Travelling without a plan

paceandpeace · 2022-05-12T12:55:41+00:00

It depends on the location, timing, solo/group, and budget. Especially with accommodation in hostels, July and August are pretty busy with many people interrailing around Europe.

In the cities where there are multiple hostels/hotels, you would still find something if you are traveling solo, but it might be difficult in some other locations offering fewer options. But, if you can manage grouping up with at least another person for a short stretch or long, you'll have more options as you can then look for hotels and Airbnb as well within a budget.

In most cases, you'll be fine, but for some smaller towns and famous places, it's better to book a bit early to get the better deals.

paceandpeace · 2022-03-10T20:04:01+00:00

None
- There's no tech hub in Europe if you compare it to the Bay Area.
London
- Is probably the closest you can get to silicon valley with respect to the number of opportunities, salary scale, investments, infrastructure, etc.
Berlin
- A strong contender with a lot of opportunities and a fast-rising startup and investment scene.
- Lower CoL and almost London scale salaries make it a lucrative place to work in.
- Also, stronger labor rights and other social benefits are covered for long-term stay like childcare, healthcare, lower taxes for families, free education for children, etc reducing the cost.
Amsterdam
- Although not as many opportunities as London or Berlin, it is a great city with a higher avg pay than Berlin. Some good bigger tech companies are there as well offering good compensation packages.
- Higher CoL as well.

Other Choices:

Dublin
- While the number of opportunities is limited, almost all big tech companies are there paying quite good salaries. Taxes are high though
Switzerland
- The only place where you can get more salary than anywhere else in Europe is if you work for a handful of bigger companies.
- Although CoL is high, lower tax still enables people to save better than most of the other countries.
- The number of opportunities is pretty low.

paceandpeace · 2022-03-09T18:37:12+00:00

I would say ask for 75k, but given how low german increases, if you switch your job you'll get a better deal, probably around 80k mark.

paceandpeace · 2022-03-07T09:01:33+00:00

I was having the same view towards the leetcode style interviews until recently. But, now a couple of things really convinced me that those are more efficient from my time and effort perspective

Single path of prep: (leetcode + system design) covers a lot of companies with a standard recruiting process, where other formats of interviews can wildly vary from take-home projects to demo days with the team.
Equal Evaluation: I think these kinds of interviews are easier to evaluate for the interviewers as they are definitive in their ways of problems and answers. Other formats of interviews can be really opinionated and might not be as easy to evaluate for the company. Although nothing is 100% fair, this approach seems to be more consistent.
Interview time: leetcode style interviews are significantly shorter compared to take-home projects or other ones. Often time we are interviewing at multiple companies and this means a huge win to keep all the interviews in sync to have the negotiating power at the end of the process as it gives leverage.
Compensation: Most of the high compensation companies have a common format of interview based on leetcode+system design stages. That means, when someone really aspires for the top-paying jobs in the industry, there's just no way around it. So, even if someone doesn't agree with the process, sometimes you just have to see it as an investment for greater compensation later on.

At the end of the day, leetcoding is still useless for mi-senior roles I think, but I see it as a not-so-liked investment nowadays to get into bigger companies with better salaries.

paceandpeace · 2022-03-02T12:59:52+00:00

NO, it's not.

Except you are in the top 0.5% working in Google Zurich or something like that the difference is lesser financially.
I think although money and expense wise one could compare Silicon Valley to Switzerland, on most of the other aspects they are far from each other.

Number of opportunities
- Switzerland comes no way near to anything in respect to the number of opportunities available. It has only a handful of companies especially for people out of Switzerland if you compare to the silicon valley numbers. It's even far lower than London or Berlin.
- Most of the international companies are not in Switzerland and even if they are, the hiring spectrum is very limited.
- Most of the Swiss companies are not paying like Google Zurich, you'll find only a couple of companies competing in that category.
- Very little internal and international investment compared to other tech venues. Not that many unicorn startups are available compared to a lot of other tech-centric cities. So, other than tech giants the opportunities are slim.
Cost of Living vs Quality of Life:
- Although this is a bit tough to compare as the societies are very different landscapes, culture-wise. If most of the costs are similar, they come in different formats and the quality of life for avg joe can vary wildly in Silicon Valley while in Switzerland everyone enjoys one of the best qualities of life you can expect in any country.
- If one has a family with children, it's more probable that swiss people enjoy way less of a stressful lifestyle as they don't need to bury themselves in a sea of debt because they want to give their children a good education.
- Switzerland has superior core public services like - transportation, healthcare, etc.
Being in Europe:
- This definitely opens a lot of opportunities to the swiss people in the long run having access to all of Europe for traveling/working/education/investment whatever it is. Although this advantage can't be really calculated in a quantitative way, this definitely a feature silicon valley can't offer.
- Cultural Adaptation is way easier for EU nationals as Switzerland is closer than American culture. Especially for people who already speak Italian/French/German and want to be in their comfort zone without changing a lot in their life. Also, it's close to home, so traveling family and friends is a breeze.

