Working in America question [modified]
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To put it in perspective, working as a cashier in a Local Supermarket earns you about $1.25 an hour :)
-= Reelix =-
But the OP is not a cashier and has slightly higher expectations (as I would). I don't mean to be disparaging of those who do it hard and have to struggle to survive, I've been there, but those people are limited by either lousy circumstances or personal short comings. Having managed to educate and train to the point of being a developer, gaining the experience to where he is confidant enough to change countries I think he should have higher expectations.
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I heard that too ;) But I was also under the impression it doesn't apply to the Tech industry, at least it's as good as ever now in Australia for .NET programmers!
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
Do you need a replacement for your Australian position?
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$25ph isn't that below the poverty line? Why is a contract < 6 months expensive to the contractor, I can understand the city factor but contracts are often 3 months and the understanding is that they will almost certainly extend. I have often accepted a contract of 3 months and every single one of them has extended. I'm currently in my 5th year in the current contract that started as a 1 month deal.
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
$25ph isn't that below the poverty line?
A friend complete a highly regarded Java course and left for Cape Town to find a job as a novice. He encountered a company that charge the employees to work for them, just to get experience. But then, when I get my law degree I have to work for a year without any pay to be admitted to the Bar.
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The expense is if it is just 3 months. I hate them. You have to go to a city, either stay in a hotel or rent a plus that is really expensive. Either rent a car, etc. Over 6 months you can get a decent deal on rent and take your own car. Now if you lived in the city, big whoop. Problem is tech jobs rotate cities. I would love to come up on the 1 month contract that winds up an ideal 5 year contract but the bottom line is what they advertise is what you have to expect. With regard to 25 an hour, if you legitimately had a multi-year contract it would be a nice start and is a common overhead rate for a lot of non demand employees and would be about $36k (I didn't check I am just guessing) which isn't bad if you are single and far above the poverty line ... but you are correct that at that wage rent will kill you, you won't have a new car, and you will be eating lean, not paying your retirement, and debating the question of to pay for health insurance. Of course my first programming job I made 10 an hour w-2 (college days) and then my second after college I made 12 an hour w-2 so it can work at such low numbers but it is hard. Those jobs had no benefits, no vacation, no sick time, nada, nothing zip zilch. The one after college was salary so I probably made less with the amount of hours I put in.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
I have 14 years experience, and my asking rate is max 40USD.
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Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
my first programming job I made 10 an hour w-2 (college days) and then my second after college I made 12 an hour w-2
I remember those days. My firsts were $8 and $12 respectively, IIRC.
Visual Studio is an excellent GUIIDE.
My first, on SAP as well, which normally pays well, I was getting ZAR20/h, which at the time was probably around USD1/h. It quickly went up to >ZAR100 though.
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"$25ph isn't that below the poverty line? " I suggest you never move to South Africa...
-= Reelix =-
Poverty Line is relative. At USD25/h I would would have to give up my tiny ZAR600k house.
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Mycroft Holmes wrote:
$25ph isn't that below the poverty line?
A friend complete a highly regarded Java course and left for Cape Town to find a job as a novice. He encountered a company that charge the employees to work for them, just to get experience. But then, when I get my law degree I have to work for a year without any pay to be admitted to the Bar.
I've heard of some strange business practices but this seems extreme, taking advantage of novices is a particular nasty practice. i can understand the intern concept and I know it costs to take on a novice but making them pay seem unreasonable.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote:
If you don't do ASP.net (as I don't)
You might want to invest some of your time learning it. If you are proficient in .NET, learning ASP.NET and maybe event ASP.NET MVC should take only a few weeks, a few hours a week.
If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki v3
I concur, but when seeking work, real experience counts, so he may also do one or two small sites pro bono, so in an interview you can direct the employer to your sites.
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Well, to summarize it, there is a woman involved! ;-) (And no, she is not American and we are not married (we are not even together, yet), so that doesn't help...)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
Super Lloyd wrote:
Well, to summarize it, there is a woman involved! Wink
So it's true - Australian women strike such fear into the hearts of men they move across the world.
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I concur, but when seeking work, real experience counts, so he may also do one or two small sites pro bono, so in an interview you can direct the employer to your sites.
Yes, sure.
If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki v3
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Let's say I'm French-Australian (currently living in Australia) and I have a good .NET resume. What would be my chance to get a job in America which will also facilitate the immigration procedure? (I'll come for the job interviews, no worries!) Now, it's all about location, and I don't want to go anywhere, I want to go to Texas (I don't know which city yet, let's say Houston), what would be my chance to get such an opportunity in Houston you could think? Any tip / info welcome! :-) [EDIT] I forgot to ask: Which websites do you use to find job in America? (i.e. monster.com in Europe and seek.com in Australia)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:13 AM
If you have real skills, finding a programming job shouldn't be a problem, even in tech-less San Antonio (where I live).
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
Nishant, in a later post, seems to imply that I cannot come with a E3 (or H1B) visas and get a contract job. But I wonder, Visas wise, is the reverse possible? i.e. could I get the contract, then they help me do the visas thing and I can come? Anyway, your answer gives me lot of hopes! :-) Now I just have to hope that my main reason is the good one! ;-)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
I dont think you will find a company that will higher you for a short term contract and aid you with visa especially if they want you to start soon. I would look into getting a job in canada which may be easier and working your way into the states from there, if thats truely where you want to live. How many hours would you be expected to work if for 25 dollars a day? I currently do consultancy on the side and for my daily fee of about £300 i would be expected to do 7.5 hours work. old penguin saying, its the individual thats left out in the cold.
