Working in America question [modified]
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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
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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.
Super Lloyd wrote:
Now I just have to hope that my main reason is the good one!
"main reason"? please don't say that it's a woman.... Edit: saw the answer later in the thread. :) Best of luck to ya! To answer one of your other questions: monster.com dice.com indeed.com scrapes a bunch of other sites so you can find them all on 1. I use jobcircle.com, but I think that's philadelphia area specific (or NorthEast US specific possibly)
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:40 AM
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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...
You make it sound exactly like New York. Only in NY you need to make 100k USD just pay rent.
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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.
aspdotnetdev wrote:
I remember those days. My firsts were $8 and $12 respectively, IIRC.
if thats per hour, you mean you made like $64 for a 8 hour shift???? In Mexico in my actual job I get less than that today (about $50-$60 a day) and I am top than almost all of my friends ... I have a friend that is a IT Manager , and is in charge of networking, telephony, and basic customer support in a small company and he gets $500 a month... (also he is divorced so he gets actually half of that ) so he had to go back to live with his parents ... (he is almost 40 by the way) Salaries in Mexico sucks... Best Regards
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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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 am from Mexico and I am currently living and working for an American company in Dallas, TX. I used to be a contractor and live in the north-east of US (Philadelphia-NYC), life there is quite of expensive and depending on your experience and expertise (here in de US if you are really capable, you can make more than people that have the double of experience) is the hourly rate that you can apply for. In Philadelphia I was on the 55-75 dlls/hour, depending on the company and project; here in Dallas I am as a permanent employee, in Dallas, the life expense is 15% cheaper than Philadelphia for example, and the rates are lower therefore. Of course there are some companies that like to take advantage of your situation and will try to offer you as less as possible, but commonly those companies are the ones that help you with your immigration status. Fortunately Mexico has a NAFTA agreement with US and Canada and qualified professional can work in the US (with some restriction such as you cannot upgrade to apply for a Green Card). I would suggest that you check what kind of agreements US has with Australia or France in terms of working visas. As an outsider, I recommend that you prepare yourself well and try to be available for the market, try to be above of the average American of your field, otherwise employers will not find you interesting to them, and please, never under-sale yourself!. I hope this helps. Regards, Javier Navarro
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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
Well, I wonder why you would want to move to the US. The life cost is extremely high, especially in metropolitan area. If you find a company wanting to hire you, be sure to get 80k+ USD$ a year at least and proper medical insurance coverage. You could also deal your housing and car. I live in the french speaking province of Quebec in Canada. I make about 40k+ canadian dollar a year and get along pretty well. And I've work only for 3 years as a professional in the IT. I own a nice 1000 sq-ft house (got a basement too) with a 5000 sq-ft terrain. The house cost me 140k$ CAD last year and I had no trouble to get a mortage with a low (5%) fixed interest rate. Living is also very affordable, we spend about 100$ per week on food, and about 225$ a month on services (telcom + electrity). There's no need for medical insurance here because there's a public system. I pay an income tax of 34% and the sale tax is 13.5%. To compare, if I take the exact same house I own into a suburb near New York, my house would value about 3 to 4 time what I paid, it would cost me twice the price for the food and three time more for services. Yet I would pay less tax on income and stuff I buy. I would have to get a job that would pay me twice what I make to come along and would still need medical insurance. Working in the states is nice for a couple of years if can get to save some cash (ie get a mortage on a house). Once you're done, sell everything you got and go back to Australia. The load of cash you will have accumulated will be higher than what you would have done during the same time in your home country. Now if you like cold, snow, speaking french and strong beer you could always come to Canada!
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aspdotnetdev wrote:
I remember those days. My firsts were $8 and $12 respectively, IIRC.
if thats per hour, you mean you made like $64 for a 8 hour shift???? In Mexico in my actual job I get less than that today (about $50-$60 a day) and I am top than almost all of my friends ... I have a friend that is a IT Manager , and is in charge of networking, telephony, and basic customer support in a small company and he gets $500 a month... (also he is divorced so he gets actually half of that ) so he had to go back to live with his parents ... (he is almost 40 by the way) Salaries in Mexico sucks... Best Regards
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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But what are your expenses (rent, food, etc)? I'm wondering what the equivalent for say Columbus, Ohio would be?
