

Ask HN: 20, Programmer, Germany. Moving to Silicon Valley, What Should I Know? - 5now

I want to move to Silicon Valley within the next 5 years.
What should I know about moving there, and about tech jobs? What languages and skills would you suggest I should learn?<p>Maybe someone who did the same, how did you do it without failing too hard?
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hwstar
Understand that employment in the US and California in particular is based on
the doctrine of "Employment-at-will". Your employer or yourself can terminate
the employment relationship for any reason except for a few narrow exceptions.
This is quite different than way employment law is structured in the rest of
the developed world.

This puts employees at a distinct disadvantage unless they have significant
financial assets and makes it very important to choose an ethical company to
work for.

Management by fear is common due to employment at will and especially in
ethically-challenged companies.

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mitack
Read HN ;-) [http://jasonevanish.com/2013/01/17/25-things-i-wish-i-
knew-b...](http://jasonevanish.com/2013/01/17/25-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-
moving-to-san-francisco/)

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SQL2219
know that the cost of living is off the charts.

[http://www.jobdensity.com/QueryGrid.aspx?q=770&t=software%20...](http://www.jobdensity.com/QueryGrid.aspx?q=770&t=software%20engineer&qt=5/24/2015%207:13:20%20PM)

