in Belgium and ship it to England than to buy a
car in England. On the other hand, we like Jaguars and Aston Martins.
That's why we bought the companies.

9. We'll tell you who killed JFK when you apologize for "Teletubbies".

Thank you for your time. You can now return to watching bad Australian soap
operas.

p.s. - regarding WW2: You're Welcome.

IT jobs galore in the UK

[ai731]

My experience as a Canadian working in IT (first as a Perl programmer, then as a webmaster for a dotcom startup) in the UK is that it's very easy to get an IT job in Europe, since the skill shortage is fairly accute. It's worse, as far as I know in the UK, since there are still very few IT graduates (CompSci/Engineering is not a cool thing to study here). Most UK IT companies have a serious staff shortage.

The situation is a little better on the continent (France, Italy, Spain) because there are more CompSCI/Engineering university graduates.

So I don't think you'll have too much trouble getting an IT job in Europe - though the UK might be quite a bit easier than France, especially if you don't speak much French. Good Luck!

Cheers,
Janice

--

Re:IT jobs galore in the UK

[Phillip2]

"So far, I have found most English engineers and scientists to be very arrogant. " I think its a cultural difference rather than arrogance to be honest. We have a deep sense of humour, but it tends to be based around sarcasm. Americans tend to think we are just being nasty to them as a result, although we do it amoungst ourselves as well.

And of course there are a couple of typical American mannerisms that the British feel uniquely irritating, namely the tendancy to use peoples first name in every sentance, and to smile a lot.

What you need to do it go down the pub and spend a quite evening getting drunk, and you will see a different side come out.

Or were you in London? In which case your impressions are pretty much correct...

Phil

A European's perspective

[ivec]

Just a few words from a Swiss citizen back home after spending a couple years in North America:

Getting a job
Many conpanies are also desperately seeking competent IT people.
Example sites:
France: http://www.cadresemploi.fr/
Switzerland: http://www.success-and-career.ch
NB: CH is in the middle of Europe, but not actually in the EC yet.

Work permits
This can be complicated, but note that each European country has its own immigration laws and policies. A few of them (Germany, CH...) have started to facilitate the immigration of IT personnel.

Taxes
First, tax policies also vary from country to country. Here in Switzerland I am paying much less than I did in Canada.

Lifestyle
Reasons I moved back here in Switzerland:
- in 5h by car, train or motorcycle: get to Paris, Venice, Rome, StTropez, etc... Or drive 1h to mountains and ski at 10000ft, 15min to any peaceful place in the country, 15min to the biggest lake of Europe (lake Geneva).
Everything is close, rich in history, you can spend each week-end in a completely different culture at will.
- more holidays and free time overall, less criminality concerns and such, better infrastructures.
- more care for nature: less waste, less car driving (smaller distances for job too), people enjoy walking more often (because they can).
- less fast-foods and coach potatoes. Restaurants are more expensive, but you take the time to eat fine things rather than junk.

Public school system (my wife was from Toronto and had a 9 year old when we moved): just great !
Individual French classes (the official language in this part of CH) were offered to our daughter until she was fully assimilated (took less than a year). She enjoys walking to school through a small wood (5min), while she had to be driven there in NA. She can take the bus and go downtown on her own (no concern here).
Having kids, moving to CH was just a bliss.
Also by the way, Universities are basically free here (~600 USD/year).

I actually kept working for the same company (asked to be relocated with no particular benefit for that), and I must say that we all really enjoy it much more here (although I am the only one who was born here).

That's just an personal perspective...

Yes

[cwhicks]

I have looked into this for the past 4 years including trips over there.

First, you can NOT go over there looking for a job. You must have a job already before going over there. They will not even give you the papers to fill out for a job permit if you are in the country. You must do it from here.

The job is not a problem, the work visa is. You have to find a company that is willing to go through the pain of the paper work to get you in. Without a company with a job as a sponser, you have no chance of getting the work visa. That company will have to state that they could not find anyone else in the EU that could not do this same job. For tech's this is a fairly easy statement to make. If you are a fry cook you are out of luck.

You can get around this however. The easiest, most expensive is to start your own small business there. I contacted lawyers in France and they said that it works fine, but it costs you about $5000 and takes about 6 months. France is full of paper shufflers and the process is long, but will go through. Some of that 5K, I think most of it, is like serious money when buying a house, to make sure you are not a dead beat. The money is still yours, but it must be used for purchases within the country for your business, i.e. office space, accountants, copy machine, etc.

You can get one as a consultant, but you need letters from several companies over there, guaranteeing that they are in need of your services and will hire your services.

Good luck

Re:Yup

[jinx_]

www.engrish.com -- and that's all i have to say about that.

Re:Paying for someone else's socialism

[Ars-Fartsica]

Well, considering that Germany is probably smaller than Texas and Arizona (physically), the Germans have a much smaller area to support. This is no excuse for American waste, but it is worth considering.