Owen37 wrote:
But what are your expenses (rent, food, etc)? I'm wondering what the equivalent for say Columbus, Ohio would be?
an average rent here is $200-$300 edited meal price... I was meaning pesos... now is correct in US Dollars ;P meals ... average meal $4-$8 you can get tacos for $1-$2 coke 50c potato chips 50c also you can get a car for $2000 of course is a salvaged car ...
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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Owen37 wrote:
But what are your expenses (rent, food, etc)? I'm wondering what the equivalent for say Columbus, Ohio would be?
an average rent here is $200-$300 edited meal price... I was meaning pesos... now is correct in US Dollars ;P meals ... average meal $4-$8 you can get tacos for $1-$2 coke 50c potato chips 50c also you can get a car for $2000 of course is a salvaged car ...
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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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.
I want to live with a particular woman which happened to move to Texas... Now I don't think having a long winding 5 years trip to Texas is going to help much! :( In this case I rather stay 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.
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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.
Always good to know, thanks!
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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Super Lloyd wrote:
Now I just have to hope that my main reason is the good one!
"main reason"? please don't say that it's a woman.... Edit: saw the answer later in the thread. :) Best of luck to ya! To answer one of your other questions: monster.com dice.com indeed.com scrapes a bunch of other sites so you can find them all on 1. I use jobcircle.com, but I think that's philadelphia area specific (or NorthEast US specific possibly)
modified on Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:40 AM
Indeed, it is! ;)
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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I am from Mexico and I am currently living and working for an American company in Dallas, TX. I used to be a contractor and live in the north-east of US (Philadelphia-NYC), life there is quite of expensive and depending on your experience and expertise (here in de US if you are really capable, you can make more than people that have the double of experience) is the hourly rate that you can apply for. In Philadelphia I was on the 55-75 dlls/hour, depending on the company and project; here in Dallas I am as a permanent employee, in Dallas, the life expense is 15% cheaper than Philadelphia for example, and the rates are lower therefore. Of course there are some companies that like to take advantage of your situation and will try to offer you as less as possible, but commonly those companies are the ones that help you with your immigration status. Fortunately Mexico has a NAFTA agreement with US and Canada and qualified professional can work in the US (with some restriction such as you cannot upgrade to apply for a Green Card). I would suggest that you check what kind of agreements US has with Australia or France in terms of working visas. As an outsider, I recommend that you prepare yourself well and try to be available for the market, try to be above of the average American of your field, otherwise employers will not find you interesting to them, and please, never under-sale yourself!. I hope this helps. Regards, Javier Navarro
Thanks for the tips!
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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Well, I wonder why you would want to move to the US. The life cost is extremely high, especially in metropolitan area. If you find a company wanting to hire you, be sure to get 80k+ USD$ a year at least and proper medical insurance coverage. You could also deal your housing and car. I live in the french speaking province of Quebec in Canada. I make about 40k+ canadian dollar a year and get along pretty well. And I've work only for 3 years as a professional in the IT. I own a nice 1000 sq-ft house (got a basement too) with a 5000 sq-ft terrain. The house cost me 140k$ CAD last year and I had no trouble to get a mortage with a low (5%) fixed interest rate. Living is also very affordable, we spend about 100$ per week on food, and about 225$ a month on services (telcom + electrity). There's no need for medical insurance here because there's a public system. I pay an income tax of 34% and the sale tax is 13.5%. To compare, if I take the exact same house I own into a suburb near New York, my house would value about 3 to 4 time what I paid, it would cost me twice the price for the food and three time more for services. Yet I would pay less tax on income and stuff I buy. I would have to get a job that would pay me twice what I make to come along and would still need medical insurance. Working in the states is nice for a couple of years if can get to save some cash (ie get a mortage on a house). Once you're done, sell everything you got and go back to Australia. The load of cash you will have accumulated will be higher than what you would have done during the same time in your home country. Now if you like cold, snow, speaking french and strong beer you could always come to Canada!
