Sure, the wages here are less than in the USA but do not only consider that part, I mean what's the use of money? To have a good life would be my answer. You can have a good life in Europe not having a USA salary... And also, you can learn a lot from Europe (don't get me wrong, this is not a pride-statement: I meant "from Europe as well as from any part of the world: no less no more but still a lot to learn from"). Your wish to travel in Europe, to visit the countries is a very good idea IMHO: it can only open your mind. I'd also suggest not to stop there (and i hope and think you won't: when you start traveling, it gets in your blood and you can't stop it!)
Here are a few other hints...
First of all, you won't have trouble in finding a computer-science job in Europe (as in many parts of the world), I "searched" a job in France and Spain (searching meaning putting my resume in monster and infojobs and waiting for offers) and had no problems in finding one. With an American masters in computer-science and 4 years of experience... just pick a job.
Now, if you want to visit all Europe you won't have any problem: there are a lot of low-cost airlines (ryanair is the most famous but there are dozens of other companies), there are train-tickets valid in all Europe (EuRail: http://www.eurail.com/). That's quite cheap (I come back from a 2-weeks journey over Europe that cost me around $1000...). As for the vacations, I think Europeans countries generally have a minimum vacation days greater than US (> 5 weeks in France, 4 weeks in Spain,...). You'll be able to travel!
The language might be a problem in some countries. In Spain and France at least, not many people speak English (I'm not speaking of the job environment but of the daily-life) but well... I know American people here in Madrid that didn't know Spanish at all when coming here and they live fine. Moreover if you want to learn the language of the country you're leaving in that's better! If you want to speak English in the street, I'd suggest you go to Germany, Netherlands and northern countries. If you want to learn a language you can use after your Europe experience (if you don't chose to stay:-)), Spanish would be an obvious great choice... As for the wages/price of life, generally the northern you get, the bigger the figures are.
You can use Bugzilla and Subversion using scmbug (http://freshmeat.net/projects/scmbug/). It's a set of scripts you use as svn hooks. Setting it up is not really user-friendly but once it's set, well... you don't have to touch it anymore.
You can solve a bug using the following comment on a svn commit:
I agree: learning a foreign language won't help your research much... My PhD friends in France write their articles in English...
But you should do it anyway: studying another language, another culture, will give you different ways of thinking which surely will be helpful. Also, don't only learn the language, go live abroad!
Anyway, IMHO you should chose a Latin or Germanic language as they are relatively similar to English. Languages which have nothing or few in common with English could discourage you if don't have enough motivation...
Slashdot Mirror
DO COME! I repeat: DO COME TO WORK IN EU!
Sure, the wages here are less than in the USA but do not only consider that part, I mean what's the use of money? To have a good life would be my answer. You can have a good life in Europe not having a USA salary... And also, you can learn a lot from Europe (don't get me wrong, this is not a pride-statement: I meant "from Europe as well as from any part of the world: no less no more but still a lot to learn from"). Your wish to travel in Europe, to visit the countries is a very good idea IMHO: it can only open your mind. I'd also suggest not to stop there (and i hope and think you won't: when you start traveling, it gets in your blood and you can't stop it!)
Here are a few other hints...
First of all, you won't have trouble in finding a computer-science job in Europe (as in many parts of the world), I "searched" a job in France and Spain (searching meaning putting my resume in monster and infojobs and waiting for offers) and had no problems in finding one. With an American masters in computer-science and 4 years of experience... just pick a job.
Now, if you want to visit all Europe you won't have any problem: there are a lot of low-cost airlines (ryanair is the most famous but there are dozens of other companies), there are train-tickets valid in all Europe (EuRail: http://www.eurail.com/). That's quite cheap (I come back from a 2-weeks journey over Europe that cost me around $1000...). As for the vacations, I think Europeans countries generally have a minimum vacation days greater than US (> 5 weeks in France, 4 weeks in Spain, ...). You'll be able to travel!
The language might be a problem in some countries. In Spain and France at least, not many people speak English (I'm not speaking of the job environment but of the daily-life) but well... I know American people here in Madrid that didn't know Spanish at all when coming here and they live fine. Moreover if you want to learn the language of the country you're leaving in that's better! If you want to speak English in the street, I'd suggest you go to Germany, Netherlands and northern countries. If you want to learn a language you can use after your Europe experience (if you don't chose to stay :-)), Spanish would be an obvious great choice... As for the wages/price of life, generally the northern you get, the bigger the figures are.
You can use Bugzilla and Subversion using scmbug (http://freshmeat.net/projects/scmbug/). It's a set of scripts you use as svn hooks. Setting it up is not really user-friendly but once it's set, well... you don't have to touch it anymore.
You can solve a bug using the following comment on a svn commit:
bug 42: resolved fixed
blablablablah (real comment)...
BTW it works for other control and bug-tracking systems...
Would be interesting to do the same for 5 years-old Linux distros and MacOSX... Anyone has tried it?
I agree: learning a foreign language won't help your research much... My PhD friends in France write their articles in English...
But you should do it anyway: studying another language, another culture, will give you different ways of thinking which surely will be helpful. Also, don't only learn the language, go live abroad!
Anyway, IMHO you should chose a Latin or Germanic language as they are relatively similar to English. Languages which have nothing or few in common with English could discourage you if don't have enough motivation...
Google translates "Droits" (Rights) to "Human"!
Travelers should always bring their towel...