Living and Working in the USA
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Thank you. It seems rare to hear someone from outside the U.S. make a considered complimentary statement about the country. Most of the time it's either a vehement diatribe or jingoistic cheerleading.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote:
Most of the time it's either a vehement diatribe or jingoistic cheerleading.
Sorry I've let this slip of late, a few more nights of study and I'll be back, bigger and better than ever spewing even more facts about the horror that is the USA.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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I lived and worked for a year and a half in Clearwater, Florida, and both my wife and I had a fantastic time. We comfortably lived on one Salary, had the two cars in the driveway (a Mustang - Just because, brought that one home with us, and a Miata because you've got to have a convertible in Florida). Folklore may perpetuate myths of Ireland being a friendly welcoming country, and the US being some sort of over commercialised, gun totin', isolationist asylum. I have to say that didn't tally at all with reality. We made more friends and better friends during our short stay in the US that we have in Ireland. We got to know our neighbours better, we went to the movies with them, to restaurants, to coffee shops etc. Americans we met both in a personal capacity and in the course of day to day activities were almost universally friendly. Some of that may be down to the fact that at least some of them were relying on us for tips, but I do think you can only pretend to be happy and helpful for so long before your true self shines through and for the most part they were great people. America is (at least from the perspective of an Irish person) a very efficient place. We had two minor car accidents in which we were rear ended (same road, within a month of each other). The Police were insanely helpful and efficient. The work situation is a little different in the US. I was a contractor so my European pay and conditions were what I worked under. It seemed to me that Americans work quite long hours. I don't know if it's a pride thing, or a peer pressure thing, or just a peculiarity of the American Psyche, but work is VERY important, it's a reflection of your personality. Depending on the job you might find the hours and the conditions less favourable than work in your own country. All things considered I loved every minute of my time in the US. If the chance came up to go back I'd have a very hard time saying no. That's it. That was Florida (which many American's hate). Going to different states in the US is a bit like going to different countries. Downsides: Society is very divided in the US, the rich poor divide is nothing new, all countries have that, but the phoney Liberal Conservative divide gets tiresome. Particularly when you realise that it's in large part a divide created to bolster particular voting blocks and sell books and tv programming. It seems that most of the people most entrenched in their hatred of the other half of the country, don't even realise that they are be
Richard A. Dalton wrote:
It seemed to me that Americans work quite long hours. I don't know if it's a pride thing, or a peer pressure thing, or just a peculiarity of the American Psyche, but work is VERY important, it's a reflection of your personality.
Of these I think psyche is closest, although it kind of fits all of the above to some extent. Add in guilt and for some a need to appear to be a certain image as well. And Obviously some folks are immune. Work is how a lot of us define our lives. Kind of like "what we do is what we are" but what we do away from work often doesn't count the same. I've had to quit jobs where I wasn't allowed to work. Just sit at the desk and surf the web and answer the occasional phone call or whatever. And slowly go mad.
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
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AndyInUK wrote:
I would say you are more secure in South Africa than in states. My 2 cents.
Why would you say that? South Africa is recognized as having one of the highest crime rates in the world. Its intentional homicide rate if five times that of the United States. For that matter, Official crime figures in 2009 showed the UK as having a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa [^]
The 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots. R. A. H.
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
Yes, there will be lots of chain stores that are consistent from coast to coast this is no different than the ubiquity of Tesco stores in the UK. Regional differences can be very stark. New England is VERY different from the midwest which is in turn different from the Pacific Northwest. The cultural differences tend to be more regional than state-centric. You can easily hit 15 states in the midwest and be struck by their similarity (not picking on the midwest, just sayin') then go to Maine and it's like a different country. Cuisine in New England is primarily driven by locally owned one-off restaurants, in Florida it's hard NOT to end up at a Chili's or Applebees. Work. There's an interesting topic. It runs the gamut. Some places will treat you like family (largely smaller companies) most like a fungible commodity. Employment is mostly at will. In other words, they can fire you without reason and you have no recourse. Many companies expect 60 hours from you for the salary that is of course based on 40 hours of pay. Likewise most companies expect you to be contactable when you are vacation and some actually frown upon those who have the temerity to take vacation.
