Working in Silicon Valley or San Francisco

[beaker]

I've recently found out I can get a visa to work in the US.

Has anyone worked for any of the big tech companies in San Fran, San Jose or Silicon Valley? I'd appreciate any feedback on the working life there, work/life balance, typical expectations on rates/salaries and stock options etc.

Thanks!

[cojak]

You're asking us????

[Wilmslow]

I've recently found out I can get a visa to work in the US.

Has anyone worked for any of the big tech companies in San Fran, San Jose or Silicon Valley? I'd appreciate any feedback on the working life there, work/life balance, typical expectations on rates/salaries and stock options etc.

Thanks!

From my experience of working with a Yank, don't do it. Seriously.

Look at www.dilbert.com for what you are letting yourself in for....

[nucastle]

I used to work for a silicon valley company, and spent 3-4 weeks out there working on site before i switched jobs a few times and became a contractor ....


... Silicon valley is like one very large and soulless car park and shopping mall. Everyone drives everywhere, and none of the good things in the UK we take for granted are present. Pavements, nope. Culture, nope. Places to drink and relax, nope.

Lots of malls, and drive through fast food places though .... The people are very friendly and well mannered, but nobody drinks and there seems to be a veneer of wierdness over most people i worked with, which prevented anything other than a shallow working relationship. They all seem to get in the office for 8am and have a very enthusiastic, robotic 'the company is the best' attitude which tended to see alot of people following the most incredibly blinkered strategies that more often than not ended in dismal failure and mass layoffs.

Might have just been me, but i like my sarcastic, funny, hard drinking and smoking europeans too much to have ever have been able to live out there (which was offered to me just as i quit).

San francisco is lovely, although it feels a bit like a ghost town for some reason (too used to london i guess).

[2uk]

I've recently found out I can get a visa to work in the US.

Has anyone worked for any of the big tech companies in San Fran, San Jose or Silicon Valley? I'd appreciate any feedback on the working life there, work/life balance, typical expectations on rates/salaries and stock options etc.

Thanks!

what kinda visa ? u australian ?

[DimPrawn]

I used to work for a silicon valley company, and spent 3-4 weeks out there working on site before i switched jobs a few times and became a contractor ....


... Silicon valley is like one very large and soulless car park and shopping mall. Everyone drives everywhere, and none of the good things in the UK we take for granted are present. Pavements, nope. Culture, nope. Places to drink and relax, nope.

Lots of malls, and drive through fast food places though .... The people are very friendly and well mannered, but nobody drinks and there seems to be a veneer of wierdness over most people i worked with, which prevented anything other than a shallow working relationship. They all seem to get in the office for 8am and have a very enthusiastic, robotic 'the company is the best' attitude which tended to see alot of people following the most incredibly blinkered strategies that more often than not ended in dismal failure and mass layoffs.

Might have just been me, but i like my sarcastic, funny, hard drinking and smoking europeans too much to have ever have been able to live out there (which was offered to me just as i quit).

San francisco is lovely, although it feels a bit like a ghost town for some reason (too used to london i guess).

What he said x10.

[beaker]

what kinda visa ? u australian ?

It's called an E3 visa, and yes.

There's not much of a technology industry in Oz (we just dig up rocks and send them to China), so I was thinking Silicon Valley is the obvious place to go if I ever wanted to make it big...

[Ardesco]

I was under the impression that contractors were seen as a second class citizen who can't get a real job in the US and were not paid as well as permies.

Please advise me if I'm wrong...

[t0bytoo]

I was under the impression that contractors were seen as a second class citizen who can't get a real job in the US and were not paid as well as permies. .

I did several contracts in New York, and it's the same principle as in the UK. You earn X times a permie rate.

What you're saying is true in Spain, for example.

[scaramanga]

I spent a year working for one of the big IT companies in Silicon Valley in 2003/4.

Kind of agree with the posts above. There is no concept of walking anywhere and you really need to go to San Fran if you want a night out. I lived in a place with around 250K population but there was absolutely nothing to do.

I thought work/life balance was ok, although as I was only there for a short time I had a fairly crap holiday allowance (10 days for a year). Not sure if this is normal.

Salary wise, I now work in finance and wouldn't go back for the money. Depends on your baseline though really. However, remember the dollar rate as well. If you expect to earn £50K in the UK you will not get $100K over there. I think you should be able to get a package with stock options but again as I was only there for a 1 year internship it didn't apply to me.

If you have a British accent they love it as well. Not sure if you are single/married or whatever but you should be able to do alright if the former.

PM me if you want to know any more.