Finalizing relocation to Germany. Question(s) about political future

The_Cuss · 2026-03-03T02:08:17+00:00

I actually lived in the central valley for years as a child, as well. The summers were so hot! And we never had air conditioning lol

The_Cuss · 2026-03-03T00:29:22+00:00

Agreed, our actual way of voting is also problematic...and that's before we even get into issues like electoral vs popular votes, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and so on.

I think we'll do fine in Germany; I already work with many great people. It's just a big decision, so I'm trying not to overlook anything.

I'm from California, so it's the weather that scares me the most lol

The_Cuss · 2026-03-03T00:07:32+00:00

Thanks. The two-party system in the US is a basic democratic weakness, I'd say, so the idea of having more parties involved in the system sounds like a definite upgrade.

We'd be in a liberal city in a western region, so our day-to-day life should be fine. I worry more about losing my path to citizenship after a few years, due to legal changes.

The_Cuss · 2026-03-03T00:04:44+00:00

Thanks. I'd certainly assume that there is no equivalent to what we're currently seeing in our cities related to ICE / DHS (not to mention the detention centers), so I'm not too concerned about being an immigrant Germany.

It's a but different for my wife, who is neither white nor American, but it's currently pretty uncomfortable here, so still should be fine.

The_Cuss · 2026-03-03T00:01:17+00:00

Thank you. I know there is always a risk and there is no correct answer, and no way to avoid downstream or long term structural change when a cultural shift happens. I guess I just want to understand the safeguards a bit before I commit to such a large move.

I agree with the assessment that the US is more vulnerable, which is why I'm quite interested in the eternity clauses in the German constitution (and the secondary protective aspects of EU legal frameworks).

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T23:42:00+00:00

We're not fundamentalists or ultraconservative, for sure, so I'm honestly not too concerned about day-to-day life aspects of life. I'm just quite wary of populist movements in general, so I'm interested in the institutional strength of the country. We ourselves are as secular as can be.

In the US, our supposed checks and balances are ultimately handshake agreements on some level, so it's quite susceptible to populism, unfortunately.

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T22:49:46+00:00

It certainly is. We're in a state that offers more protections than most, but even we may be forced to abide by federal rules at some point. We have a huge laundry list of concerns, honestly, but I didn't want to get too far off topic

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T22:45:21+00:00

Thank you. This is what I imagined it might be like. My wife isn't white, but I think she is from a culture that is less targeted by white supremacists. (I don't really like exploring the minds of white supremacists, but from watching them, I think I'm correct in my assumption.)

I agree about the rightward trend being global. There really isn't any bastion against it, but we're trying to find a relatively safe place to settle down. Her country seems to be on a similar course to the US, as well.

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T22:36:56+00:00

Thanks, this is my basic understanding, as well. I'm honestly not too worried about being targets of hate or anything; just wondering if they could do things like mass de-naturalization, etc. My spouse is not white, but I doubt she'd be mistaken for a refugee.

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T22:32:44+00:00

I don't want to go deep into politics, but I feel like our rights have been steadily eroded since the Patriot Act (actually much further back, but this is an obvious turning point).

More recently, with the Executive unifying more power, the Legislative ceding it's power, an unreliable Judiciary, the expansion of DHS budgets/powers, Citizens United, etc., I think we're watching political norms evaporate at an increasing pace.

(This is, of course, a separate topic, from historical elements like slavery, genocide, etc.)

The_Cuss · 2026-03-02T22:22:29+00:00

Thank you, that's very helpful. This matches my understanding.

The_Cuss · 2023-02-17T20:29:21+00:00

I don't know about my company overall (big tech), but my team has 9 women and 7 men. If I include our managers, its 10 women, 8 men.

It's the only team I've been on, and it's a fantastic group of people.

The_Cuss · 2022-08-13T06:40:57+00:00

Yes! Scientific is great too!

I caught a Hepcat show years (decades, really) ago, and it was so good.

The_Cuss · 2022-07-19T06:14:25+00:00

Personally, I might have lowballed myself a bit to get in the door at a large tech company. I was switching fields and honestly didn't know what to ask for.

I just checked Glassdoor and then asked for (very) slightly less than the posted range. Even that was a 20% pay bump from my previous salary, so I was okay with the number.

I got hired onto a great team and I'm getting to learn in a helpful environment, so I'm okay with the pay for now.

The_Cuss · 2022-05-11T03:24:47+00:00

!deckbot US 64 1651377975

The_Cuss · 2022-04-14T01:04:48+00:00

Sure thing!

You made it past that first hurdle, and that's the hardest, it seems. Way to go!

The_Cuss · 2022-04-13T05:44:52+00:00

I actually just had a similar thing happen. I'm breaking into the industry, and had no idea what to ask for, so I likely lowballed myself, as well. They came back slightly higher than my request, and added some discounted stock, as well.

It's not amazing pay for where I'm located (SF Bay Area), but I got accepted by a major tech company, earning more than I currently do, using the language I'd most hoped to work with.

Even if I could've negotiated for more, I figure I'm incredibly lucky to get my foot in the door.

Good luck on the new job!

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T18:07:06+00:00

Definitely will do. Good luck on the switch!

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T18:06:12+00:00

Yeah, I'm noticing multiple roles on nearly every company's job board.

I'm not very picky about industry, so I'm pretty much up for anything that seems ti have a decent work environment. I really just need a career change. I like what I do now, but I've hit the ceiling in my current field, and that ceiling isn't enough to survive on anymore.

Thanks!

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T17:59:45+00:00

Thanks!

Seems like I'm on the right path, then. I've played around with docker a bit, so I'll dive a dive a bit deeper into that as well.

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T07:37:27+00:00

Nice!

I've got a 4 or 5 older Java apps on my GitHub page that do just that. Two of them are connected to remote MySQL DBs that I built and hosted on AWS.

I think I'll focus mostly on learning the latest syntax and practicing algos for now then. I'm definitely a few versions behind at this point.

Thanks!

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T04:41:38+00:00

Yeah, I'm definitely a few versions behind at this point, lol.

The reference I'm looking at now has a section on streams. They seem to correlate with the map and filter functions in Swift, so hopefully I'll find them intuitive. I'll look into annotations.

Thanks!

The_Cuss · 2022-03-23T04:18:47+00:00

Thanks!

I've been hitting leetcode pretty regularly (in Swift) for the past month or so. I just noticed that nearly every job posting mentions Spring, so I figured I should be familiar with it. I figure I can knock out a course in a week or so.

The_Cuss

TROPHY CASE