What is really amazing in light of this is how Canada gets by with a land mass larger than the US, and a population smaller than California.

UK Visa easy for college students/recent grads

[khoward1]

I graduated in May 1999 and found out about a program called BUNAC (www.bunac.org). They give US college students (and grads up to a year after graduation) a six month visa to do whatever the hell you want. I got the visa, contacted a number of companies before I left, and had a number of interviews with companies and recruiters lined up as soon as I arrived. I told everybody that I was looking for longer term work, and all of them were receptive to helping me find a more permanent visa.

Once I was in with a company, we submitted my application for the normal 4-year visa. I was denied on the basis that I hadn't had "two years postgrad experience," but within a month the Government announced that they were relaxing the rules to let more tech workers come in. We re-submitted and I got a "Key Worker" visa for 3 years. It wasn't that difficult and I know of a couple other Americans in London who did the same thing.

It's definitely worth looking into if you meet the qualifications (they do Australia and New Zealand as well)... and if you get sick of interviewing at IT companies, you can always pull pints in a pub. :)

Brother in Denmark

[call -151]

My baby brother works in Denmark and though they are desparate for web-related jobs there, he does have some benevolent wisdom to share. Notably:

• Getting paid in Euros currently is a bummer. Taxes and the cost of living are very high, so be careful about estimating what your effective income will be, and the uncertainty of the currency makes it harder to compare.
• Smaller companies often have signficantly less experience hiring US workers and there is enough paperwork that it can get complicated. A safer bet, particularly for a first position in the EU, is to work for a big company with good experience sorting out the visas for you. It is complicated and painful enough so that you will want someone's help.
• Another strategy is to work for a US company with offices in Europe before committing to a more permanent move.
• There are many places where the working language is English, which is a plus or a minus depending on what you are looking for.
• Vacation policies are generally much more generous there than here. He gets six weeks so we actually see him at least as much now as when he was doing web page design here in the US.
• All your friends will come and visit you and crash with you, which is a plus or a minus depending...

He has thought about coming back to the US several times but each time they keep giving him a raise there, so that is a good sign for people who are thinking about heading that way...

Re:Paying for someone else's socialism

[srussell]

This may be true about France. I lived in Germany for a couple of years, and I discovered that I didn't resent the higher taxes as much as I resent taxes in America. Firstly, the taxes weren't much higher -- I think that at my salary, I was paying an additional 2 to 5% in Germany, and property taxes were negligable. Secondly, I felt like I was actually getting something for my taxes in Germany. Good public transportation, basic health care, and a superb social infrastructure that evinced itself in little ways -- like recycling bins on every other corner. Here in the states, what do I get? A bloated beaurocracy.

No, I'm not blind to what we're paying for in the states. We have a fabulous military, vast national forests (which require a lot of resources to manage), and so on. I am amazed at what that extra 5% gets the Germans. I suspect that it is because they use the taxes more effectively, and that less of the tax money goes into politician's pockets, or to giving tax breaks to people who need them the least.

Translation:

[Wolfier]

I would not suggest that you come to Rome. The Pope does not allow that we have computers. Perhaps you could obtain a job that explained to other Americans as Italy really is not similar
to a loading of the system. Much people forget that we have had a dictator and fought you in
world war two but they do not preoccupy themselves because there are many gangsters in your cities like New York and Chicago. I cannot believe that you have preoccupied yourselves
translate this of new to English.

Damn. I seem to be just another victim.

Not me, but my sister

[hrieke]

Works in France, formerly in Germany for Siemens. I can say that she is quite well payed for her work, enjoys her job, and loves the time away from the office (holidays!).
A few things to consider: If you earn over $75,000 USD you will have to pay American Taxes as well as the taxes of the country that you are living in.
Visas: You will need a sponser anywhere in the EU, and the paperwork will take upto a month to process.
Payment: Is the job payed in EU, Franc, Pounds, or in dollars? Currencies change value, so watch out.
Housing: Did you know that quite a few apartments do not come with a kitchen? Renting can be quite the adventure!
Family: Relocating your family can be quite hard to do, and cause all kinds of stress. Also, what if there is a fmaily emergency back on this side of the Atlantic?
In all, please write back if you do make the jump and let us know how it's going!

Paying for someone else's socialism

[Ars-Fartsica]

I think you should reconsider moving to either Italy or France. As a high-wage earner, your taxes will be excessive - much higher than you are used to in the US. Since you are not a citizen, you will find that you are unable to access many of the services you are paying for.

This is not a critique of the European system - just a heads up for potential expats who will invariably find themselves paying for services they cannot use.

Re:Paying for someone else's socialism

[Apotsy]

Here in the states, what do I get? A bloated beaurocracy.

No, what you get in the USA is corporate welfare.