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I lived and worked for a year and a half in Clearwater, Florida, and both my wife and I had a fantastic time. We comfortably lived on one Salary, had the two cars in the driveway (a Mustang - Just because, brought that one home with us, and a Miata because you've got to have a convertible in Florida). Folklore may perpetuate myths of Ireland being a friendly welcoming country, and the US being some sort of over commercialised, gun totin', isolationist asylum. I have to say that didn't tally at all with reality. We made more friends and better friends during our short stay in the US that we have in Ireland. We got to know our neighbours better, we went to the movies with them, to restaurants, to coffee shops etc. Americans we met both in a personal capacity and in the course of day to day activities were almost universally friendly. Some of that may be down to the fact that at least some of them were relying on us for tips, but I do think you can only pretend to be happy and helpful for so long before your true self shines through and for the most part they were great people. America is (at least from the perspective of an Irish person) a very efficient place. We had two minor car accidents in which we were rear ended (same road, within a month of each other). The Police were insanely helpful and efficient. The work situation is a little different in the US. I was a contractor so my European pay and conditions were what I worked under. It seemed to me that Americans work quite long hours. I don't know if it's a pride thing, or a peer pressure thing, or just a peculiarity of the American Psyche, but work is VERY important, it's a reflection of your personality. Depending on the job you might find the hours and the conditions less favourable than work in your own country. All things considered I loved every minute of my time in the US. If the chance came up to go back I'd have a very hard time saying no. That's it. That was Florida (which many American's hate). Going to different states in the US is a bit like going to different countries. Downsides: Society is very divided in the US, the rich poor divide is nothing new, all countries have that, but the phoney Liberal Conservative divide gets tiresome. Particularly when you realise that it's in large part a divide created to bolster particular voting blocks and sell books and tv programming. It seems that most of the people most entrenched in their hatred of the other half of the country, don't even realise that they are be
"Society is very divided in the US, the rich poor divide is nothing new, all countries have that, but the phoney Liberal Conservative divide gets tiresome. Particularly when you realise that it's in large part a divide created to bolster particular voting blocks and sell books and tv programming." Perfectly stated. Perfectly. I guess it takes an outsider's perspective to better see this, although I've been touting this exact thought for years.
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
There are different problems in different parts of the country. Along the west coast they have earthquakes. Along the east coast and southeast they have hurricanes. Down the middle (Michigan to Kansas) they have tornadoes. In the south it's very hot; you can't survive in Florida without air conditioning. Many jobs (e.g. software development) are being outsourced to low-wage countries, so there's competition for jobs. Despite all that, I'd rather live in the US than anywhere else.
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
"Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there?" Get up, go to work, work, go home, sleep, repeat. Same as it is pretty much everywhere in the world, I suspect. Perhaps the best way to aproach this is to decide what it is about where you curently live that you and your wife really like, and try to see if anybody can help you figure out what part of the US might provide that for you? What climate do you like? What kind of culture do you like? What kinds of free-time activities do you like to do? etc.
patbob
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Yes, there will be lots of chain stores that are consistent from coast to coast this is no different than the ubiquity of Tesco stores in the UK. Regional differences can be very stark. New England is VERY different from the midwest which is in turn different from the Pacific Northwest. The cultural differences tend to be more regional than state-centric. You can easily hit 15 states in the midwest and be struck by their similarity (not picking on the midwest, just sayin') then go to Maine and it's like a different country. Cuisine in New England is primarily driven by locally owned one-off restaurants, in Florida it's hard NOT to end up at a Chili's or Applebees. Work. There's an interesting topic. It runs the gamut. Some places will treat you like family (largely smaller companies) most like a fungible commodity. Employment is mostly at will. In other words, they can fire you without reason and you have no recourse. Many companies expect 60 hours from you for the salary that is of course based on 40 hours of pay. Likewise most companies expect you to be contactable when you are vacation and some actually frown upon those who have the temerity to take vacation.
cruest wrote:
Many companies expect 60 hours from you for the salary that is of course based on 40 hours of pay. Likewise most companies expect you to be contactable when you are vacation and some actually frown upon those who have the temerity to take vacation.
Hmmmm.... that has never been my experience. Having worked here all of my life and with MANY different large corporations, I have never found that to be the case. I do not believe you can say that is the case across the board.
