

Ask HN: got a proposal to relocate from Europe to SF - yannski

I'm currently living in Strasbourg, east of France, near the german border. I've started Novelys, a small Ruby/Rails shop, nearly 6 years ago.<p>I've just got a proposal to get hired and relocated to SF. The proposal is valid for me and my team (we're 5).<p>Difficult choice : be an entrepreneur in Strasbourg or a software engineer in SF.<p>Have you ever encounter a similar choice ? What did you choose ? Any advices ?
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henrikschroder
If anyone ever offers you to come live and work in another country for a
while, the answer should always be yes.

Going to a different country will teach you things both about the place you
move to, and about your home. It will give you new perspectives and
experiences that you can't get any other way. You will be a better person for
it.

And if it doesn't work out, you can always move back.

~~~
edge17
the 'no two ways about it'-ness of your comment struck a chord with me. I was
wondering if you had a story?

This is something I've thought about a lot, partially because I feel fortunate
in the opportunities in my life presently, so when there's a chance to up and
go some place I'm forced to weigh opportunity cost. Correct me if I'm wrong,
but to me it sounds like you're saying that the opportunity to work in another
country is almost always a greater opportunity?

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henrikschroder
Only anecdotal, but of all my friends and acquaintances that have worked
abroad, either for a limited time, or permanently, none of them regretted it,
even those that went to weirder places like Armenia or Mocambique.

Of course there is an opportunity cost, and if you have family and kids it
might be too high, but if I was in that situation, I'd try to take my family
with me. I have other friends and acquaintances that lived elsewhere for a few
years as a kid, and all of them only had positive stories to tell of it.

The cornerstone of intellectualism is the ability to imagine the world from
different perspectives, to realize that not everyone is the same, and nothing
teaches you that like traveling or moving to a different country, and it will
make you a better person.

~~~
edge17
thanks for the anecdote, could not agree more. first thing I did upon
graduating college was pack a bag and buy one of those around the world
tickets till i was broke.

for the last several years of my life since I did it, it's been one of my
cornerstone experiences.

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tudorizer
"Difficult choice : be an entrepreneur in Strasbourg or a software engineer in
SF."

Being an entrepeneur is not only about being the boss of your own company. I
think many people get this wrong. Entrepreneurship should be in the blood. The
hunger, the curiosity, the will to change the daily-job status quo.

I used to run my own 2 companies with 2 partners, but I decided to change
something and try another approach. Currently I have a well payed job which
allows me to save money for peronal business experiments. The main reason why
I decided to give up my previous 2 companies was that I did not like the
enviroment. Don't get me wrong, my partners were good guys, but I felt no
chemistry and no inspiration.

My suggestion: go for it. Being a software engineer in SF will open new gates
for you and if entrepreurship is in your blood, you can not fail. ;)

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beseku
I can't claim to know anything about your own personal life but I would say
one thing - whats the worst that could happen?

I moved from the UK to Japan nearly two years ago (with g/f of 7 years).
Sometimes being away form home sucks, as does the frequent feeling of
isolation and knowledge that if the work life sucks you have to leave the
country. Sometimes its amazing - I love the country (and my work) and the
people I have met. My overriding feeling is that even though I really miss a
lot of my UK life, (including the company I worked for on the odd occasion) I
am glad I took the leap, for no other reason than I got to experience this.

YMMV

~~~
beseku
I should just add to this - I took a step down career wise, (Tech Lead of a
good UK agency to a developer position) so I could make the move, so my
perspective may be very different to yours as we actively wanted to move
abroad (and specifically to Japan) for a while.

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ayers
It really depends on if you have family/kids. That sort of move will require a
lot more thought and planning if you are to move your whole family. Compared
to if you are single, you only have yourself to look after and provide for. I
have just immigrated to England from New Zealand with my wife without the
certainty of work. Luckily we have a family friend who is housing us while we
look. I would say that the chance to move over to SF with the certainty of
work is something that might not come up very often. If you did decided to go
I would definitely try to arrange to keep your company in France going.

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dmathieu
Stay in France. Novely is one of the rare awesome agencies here and SF already
has a lot of brains. Don't put everybody in the same place.

~~~
yannski
Thanks for your kind words :)

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lolizbak
Short: don't hesitate a second (though negotiate hard).

Long: How many times can this happen? Honestly?? How big is the startup? How
much press do they get ON A DAILY BASIS? How much equity would you get? How
big is their market?

You can always come back to (beautiful!) Strasbourg. You won't have many other
similar opportunities.

~~~
lolizbak
Also: what about leaving your comp in France, with some trustworthy guy
heading it, and leaving to SF with the guys from your team that want to follow
you? That way, you keep you Co and can always come back to it - if need be.

~~~
yannski
Well, that's one of the many plans :)

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nmerouze
I think it depends what you want for your life in the next 3 years.

It's always a good opportunity to save money and see in 3 years where you are
and decide which way to go (continue to SF or come back in France). It could
be a good stimulant for your entrepreneurship and intellectual skills as well.

But your current position has a lot of good points too.

I'm always thinking about what I want in my life, this is what is really
important here.

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mal3x
france is better for your family in the future.. My opinion.. You work like 4
days and a half (if I am not wrong), free school etc.. Europe: you work to
live SF: you live to work

Choose what you think is best for you..

~~~
mal3x
how about the future? what do you think about free studying? I think is a big
deal.. But.. maybe I am just subjective because I prefer europe over SF...

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p4bl0
He also could rellocate and send his children in France for their studies, he
certainly have family there who will be happy to host them :-).

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swah
Why don't you discuss this with them? If you're still single/no kids, I think
you should go even if to get to know another culture.

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AngeloAnolin
Get the opinion of your whole team. Whatever all of you would agree upon (and
I am sure that everyone would have the team's betterment in perspective), then
you decide.

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bambax
How did this happen? What about visas? Tell us more!

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yannski
I think that we are pretty "visible" in the Ruby/Rails landscape in France,
because of our tech and social activities (we organize several barcamps,
railscamps, Agile stuff and speak at a lof of events) and we worked for some
visible startups too. And a guy eventually came accross my LinkedIn profile,
our company website and my personnal website.

We didn't speak about visas ATM.

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petervandijck
Do it.