Sports arenas, zero-property-tax factories and offices, corporate tax breaks, enforcement of monopoly power, etc. All paid for by the individual taxpayer.

Oh, and let's not forget the "war on drugs". Aside from the military, it's got to be the single biggest drain on public budgets out there.

I agree with you, it would be nice to live in a place where you actually get something for your tax money, instead of other people getting something for it.

Overseas

[spliff]

As far as I know, Europe is starving for tech help. Problems occur mostly in the EU, where regulations aren't favorable for Americans, as they prefer to use EU citizens where possible. This means that anywhere outside of Western Europe should be wide open.

Try http://www.escapeartist.com and head to the overseas jobs area. Plenty of links.

Re:Yup

[H310iSe]

Most of Japan is very ... rural and a bit old-fashioned, you can go to towns where you are the first (blonde/redhead/italian/etc.) they have ever seen and they'll treat you a bit special as a result but you can also get the opposite reaction for the same reason. Tokyo, however, is utterly different. US firms are pretty desparate for people who understand the details of making Japanese and English software play nicely together. Either working for a US firm or as a consultant (Japan has very reasonable laws regarding foreign workers) you'll get top dollar - I was recently offered $US150/h and I barely know how to use a mouse (ok exageration but I am not uber-programmer-geek). HOWEVER you must, simply must, learn some basic japanese - you can learn the writing so long as you avoid the chinese-based character system without much problem and the spoken language is really rather easy so long as you don't have to count (different words for one, two, three depending on what you're counting, there are dozens of ways to say one, it's scary). Housing is not bad, there is a foriegner's ghetto (by Japanese standards) to get a place in and if you're single (male or female) you'll find the dating scene is unbelievably tilted in your favor - it seems people from Tokyo really don't want to date eachother, foreigners are highly prized. If you're blonde, forget it, virtual mob scenes can be expected if you're reasonably good looking. Just my 2 cents.

Re:have you ever been there?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I agree. I am a tech worker in the United States. My day begins by getting up, taking a cold shower using leftover dishwater from the previous night, then eating some stale toast my neighbor threw out last week. I then get dressed in my cockroach infested clothes I got from the Salvation Army and get on my 25 year old bicycle that I am forced to ride since my crappy American car broke down and go to work. Once at work I am strapped in to a cubicle while leeches begin to suck the life out of me and birds peck out my eyes. After I am done working my 20 hour day I peddle back home, get stopped by the police for being suspicious looking and get beaten for 20 to 30 minutes, hauled into the station house and hosed down. Then I'm returned to the street, absent my bicycle which they said was stolen from a junkyard. I walk home reluctantly to find my apartment complex has been condemned and my belongings are on the street and are being carted off by hoodlums and homeless people. Finally, I end up breaking into my neighbor's house and hold them hostage with one of the many guns that I as an American citizen own and I force the police to relinquish the bicycle. I then snort some cocaine and take some exctasy and fall into a drug induced stupor until I fall asleep only to awake hours later to start the whole damn process over again. This is my nightmare. This is my life as a citizen of the United States of America. God help me!

Online resources

[jbrw]

You could do worse than checking out the recently launched Industry Standard Europe or Business 2.0 UK - both have bucket loads of articles about the tech scene in Europe (from a business point of view, primarily, but it's good to know the financial health of where you're planning on moving to, right?).

You would be suprised on the number of people on continental Europe who speak english, although the French are particularly full-on about maintaining french as the primary language within their country (see earlier /. stories about the French govt. banning english-esque net-related words), so it might be harder to get in without half-decent French.

When I was in Berlin, I don't recall meeting one person who couldn't speak english... The homeless beggers even spoke english. Multi-lingual beggers. I was impressed.

As someone else mentioned, the UK has a massive shortage of tech people with half a clue. Providing you play by the immigration rules, you should have no trouble getting sponsored, assuming you find someone who wants your particular skills. Central London is only 4 hours from Central Paris (including customs, check-in, etc., on the Eurostar train), so you may want to consider coming here and use it as a stepping stone in to Europe.

If so, check out JobServe, which is considered (more or less) to be the definitive way to find a tech job in the UK. If you don't get at least 3 interviews in a fortnight, you might as well give up (actually, maybe not. I guess if you're still in the States and trying to get a job in the UK, you'll get less bites. Point is, it's easy to get a tech job in London).

HTH,
...j

Sar� troll o divertente moderato?

[cheezus]

Non suggerirei che venite a Roma. Il papa non permette che noi abbiamo calcolatori. Forse potreste ottenere un lavoro che spiegate ad altri Americani come l' Italia realmente non assomiglia ad un caricamento del sistema. Molta gente si dimentica che abbiamo avuti un dictator e combattuti voi nella guerra mondiale due ma non si preoccupano perché ci sono tanti gangsters nelle vostre città come New York e Chicago. Non posso credere che vi siate preoccupati di tradurre questo di nuovo all' inglese.

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