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
I am from South Africa, have been in the USA since 2005, and find it a place where you can create your own reality if you can find a decent paying (+-$6000/mth) job and have a good attitude towards working hard. The productivity level here is very, very high. The important thing about being an employee, is that you need to be really good at what you do, and this is especially true for foreigners, but the opportunities for career advancement is limitless if you're willing to relocate to where the relevant jobs are. In general, there are many, many IT opportunities here, but those who do the recruiting look only for the best, especially since it's an employer's market right now. I don't know anything about SharePoint Developer and Administrator jobs, but it is important that you're a good all rounded developer. In other words, you need to potentially be able to work professionally with clients, in a team, and also independently. The western part of the country is sunny and dry. The California coast has similar whether to Cape Town, except that Cape Town's white sand beaches are better, but the advantage here in the US is that there is a much larger selection of beaches. I find the inland temperatures uncomfortably hot, though you'll likely have air-conditioning in your home. There is an unbelievable amount of natural disasters that occur throughout the country during certain seasons, i.e. devastating tornadoes, south-east-coast hurricanes, incredibly dangerous thunder storms, flooding, etc. Americans travel a lot, so if you want to experience many interesting and fun things in and around your state of residence, be prepared to travel "crowded" roads and long distances during holiday times. I've traveled across the US from east-coast to west-coast by car about 3 times, and by plane more than a dozen times so far. Many travel 1 - 3 hours to work in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco - cheaper to stay in a neighboring city. The opportunities are here if you want it, but be prepared to work hard for everything you want - the competition can be tough.
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Honestly, the whole "It's different depending on where you live" thing is a little hard to digest, I've live here 4 years...been to 15+ states and they all seem carbon copies of each other. I mean I can be sure I'll spot a walmart/J.C. Penny/Macy's/Dunkin/Pep boys everywhere. Everything just seems to be a corporate chain :-D . Don't get me wrong, it nice they're consistent BUT it does get a little boring after some time ;P
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SinghUlarity... wrote:
Honestly, the whole "It's different depending on where you live" thing is a little hard to digest, I've live here 4 years...been to 15+ states and they all seem carbon copies of each other.
I would have supposed that you would have seen a difference between living in Alaska and Florida. I also would have thought that you would have seen a difference between New York city, Seattle, Miami and Gunnison, Colorado. Oddly enough I would expect that even if one lived inside a Walmart and never stepped foot outside that one would still still a difference in the store itself if one actually looked. Given that Walmart staffs locally and stocks stores based on what communities buy. (Myself I would suppose that Alaska is going to see far higher sales in snow shoes and coats versus Miami.)
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
I am Canadian and worked in the USA for a couple of years. Really, where ever you go, people really aren't that different. Americans are quite opinionated. Lots of hot air, but don't take their opinions seriously. Many have big opinions, but are kind hearted. Much of their opinion is from mass media and religion. They really haven't thought out their opinions deeply. I had many people complain to me about the Mexicans coming up from the south, and taking their jobs. When I mentioned that I am a Canadian coming in and taking a job, they would say "But that's different...." Immigration is tough! I was on a visa, and could not get a green card even tho I had a Master's degree and one child born in the USA. Immigration officials will give you the run around, so make sure you study up on all the legal aspects. If one official gives you problems, find another one. These people have little accountability, so they can be nice or rude to you. They can flat out refuse you just because they feel like it. But some are nice, and professional - if you find them, then things go ok. I had to learn who to avoid, and make sure everything was legal. I love Canada for it's liberalism, but I loved the USA for its ambitiousness. The americans have balls. They are quite social. They love sports. Lots of organizations. Make sure you get employment with decent medical benefits. I had good benefits, and got top notch medical care. I had a couple of times when I needed medical care, and the treatment I got changed drastically when they saw I had good benefits (ie: paying customer)
modified on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 4:24 PM
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I know what you mean but Al-queda is after states - I don't think, i need to say anymore but yeah then all this crap can happen anywhere in the world.
AndyInUK wrote:
Al-queda is after states
Oh, that. That also depends on where you live. Even if they pick a target outside of NY, Los Angeles, Chicago or Seattle your odds on being near the next ground zero are pretty darned small. And if you live in one of their favored target cities your odds are still not bad. Kind of hard to worry about. Your odds on being killed in a car accident are much higher.
