Finding Jobs in Europe [for Non-Europeans]

powerfool

So, I am now finally looking to begin some real investigation into jobs in Europe. I am not located there already and I haven't settled on a location. But I have the list narrowed down to the following countries:

1) Germany
2) Austria
3) Switzerland
4) [Northern] Italy (Südtirol)
5) The Netherlands
6) any Scandanavian country
7) UK
Ireland

That is somewhat in a preference order. West-Central Europe, followed by Scandinavia, followed by the British Isles. I am a native English speaker (US), and have a sound grasp on German (enough that I am spending more of my time on learning dialects, like Bavarian and Swiss-German, and I am pretty certain I could pass the B1 exam without any additional study). That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to living in other areas that would be similar culturally and not too far linguistically (I can pick of quite a bit of Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages aren't horribly different when reviewing the written word). I would like to work in these places for the experience and to be close to all of the places and things there are to experience in Europe... extended weekends in different places, etc.

Now, my first thought has been to find work with my existing employer as we made a major acquisition in the past couple of years, but we are still in the "integration" phases. I could largely just transition into a similar role, which is what I would like to do. But, if that doesn't look like it will pan out within the next couple of years, I want to be at a point where I can make the decision and hit the ground running in a search.

I have witnessed others try to go this route and some of their challenges have been related to education (Switzerland, for instance, doesn't want immigrants without a completed undergraduate degree). So, I am covered there... BS and MS in IT-centric majors. I am highly certified and have been for nearly 15 years (tons of Microsoft, security, and some expired but easily retested Cisco certifications). I have tons of experience. In fact, given the data regulatory climate in Europe (most notably Germany), my specialty, that appears to be diminishing here in the US, seems to be thriving.

My family members all have their passports (just over a year ago), so plenty of time left on those. Also, I think that it would be a good opportunity for my kids, in particular those that are nearly finished with high school, to study in Europe for college where it is relatively inexpensive.

So, what are some of the more respected (both from a job-seeker and employer perspective) recruiting companies that you are aware of? I have one acquaintance (the fellow with issues working in Switzerland) that is working in the UK and a former colleague that is working in Munich; those are the only expats that I know of. I am not intending to move forever or become a citizen of one of these countries.

Kinet1c

I'm based in your last country of choice. There are plenty of tech jobs here, plenty of whom recruit directly as opposed to using 3rd party recruiters. If you're looking to find someone that will pay relocation expenses, that is going to be tough but I know that Amazon will definitely pay some or all of them. They have AWS support, developers and ops engineers amongst others so if you fit in to any of them they are definitely worth while applying to. From what I've heard, they're tough to work for but if you put in 12 months, I don't think they reclaim those expenses.

If not looking for relocation expenses, pretty much every other major tech company is based in Dublin so you shouldn't have trouble finding work. Your visa is going to be your stopping point but over 2/3 of visas granted last year were for tech workers. There's a shortage because global companies keep creating more jobs here. We're lucky that we speak English, offer good tax rates and are in the right time zone to allow for follow the sun support

If you have any specific questions, please shout.

markulous

Have you been to any of those countries? While just packing up and going there may not be terrible, you may find out you absolutely detest one of those places if you've never visited. I know that's not what you asked really but just something I'd think about if I was going to be hunting for a job in another country.

powerfool

markulous wrote: »

Have you been to any of those countries? While just packing up and going there may not be terrible, you may find out you absolutely detest one of those places if you've never visited. I know that's not what you asked really but just something I'd think about if I was going to be hunting for a job in another country.

Not all, but some. And I do know people in many of those countries.

powerfool

Kinet1c wrote: »

I'm based in your last country of choice. There are plenty of tech jobs here, plenty of whom recruit directly as opposed to using 3rd party recruiters. If you're looking to find someone that will pay relocation expenses, that is going to be tough but I know that Amazon will definitely pay some or all of them. They have AWS support, developers and ops engineers amongst others so if you fit in to any of them they are definitely worth while applying to. From what I've heard, they're tough to work for but if you put in 12 months, I don't think they reclaim those expenses.

If not looking for relocation expenses, pretty much every other major tech company is based in Dublin so you shouldn't have trouble finding work. Your visa is going to be your stopping point but over 2/3 of visas granted last year were for tech workers. There's a shortage because global companies keep creating more jobs here. We're lucky that we speak English, offer good tax rates and are in the right time zone to allow for follow the sun support

If you have any specific questions, please shout.

Awesome, big thanks. My wife would love the idea of living in Ireland... which is quite odd because she has absolutely zero Irish heritage, though I do have some. I think that I would enjoy Ireland considerably and there is plenty do experience. I know that there are airlines like Ryan Air that are cheap and focused on those looking to hop around in Europe. Is it easy enough to get to the continent as far as not spending too much time at an airport... something that would be conducive to 3-4 days and back?

Kinet1c

You can definitely spend a long weekend in various cities around Europe using cheap airlines. TSA doesn't exist here so queuing is not as long or intrusive. If you just have carry on luggage for these trips, you will save some money too and spend less time queuing. There's probably a few countries in Eastern EU that you can't reach directly but the likes of Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy etc all have direct flights from Ireland.

In terms of the country, there's stuff to do but we're not known for great weather. Broadband is widely available and mobile (cell) plans are lot more competitive than the US. There's a lot of picturesque sights within short drives from Dublin and further afield too where you could spend the weekend.

If you have further questions just shout, more than happy to help.

ccnpninja

powerfool wrote: »

So, I am now finally looking to begin some real investigation into jobs in Europe. I am not located there already and I haven't settled on a location. But I have the list narrowed down to the following countries:

1) Germany
2) Austria
3) Switzerland
4) [Northern] Italy (Südtirol)
5) The Netherlands
6) any Scandanavian country
7) UK
Ireland.

Now this is a proof that IT is still a wonderful field. Good luck Powerfool and keep us updated!