I rather be in Australia but.... There is a Goddess I know with an opening in the boy friend position who is moving to Texas...
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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So, your $50 - $60 per day is rather low pay (unless it's not taxed much: here in US, for tech folks, the income-tax rate is around 28% (very rough estimate) -- not including sales taxes).
Owen37 wrote:
So, your $50 - $60 per day is rather low pay (unless it's not taxed much: here in US, for tech folks, the income-tax rate is around 28% (very rough estimate) -- not including sales taxes).
Yes, its a low pay... and ISR is about 28% too thats why I am not millionary...
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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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
Lloyd, you in luck. Here at ThermoFisher Scientific, we're looking for Software Engineers. We have positions in Austin (TX), San Jose (CA), and Billereica (MA). Go to ThermoFisher.com and follow the Careers path. You should get to the page: https://careers.thermofisher.com/joblist.html?JServSessionIdroot=5onh44g5r1.JS1 I do not see why if your currently living in Australia, why you can't just move here to the US. (Also, our local Marketing Manager, here in SJ is from France.) So, send us your resume. BTW, Houston gets pretty hot an humid in the summer and fall. Austin is much nicer.
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Well, I wonder why you would want to move to the US. The life cost is extremely high, especially in metropolitan area. If you find a company wanting to hire you, be sure to get 80k+ USD$ a year at least and proper medical insurance coverage. You could also deal your housing and car. I live in the french speaking province of Quebec in Canada. I make about 40k+ canadian dollar a year and get along pretty well. And I've work only for 3 years as a professional in the IT. I own a nice 1000 sq-ft house (got a basement too) with a 5000 sq-ft terrain. The house cost me 140k$ CAD last year and I had no trouble to get a mortage with a low (5%) fixed interest rate. Living is also very affordable, we spend about 100$ per week on food, and about 225$ a month on services (telcom + electrity). There's no need for medical insurance here because there's a public system. I pay an income tax of 34% and the sale tax is 13.5%. To compare, if I take the exact same house I own into a suburb near New York, my house would value about 3 to 4 time what I paid, it would cost me twice the price for the food and three time more for services. Yet I would pay less tax on income and stuff I buy. I would have to get a job that would pay me twice what I make to come along and would still need medical insurance. Working in the states is nice for a couple of years if can get to save some cash (ie get a mortage on a house). Once you're done, sell everything you got and go back to Australia. The load of cash you will have accumulated will be higher than what you would have done during the same time in your home country. Now if you like cold, snow, speaking french and strong beer you could always come to Canada!
Wow, you make a little more than 40k and pay 34% for income tax? That's not bad. Here in the states, we make 80k to 100k and pay 28 to 33%. Is you income tax adjustable to where the more you make, the more you're taxed? What would Canadian income tax be if you made 100k? If it is not much higher than what you are paying now, then the US Democratic Party might have a good argument for its Universal health Coverage. (Also, it would unburden our companies.) Unfortunately, the older we get, the more we need the medical insurance (public or private).
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Lloyd, you in luck. Here at ThermoFisher Scientific, we're looking for Software Engineers. We have positions in Austin (TX), San Jose (CA), and Billereica (MA). Go to ThermoFisher.com and follow the Careers path. You should get to the page: https://careers.thermofisher.com/joblist.html?JServSessionIdroot=5onh44g5r1.JS1 I do not see why if your currently living in Australia, why you can't just move here to the US. (Also, our local Marketing Manager, here in SJ is from France.) So, send us your resume. BTW, Houston gets pretty hot an humid in the summer and fall. Austin is much nicer.
So lucky of me! :-) I'll update my resume this week end and send it over! Thanks for the info hey!
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.