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: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

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.

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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