Ask HN: How do I get a job abroad?

[jgaxn]

I am an American software engineer currently happily employed in the United States. I'm interested in potentially working in a different country when it's time for my next career move in a couple of years. What kinds of things should I be doing to network or discover opportunities in other countries? What immigration issues should I be worried about?

[mthomasb]

Check out https://jobbatical.com/. They help you find ~12 month contracts with startups abroad, mostly Western Europe.

[jgaxn → mthomasb]

Hey thanks! That looks like an extremely useful site.

[msurocks → jgaxn]

Useful ?

[jgaxn → msurocks]

Yes. Looking at it, it has a listing of jobs in non-US countries looking specifically for foreign (including US) workers in my field. At a glance I saw multiple jobs that I would be interested in applying for.

[drakonka]

I'm not sure what kind of relationship the US has with the country you are hoping to move to, but in my case it went like this:

- Ukrainian living in Australia on permanent residence Visa, eligible for citizenship but hadn't bothered to get it. I wanted to move to Europe.

- Went through the Australian citizenship application process. As an Australian citizen I would be eligible for a working holiday visa.

- (In the meantime) Saved up about a year's worth of living expenses from running a business in Australia.

- Also in the meantime spent a year locked away in my house building a small portfolio of games. Freelancing meant I could work largely from home and set my own hours.

- Applied for a working holiday visa to Sweden. Received approval via email in about 2 weeks.

- Moved and started applying for jobs. Started work about 2 months later.

I did try to apply for jobs remotely but that didn't work out - though I had prior experience in my chosen industry I was not senior or experienced enough to justify a company relocating me from the other side of the world. Physically being there and not scaring a company with the prospect moving expenses and arrangements helped.

[msurocks]

It's pretty tough .. I applied to more than 200 Plus companies in different countries none of them even replied even though I had all the required skills.

Best option: Select where you want to go, save some money, find some companies from that location and personal contacts there, Get a tourist VISA, go there and talk personally.

Your success will depend on getting appointment while visiting and ability to pursue your future employer for an Employee VISA.

Good luck..

[ddorian43]

I just, like, applied online. Went on the job-boards of the country that I wanted to go, created email-alerts on all of them, and applied to the one I wanted in my email-inbox.

[FlopV → ddorian43]

You find a gig?

[ddorian43 → FlopV]

I got one job without needing to meet them. Another company invited for local interviews, and I used the 4 days I was there to also interview at 2 other companies that I was already interviewing on skype with and also got another offer.

[dalerus]

I work in international development. If you're looking for a career abroad and interested in working on solving interesting problems, the development sector is a good place to be. Pretty good pay, decent benefits, home leave, no issues with immigration.

Devex.com has a decent listing of jobs and companies to work for.

[BjoernKW]

Pretty much depends on the country you'd like to work in.

That said, highly skilled workers such as software engineers usually don't face a lot of immigration issues.

[wprapido]

do you at least have an idea where you'd like to move to?

[jgaxn → wprapido]

Europe, generally. England and France more specifically. Other first-world countries (Australia, New Zealand) also considered.