Made the big move from Southern California to The Netherlands

E Double U

@masheen - I live in Hoorn which is in the North Holland province along with Amsterdam. My employer is based in Amsterdam, but during the pandemic my team was moved to the Amstelveen office. Next week I will join a team based in Utrecht, but not that it matters when working remotely lol.

Our lives were fine in California, but my wife is a NL native and preferred raising children here which I did not object to. North Holland and SoCal are the only places we could see ourselves living because we want to be near our families. It is nice having a support system. 

JDMurray

@masheen Check out official notices of what is required to immigrate to NL in 2021. I keep hearing reports that NL doesn't want to open up until 2022 because of COVID concerns.

masheen

Thank you both, E Double U and JDMurray.

The company I have the offer from would be taking care of getting there and, despite some Covid testing hoops, it still looks doable to go there in my case.

chrisone

Sounds like an exciting opportunity. Congrats! 

E Double U

masheen said:

Thank you both, E Double U and JDMurray.

The company I have the offer from would be taking care of getting there and, despite some Covid testing hoops, it still looks doable to go there in my case.

How has this opportunity developed for you?

E Double U

Update: Been living/working here for five years now. Time has flown by because things have been going well. Still with the same employer kicking a** and chewing bubblegum. Started a consultancy role in February with a 15% increase on my base salary plus an additional 700+ euros per month mobility budget that I pocket because of the pandemic. And I just accepted an offer to join our risk management team at the end of the summer for a 7% bump. The wife and kids are happy with our life here so all is well that ends well. Looking forward to a family vacation back to SoCal this summer though

DatabaseHead

You badass!  

I left St Louis Misery and landed in Jacksonville FL.  Does that count?  I get to play golf and go on fishing charters all the time.  Just caught my first shark in the Atlantic.  Anyway....   Glad all is well!

E Double U

After a great vacation back home, I would love to have a job that has a presence in both SoCal and NL. I want to continue to be based here in Holland and while being able to travel back to LA for a longer summer stay which would be a mix of both vacation and work. Same thing for the winter holiday season. And after another decade when the kids are finished with high school then perhaps splitting our time between NL and LA. 

A man can dream. 

JDMurray

With remote work-from-home, the entire globe is your work-presence!

E Double U

@JDMurray - Well only a few EU countries require my work presence in my current (and next) role which has restrictions on where one can work from and how long based on if we have a presence there. Plus my employer does not cover travel expenses that I am not required to visit. I want to have my cake and eat it too

JDMurray

And because of export restrictions there's information that must remain with the borders of its owner's country, so the workers that use that information must do the same.

FluffyBunny

E Double U said:

Update: Been living/working here for five years now. Time has flown by because things have been going well. Still with the same employer kicking a** and chewing bubblegum. Started a consultancy role in February with a 15% increase on my base salary plus an additional 700+ euros per month mobility budget that I pocket because of the pandemic. And I just accepted an offer to join our risk management team at the end of the summer for a 7% bump. The wife and kids are happy with our life here so all is well that ends well. Looking forward to a family vacation back to SoCal this summer though

It's been three years, since we met at SEC-566, almost to the week. I'm happy to hear you're doing so well here and that your lives continue to go well.

E Double U

FluffyBunny said:

E Double U said:

Update: Been living/working here for five years now. Time has flown by because things have been going well. Still with the same employer kicking a** and chewing bubblegum. Started a consultancy role in February with a 15% increase on my base salary plus an additional 700+ euros per month mobility budget that I pocket because of the pandemic. And I just accepted an offer to join our risk management team at the end of the summer for a 7% bump. The wife and kids are happy with our life here so all is well that ends well. Looking forward to a family vacation back to SoCal this summer though

It's been three years, since we met at SEC-566, almost to the week. I'm happy to hear you're doing so well here and that your lives continue to go well.

Thanks for the message! Besides the weather and another lockdown no real complaints lol. NL has been treating me well and I expect that to continue so looking forward to whatever else this place has in store for 2022 

P.S. I crushed a lot more exams since GCCC including GDSA, CCSP, ITIL, and four Azure tests. Now working on CRISC so I don't think I will ever become fluent in Dutch as I continue to use my free time for certs LOL.

TechGromit

What language do Neanderthals use anyway?

FluffyBunny

TechGromit said:

What language do Neanderthals use anyway?

See here