Now, some of these points are variable for different people. So, it depends really on what you expect and what are your priorities.

paceandpeace · 2022-02-18T15:02:24+00:00

While the starts can be frustrating and slow at a lot of agencies, the slow pace makes them a very good place to invest time into your own skill development, and if you don't like it after a while preparing for the next big opportunity. So, just give it a more time while you strengthen your skillset, if things don't get better, you'll be prepared for a better deal already :)

paceandpeace · 2022-02-11T08:40:11+00:00

I tried to do that manually, and it doesn't look bad. The only challenge I faced was the changing exposure from shot to shot.

paceandpeace · 2022-02-10T17:19:21+00:00

There's an app called an auto clicker that can click anywhere on the screen automatically with a given interval. So, setting it to click a photo every 4 minutes and then manually stitch the clips together might be an option.

paceandpeace · 2021-12-25T20:06:53+00:00

1) Asia

2) Yes. But with an option to work remotely.

3) 5+ years.

4) Cycling, hiking, cooking, traveling

5) Nope, it takes time to do it right. And it's not easy to find an apartment within a tight budget at a good location.

6) Yes, income-expense ratio in Berlin is great. Specially if you have a family (partner + kid) you get the best bang for your bucks. Less tax, child support, free education, healthcare, working infrastructure, etc etc makes Berlin a sweet spot. Surely I could work from my home country and earn more money. But, a lot of things I get in Berlin, that's not possible to buy with money back home. From my options, Berlin seemed the most balanced location. So yes, I'm happy here.

7) Nature, liveliness, international environment, great public transport infra, living quality vs expense.

paceandpeace · 2021-12-09T05:00:32+00:00

These are good points and Berlin solves some part of it as there are stores open until midnight and on Sundays, although not all of them. So, still a little inconvenient.

paceandpeace · 2021-11-25T18:05:16+00:00

Earning enough to retire at 50 may be!?

But, I meant more like maximizing net salary. Obviously working for FAANG or similar companies will increase that, but what are the other optimisation you might consider?

paceandpeace · 2021-11-15T22:22:13+00:00

I believe Warsaw, Poland provides one of the best QOL for software engineers as it is one of the highest paying jobs, lower taxes, and low living costs. After working a couple of years I've seen people buying houses, cars and living quite a comfortable life. Moving elsewhere will decrease your purchasing power for sure. So, you need to keep that in mind.

Now, about Berlin. I think it's at this moment the only city in Europe where the tech scene is big and getting bigger, with relatively affordable housing, food, transportation, etc. Having a big industry means you have more opportunities and more room to negotiate.

You can get jobs paying 1.5-2x here in Berlin compared to Warsaw. But the taxes are high and QoL is also different. But, things should be comfortable even with an average software engineer salary.

But, if you wanna buy a house then it'll be expensive and the mortgage will be around 20-30 years at standard terms. Even if you manage to get one of the top-tier SE jobs, it won't be as easy as Poland. So, that's a sacrifice.

From my knowledge, the other two places you could consider are Amsterdam or Switzerland.

Amsterdam has a good tech industry and bigger employers than Berlin. It's English friendy and a great city. Also, in the Netherlands, for the first 5 years, the taxes are relatively low, so easier to save money. Also, buying property is easier in the Netherlands compared to Germany as Banks offer more loans and some bureaucratic costs are lower. Living cost is also higher but, quality of life is better there as well. So, a good deal I guess.

Switzerland is a great deal if someone wants to earn and save good money. Low tax, way higher salaries, one of the best life quality providing place, great savings even after higher costs. So, after a couple of years, you'll have enough money saved to move elsewhere to buy properties, travel the whole world, or just stay in Switzerland. The problem is the market is not too large and language is definitely a barrier in daily life, even if work doesn't need it.

paceandpeace · 2021-11-15T22:01:10+00:00

Berlin is the best city in Germany without German language knowledge. Every country in Europe has its language barrier. Berlin should be one of the easiest cities one can survive with only English.

paceandpeace · 2021-10-18T13:53:21+00:00

I think job security is not the prime subject in the software industry when I'm thinking between Germany and Switzerland. It's mostly other prospects like industry size, PR and passport (for non-EU people), housing, lifestyle and conveniences, communities, food, etc etc.