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Thanks for the info! Not all good though.... mmhh.... (I'm not an ASP.NET dev either...)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
I gained experience by doing wee jobs for companys using there biding jobs, its not worth it for the money as you have to under bid everyone, but the experince added to the CV is great. Best thing i did was walk in to an office for a contractor's job and spent the whole interview tell them how to set up a automated builds and version control for free, really there are still companys out there that have single developer jobs and dont uses non manual version control etc. Adding something to the company matters more than experience.
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Indeed! :cool: :)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
You are truly brave. Good fortune to you!
Personally, I love the idea that Raymond spends his nights posting bad regexs to mailing lists under the pseudonym of Jane Smith. He'd be like a super hero, only more nerdy and less useful. [Trevel]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | µLaunch - program launcher for server core and hyper-v server -
Nishant, in a later post, seems to imply that I cannot come with a E3 (or H1B) visas and get a contract job. But I wonder, Visas wise, is the reverse possible? i.e. could I get the contract, then they help me do the visas thing and I can come? Anyway, your answer gives me lot of hopes! :-) Now I just have to hope that my main reason is the good one! ;-)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
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Let's say I'm French-Australian (currently living in Australia) and I have a good .NET resume. What would be my chance to get a job in America which will also facilitate the immigration procedure? (I'll come for the job interviews, no worries!) Now, it's all about location, and I don't want to go anywhere, I want to go to Texas (I don't know which city yet, let's say Houston), what would be my chance to get such an opportunity in Houston you could think? Any tip / info welcome! :-) [EDIT] I forgot to ask: Which websites do you use to find job in America? (i.e. monster.com in Europe and seek.com in Australia)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:13 AM
No US Citizen in their right mind wants to live in Texas. For a while there most of the country was hoping the would try to become a nation again so we could dump them. A good friend of mine moved down there and she's now sending me crap about how the damn dirty hispanics have ruined life for good hard working Americans. The literature goes so far as to mention those lazy Puerto Ricans and how they steal jobs too. (Puerto Ricans are natural born American Citizens and I happen to be one) If the atmosphere can make a sweet girl a racist, I would really be hesitant to go anywhere near the place. That and the racists can all carry guns...
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No US Citizen in their right mind wants to live in Texas. For a while there most of the country was hoping the would try to become a nation again so we could dump them. A good friend of mine moved down there and she's now sending me crap about how the damn dirty hispanics have ruined life for good hard working Americans. The literature goes so far as to mention those lazy Puerto Ricans and how they steal jobs too. (Puerto Ricans are natural born American Citizens and I happen to be one) If the atmosphere can make a sweet girl a racist, I would really be hesitant to go anywhere near the place. That and the racists can all carry guns...
The begining of the question for a nice job search site was completely ignored!!! Try indeed.com and good luck!!
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To the original poster: I would use dice dot com to get a feel for what is available (and in which cities) for your area of expertise. As for Phoenix that is my take too ... only web (ASP.NET) jobs and that is why I stay in San Diego because there are many .NET WinForm/WPF applications in the biotech industry (writing SW to control biotech instruments and UI/data visualization are my specialty). I was born and raised in Tempe and would love to move back as my family still lives there but I would shoot myself in the head if I had to do ASP.NET for a living. No offense to you ASP.NET developer but to each their own.
Yeah, leaving San Diego may have been a bad decision, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'd like to move back, but it's expensive and the politicians are crazy.
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Let's say I'm French-Australian (currently living in Australia) and I have a good .NET resume. What would be my chance to get a job in America which will also facilitate the immigration procedure? (I'll come for the job interviews, no worries!) Now, it's all about location, and I don't want to go anywhere, I want to go to Texas (I don't know which city yet, let's say Houston), what would be my chance to get such an opportunity in Houston you could think? Any tip / info welcome! :-) [EDIT] I forgot to ask: Which websites do you use to find job in America? (i.e. monster.com in Europe and seek.com in Australia)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:13 AM
I'm not a professional programmer so I can't tell you about the job market as such, but as a resident of Houston, I can tell you the cost of living is far cheaper than most large metropolitan areas and in general, employment seems to be much higher than other areas of the country. Be prepared to deal with extreme weather though, and you pretty much have to have a car to get around, unless you really plan carefully. Public transit here is a joke outside of downtown. I'm not a native but I've lived here 18 years now and call it home until I retire. I like it.
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Let's say I'm French-Australian (currently living in Australia) and I have a good .NET resume. What would be my chance to get a job in America which will also facilitate the immigration procedure? (I'll come for the job interviews, no worries!) Now, it's all about location, and I don't want to go anywhere, I want to go to Texas (I don't know which city yet, let's say Houston), what would be my chance to get such an opportunity in Houston you could think? Any tip / info welcome! :-) [EDIT] I forgot to ask: Which websites do you use to find job in America? (i.e. monster.com in Europe and seek.com in Australia)
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:13 AM
I don't know about Houston, you may want to try Austin or Fort Worth/Dallas if you're going to Texas. As far as I know, Houston is mostly oil, not much technology. Monster.com works as well as CareerBuilder.com for you job search. A lot of American jobs have been out-sourced over seas but the word on the street is that they are starting to trickle back. (Not near me though, I'm in the Phoenix area.) Good Luck
