The software industry in America

[d000hg]

You got turned down in favour of AtW then?

[MarillionFan]

Re : Holidays.

Just did a little check. My Texan colleague who joined last week gets 15 days starting holiday, then the usual 10 days bank holidays, then one floating day(never understood this point) and is allowed 7 days paid sick pay. Holiday goes up 1 day per completed year after 2 years. At the previous company we were both at, I started on 20 days, getting one extra for each year, he started on 15 in the US, with additional 3 days floating(still don't get it), when he finished he was on 22 days per year (+3).


Re: Hours.

Hours seem longer. In the US most like to start earlier(7am). In the offices I frequent it's dead by 5pm though. They also like their lunch & they love to meet. They think nothing of a meeting with 20 people in it. So the day hours seem longer, but I think they work less efficiently than Europeans.

[d000hg]

If you were moving to the US you'd also expect to negotiate on your holiday... they're hiring you because you're special so if they won't give you a decent amount of holiday simply don't take the job.

Want to hire someone who has been working in Europe? They're probably used to 6 weeks a year of paid vacations. Match it. Giving somebody six weeks instead of three weeks vacation is like paying them about 6% more salary. Many people who like to travel or spend long weeks at the beach with their family would be happy to get more vacation in exchange for lower base salary, and they'll be more productive to boot.

[SueEllen]

So the day hours seem longer, but I think they work less efficiently than Europeans.

Work with some of our mainland European cousins - everything is a bloody meeting.

[Hot Mess]

Spent two years working at a US Investment Bank in Manhattan. Rent, food and occasionally going out, sucked all my cash out the bank.

Basically the novelty wore off really quickly. I flew back home every 6 months as you never really know how much you'll miss the simple things once you can no longer access them.

Sport, news, food and stuff to do were the main ones.

People hardly ever went out, no drinking culture and some really irritating stereotypes, (mostly lardarses) whooping about 'hitting it out of the park' and touching fecking base

Never again

[Scoobos]

To answer the OP.

1. You can't

2. You don't want to... (unless its the west coast).

Unless you enjoy working much longer hours, getting less holidays, having no social security at all and getting paid less.

[darrenb]

As someone who worked there for a long time, I can say it's been all downhill since 2001. Try reading Krugman's article every day in the NYTimes, and see if you still want to move there.

It always amazes me how many people in Britain, Germany, and everywhere else still have a rose-tinted view of the Western frontier. It shows how powerful the influence of Hollywood has been (and its techie equivalents like Wired magazine). There is a lag of about 20 years between reality and perceptions.

[eek]

As someone who worked there for a long time, I can say it's been all downhill since 2001. Try reading Krugman's article every day in the NYTimes, and see if you still want to move there.

It always amazes me how many people in Britain, Germany, and everywhere else still have a rose-tinted view of the Western frontier. It shows how powerful the influence of Hollywood has been (and its techie equivalents like Wired magazine). There is a lag of about 20 years between reality and perceptions.

+1 you only have to read cringley once in a while to see that while we complain about Bob's here its nothing like what's happened to IT there.

[MarillionFan]

+1 you only have to read cringley once in a while to see that while we complain about Bob's here its nothing like what's happened to IT there.

Personally I'm still 50/50. I'd always wanted to move to the US from when I was a kid, American Dream and all that. Having had a taste travelling backwards and forwards over the last 6 years in a couple of roles I can sort of see it's appeal. But at the end of the day, the cold hard cash is going to be the decisive trigger.

[d000hg]

+1 you only have to read cringley once in a while to see that while we complain about Bob's here its nothing like what's happened to IT there.

I'd read the US was far more protectionist when it came to IT, relying on useless local talent. Not the case then?