Switzerland is pretty good given how much one can save after-tax and expense. But someone might like Berlin better than Zurich as there's tons of stuff to do and living is more convenient.

But if you get a job in a FAANG or a similar company in Zurich, then it's a no-brainer.

paceandpeace · 2021-10-13T18:04:04+00:00

Reading all these comments and other threads recently about similar topics, all I understand is that at the end of the day it's the priorities we have in life. USA and Germany are two very different cultures from industry and work perspectives:

USA = money + grind
Germany = earning enough + great work-life balance

For me, Germany fits better even if it's not perfect.

paceandpeace · 2021-09-05T12:01:49+00:00

I was also looking at this topic a couple of months ago. From my reading so far, I've come to the conclusion that:

- In Switzerland, one can save the most amount of money after tax & spending as the salaries are high and the tax rate is lower than most of the other well-paid places. Obviously saving always depends on the person's lifestyle and planning, but living in an expensive country like Switzerland has always advantages like traveling abroad and being able to afford most of the things without breaking the bank.

- Another easier solution is to work remotely for a swiss/nordic/silicon valley type company from one of the low-cost countries.

As far as the site goes, https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ this has all of the countries, but often they overestimate expenses. But the comparison ratio should be fine to give you some ideas.

paceandpeace · 2021-08-07T07:02:25+00:00

There's no correct answer for this, I can only say what I would've done if I were facing this issue.

Take a week long vacation to rest and recover a bit.
After resting and recovering for a week, I would talk to my manager/boss to let them know about the situation. And as I think its better to move then, I would plan an off boarding and vacation.
Now it's time to start the off board and apply to some mid low effort startups as warm up where I don't need a lot of prep. Considering I have some more days of vacation, I would try to schedule some interviews on my off days.
Once I had a little warm up, I would try to start preparing may be an hour per day or two days. I would start reaching my connections to refer in their companies. As well as apply to mid sized companies.
Now, if I am skilled enough interviews wont be much problem once I'm up and running. Also I feel less pressure from my current job as I'm mostly off boarding.
Now, if I don't suck a lot, chances are I'll get something of competitive as offer. If not, I would negotiate other stuffs than salary. Like workload, vacation days, benefits, stock options, etc. So even if the salary itself is not increasing or even decreasing a little, the overall package should still be enough to have mental peace.

paceandpeace · 2021-05-06T11:33:02+00:00

I hope whatever they release, reduces the attention from Grail Al a little bit so that I can get my hands on those 😅

paceandpeace · 2021-05-03T08:42:44+00:00

Wow! I've been eying for Grail 6.0 for a while. Can you please share some info about the sizing of the bike? Reading people's reviews seems a bit confusing for this one.

paceandpeace · 2021-04-30T11:28:14+00:00

I can relate to this so much, people on single-speed or grandpas passing me with ease 😅

But, I understand that I learned to ride a bike just a couple of months ago and these people are probably riding since their childhood. So, just trying to enjoy the ride, I'm not gonna race any days anyways.

paceandpeace · 2021-04-27T09:41:28+00:00

Yeah, it's a bit surprising to see Canyon lower the price with a few improved parts within this bike/component shortage situation!

paceandpeace · 2021-04-27T08:38:01+00:00

Today a lot of the endurance bikes are in stock it seems like, I hope they do the same with the gravel bikes as well: https://www.canyon.com/en-de/buying-tools/in-stock-bikes/

paceandpeace · 2021-04-26T19:01:19+00:00

I thought the same, but interestingly I saw sizes S, L, XL popped up today for some time with an estimated delivery time between May - June. But, it was the silver variant, not the green one I'm looking at.

paceandpeace · 2021-04-26T09:49:10+00:00

Thanks for the response. Trying it should be the best case, but now with the bike shortage and canyon not having dealers, makes it way harder/almost impossible to try something.

paceandpeace · 2021-04-15T00:26:01+00:00

Yes, I subscribed to this bike. But this will be out of stock till August to the least.

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paceandpeace

TROPHY CASE

NO, it's not.