
Ask HN: As a European, how do I get to Silicon Valley? - plasmido
Hi hackers,<p>i am a computer science master student at the swiss federal institue of technology. I am going to graduate in spring 2014. I would like to work in silicon valley for a couple of years.
But i have noooo idea where to start.<p>What is the first step ? Visa or Work ?<p>Where do i look for jobs ? (except hackernews)<p>How much wage is &quot;normal&quot; in silicon valley for a software engineer ?<p>How much should i pay for the rent ?<p>Where should i look for housing ?<p>and so on
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eshvk
1\. Visa and work are extremely tied unless you are a U.S. citizen or a
permanent resident. If not, you will have to get something called an H1B visa.
This is not something you do, you just get a job and the company applies for a
visa for you and you take all your documents and go the U.S. embassy.

2\. If you require sponsorship (that is need someone to get you a visa), I
recommend applying to larger companies. They have a system in place.

3\. It depends on you, your ability to negotiate, what you bring on the table
etc. Salaries have a wide variance from $75K to $180K.

4\. Rent again depends on where you want to live in the Bay Area. You could
pay anything from $1800 to $3500 for a studio. This is a function of whether
you want to live in the city, San Francisco or elsewhere (East Bay, Peninsula,
South Bay).

5\. Housing especially in San Francisco is a nightmare. Craigslist is what
people use. You could also use a realtor.

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tomaha
H1B is just too limited and you need a lot of luck and good timing to get it.
So I would choose another way (besides trying to win the Greencard lottery,
which you can try once a year):

1\. Apply for Google in Zurich (or for that matter any other big company near
Zurich with a big office in the US)

2\. After a year transfer to the US. You get a L1 visa without a problem.
There's no limit for this type of visa like e.g. the H1B has and if you're
married your wife or husband is also allowed to work.

3\. If you'd like to stay for longer start the greencard process as soon as
you arrive in the US with the help of your company. If you're a Swiss citizen
this should take between 1-1.5 years.

With a master from ETH I would expect 100k+ plus equity. If it's a later stage
startup or a bigger company the base salary will be higher plus an extra bonus
(stock will be on top of that). Everything else would be a weak offer and you
should probably reject.

I wouldn't care about housing before you have a job here. There's no usable
public transport here (Caltrain works, but only if your home and work are
close enough to one of the stations and it's also not very reliable. So not
comparable to Zurich at all). If you use your car to get to work you should
expect lots of traffic, so I would always prefer to be close to work. With
your background you should earn enough to find something.

You will earn more and have less taxes in Zurich and your living standard will
be higher in Switzerland. But here in Silicon Valley you will learn more and
the weather is more enjoyable than in Zurich.

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jason_slack
I'd come and visit first and see what area might suit you best. The Bay Area
is very different throughout. Go back home and formulate a plan to actually
move.

I moved from very upstate NY to the Bay Area in 2007 and that alone was a huge
adjustment for me.

let me know when you are coming. I am in Cupertino and would be happy to show
you all the tech companies or whatever you want to see :-)

~~~
matthiasb
Make sure you come and leave the country legally. You cannot come to the US
with a tourist VISA and look for a job. If you get caught, you may just no be
able to ever come back.

~~~
argonaut
You won't get caught, though. That's the point. People abuse tourist visas
_all the time_. Even people in YC.

~~~
eshvk
This is incredibly bad advice. There are enough people who get screwed badly
for silly offences. And yeah, once you get a ten year ban, it doesn't matter
if you write a cute article on medium and get it on the front page of HN, INS
doesn't fucking care.

~~~
argonaut
You are seriously overexagerrating. I worked for a YC company for a time, and
quite a few founders I met stayed in the US on a tourist visa.

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fpalmans
Hey Plasmido,

I moved to Silicon Valley from Europe in 2007 and have lived here since. I had
an 'easy' solution though did quite a bit of research and can help you get
started with a list of options/approaches.

If interested, please feel free to email me at gmail. I have the same username
there.

Frank.

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Vomzor
[http://islandofatlas.net/2013/10/04/a-hackers-guide-to-
the-b...](http://islandofatlas.net/2013/10/04/a-hackers-guide-to-the-bay-
area.html) I think reading this might be a good start.

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daveytea
Get a visa to come here for an internship, build your networks & explore, then
look for a 'serious' job after this. There are many places to look for jobs..
AngelList is probably the easiest place at the moment. You can also find wage
information there.

Rent really depends on where you are located. SOMA could be minimum $2k+/month
for studio. Mission area could be cheaper. SV probably has similar prices to
SF.

Look for housing on airbnb/craigslist/walking around... really depends on what
type (long term, short term, etc). There are also a few hacker houses around
that you could probably stay at.

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davidjnelson
Great market salary info: [https://blog.wealthfront.com/startup-employee-
equity-compens...](https://blog.wealthfront.com/startup-employee-equity-
compensation/)

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argonaut
SV is a big place, and both rents and salaries will vary depending on where
you are.

A good entry level salary is roughly 100k.