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
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I lived and worked for a year and a half in Clearwater, Florida, and both my wife and I had a fantastic time. We comfortably lived on one Salary, had the two cars in the driveway (a Mustang - Just because, brought that one home with us, and a Miata because you've got to have a convertible in Florida). Folklore may perpetuate myths of Ireland being a friendly welcoming country, and the US being some sort of over commercialised, gun totin', isolationist asylum. I have to say that didn't tally at all with reality. We made more friends and better friends during our short stay in the US that we have in Ireland. We got to know our neighbours better, we went to the movies with them, to restaurants, to coffee shops etc. Americans we met both in a personal capacity and in the course of day to day activities were almost universally friendly. Some of that may be down to the fact that at least some of them were relying on us for tips, but I do think you can only pretend to be happy and helpful for so long before your true self shines through and for the most part they were great people. America is (at least from the perspective of an Irish person) a very efficient place. We had two minor car accidents in which we were rear ended (same road, within a month of each other). The Police were insanely helpful and efficient. The work situation is a little different in the US. I was a contractor so my European pay and conditions were what I worked under. It seemed to me that Americans work quite long hours. I don't know if it's a pride thing, or a peer pressure thing, or just a peculiarity of the American Psyche, but work is VERY important, it's a reflection of your personality. Depending on the job you might find the hours and the conditions less favourable than work in your own country. All things considered I loved every minute of my time in the US. If the chance came up to go back I'd have a very hard time saying no. That's it. That was Florida (which many American's hate). Going to different states in the US is a bit like going to different countries. Downsides: Society is very divided in the US, the rich poor divide is nothing new, all countries have that, but the phoney Liberal Conservative divide gets tiresome. Particularly when you realise that it's in large part a divide created to bolster particular voting blocks and sell books and tv programming. It seems that most of the people most entrenched in their hatred of the other half of the country, don't even realise that they are be
Richard A. Dalton wrote:
The work situation is a little different in the US. I was a contractor so my European pay and conditions were what I worked under. It seemed to me that Americans work quite long hours. I don't know if it's a pride thing, or a peer pressure thing, or just a peculiarity of the American Psyche, but work is VERY important, it's a reflection of your personality.
I'm a New Zealander who has lived and worked in Australia, one of my brothers is living and working there, my other brother has lived and worked in South Africa, & the US and is now resident in Toronto so consider this: Australians spend their time at work planning on how to maximise their leisure time, Americans spend their leisure time planning on how to maximise their work. Where would you rather be?? And yes, NZ is gradually filling up with you bloody South Africans so we don't need any more of you! I won't say we'll trounce you at the RWC coz that'll immediately curse the AB's to being beaten by the French yet again.
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Oh oh, and you'll always be worried that some immigrant will take your job from you, too!
"I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. " — Hunter S. Thompson
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
I'll quote a friend of mine who lived in USA: "You have two institutional enemies in the US. One is INS (immigration guys) and the other is IRS (tax collectors). The INS is constantly trying to kick you out of the country, while the IRS is trying to get all your money before the INS kicks you out." :laugh:
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.
As Far as SharePoint skills go I can personally attest to the fact that if you really do know your stuff and are not just a paper certified whatever in SharePoint then you should be able to find work and get a decent pay for that work. We (my company) have been thru half a dozen so called SharePoint experts since converting first from SP 2003 to 2007 and now to 2010 and in every case we found that they were not the SP experts they claimed to be and these were recommendations from Microsoft. As for America.... You’d probably be better off not trying to immigrate here as our economy will be crashing sometime within the next 24 months. I don’t imagine anyone would want to move to a country where the politicians are more corrupt then the mafia and where in many ways the People’s Republic of China is more capitalist like then we are. Who would have thought that just 20 years ago. Here’s the stats for America as of today: 1) DEBT, DEBT & more DEBT - Our government has us so far into debt (trillions) that as of today each households share of just the unfunded mandates (the programs the government is or will implement and have not provided any way to fund) is just over half a million dollars. Our short term loan debt (the money we owe now to other countries) is around 14 trillion US dollars. At least if you move here you can help spread out the debt owed. 2) NO PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS – We have no more private property rights, at least not on anything of real value like land. Many still think they do because they can buy land or a house and not have to pay a mortgage on it if they can pay it off. They don’t consider the annual payment to the government called a ‘property tax’ for what it is, a never ending loan payment that no matter how much you pay you will never bee free of it. The government can take your home for non-payment of taxes and so that alone means you have no real private property rights any more. 3) The Bill Of Rights are now the list of outdated recommendations. Even though death by terrorist is not even in the top 100 causes of deaths annually in this country, we’re told we have to give up core protections and rights like the right to be free from searches and seizures (that’s where the TSA goons come in) so that the government can try to keep us safe. Sadly enough of the populace has bought into this line of BS that they’d agree to just about anything if the government promised to keep them safe. 4) The Dollar Just Don’t Buy What It Use To – The US Dollar which is techn
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I'm a SharePoint Developer and Administrator. Sometimes called a SharePoint Specialist or Expert in South Africa. My wife and I started discussion immigrating to the USA. Can anyone tell me what it's like to live and work over there? What is the job market like for SharePoint, etc. Please, don't sugar coat your responses. We would love to know how it really is.