Old Level 11

Immigration to the USA

If you decide to become a software developer and you do not live in the USA, perhaps, you should consider moving there.

California – programmer’s Heaven

If you are a software developer, you definitely need to move to California.

1 California has a beautiful climate

Just imagine, 300 sunny days in a year! I’ve been there for a month and it only rained once, at night. In winter it’s +14, in summer it’s +25. Cherries blossom at the end of January (!) is very beautiful.

2 It’s very important to have a good job in the U.S.

It is great in the USA. You can buy everything with your credit card. Of course, if you have a good job. And software developers are among ten most well-paid professions in the United States. In the USA developers’ salaries are big, but in California they are bigger then big.

3 It’s very important to have a promising job in America

It’s good to have a job with ever-rising demand. And demand for software developers grows very fast. They come from India, China, Ukraine and Russia. About 50,000 developers come every year. And still it’s not enough. This is good news!

4 Employers

There are thousands of high-tech companies in California. Average and huge like Apple, Google, Facebook, Oracle, Cisco, eBay, Intel, HP, Yahoo. Even an experienced developer will get lost there. Imagine that you are a child and you got locked inside a cake factory for the night. There will be only one question bothering you – where do I start?!

5 Silicon Valley

The best place on the planet for software developers is, of course, the Silicone Valley. The spirit of enterprise/atmosphere is high as ever here. There are loads of investors. Loads of startups. It was even calculated that in past 10 years every two month there was created a company that will cost up to a billion dollars.

6 High salaries – low crime rate

If you have a family, I think you’ll see the true value of California. Cars no one locks, houses no one locks. This is an ideal place to raise children.

7 The most beautiful American girls.

Silicon Valley is situated on the north of California, but on the south – it’s very reverse: Los Angeles, with its most famous part – the Hollywood. Thousands of IT-specialists come to Silicon Valley with a desire to become Internet millionaires, and thousands of girls go to California’s south to Los Angeles wanting to become movie stars. If you want more and love risks, perhaps, you’ll find a soul mate there.

8 Really easy to move

Frequent business trips to the USA will give an opportunity to decide on the place where you want to live. Perhaps you won’t like it there and you’ll change your mind. Or, may be, you’ll get an even stronger desire to move – who knows. American companies often move good software developers, who work for them directly or through agents in other countries. Moreover, recently the biggest IT companies began to lobby deregulation for job-visas for software developers.

9 Traffic jams

Traffic jams are usual for big cities of the U.S. But Silicone Valley consists of tens of little towns connected with three big highways from north to south. It’s quite a feeling when friend take you to lunch to a neighboring city. Each time to a different one!

10 Nature

Pacific Ocean is on the west of Silicon Valley, San Francisco bay is on the east. There are stunning sunsets, lots of parks, squirrels and angry raccoons. Just kidding, they are adorable! Yellowstone Park is nearby as well as Yosemite and the Great Canyon. You’ll have a place to hike.

11 Best education in the world.

Stanford and Berkley are one of the best universities in the world. Of course they are situated in California. Stanford graduates founded Yahoo, Berkley graduates founded Google. I’ve visited Stanford on purpose – to see if it’s as good as they say. Results exceeded my expectations. It is a magnificent place.

How to get to The United States?

Nothing easier

Just think – is your goal just to move to the USA? Does it bother you what happens next? Whether you are there on legal basis or not? Will you find a good job there, friends, how soon will it happen? Because there are not only good things in the United States, there are bad things too. Insanely pricy healthcare, for example. Imagine that you are a novice boxer, and they put you against Mike Tyson. It seems mega-great at first: fighting Tyson and all. Millions of boxers dream of it for their whole lives. But if you are completely unprepared to meet reality… as they say in cheap American movies – “Mike’s gonna beat the shit out of you”. Let’s specify your goal: you want to move to the U.S. in order to enjoy developed economy and civil rights. To enjoy the freedom. The opportunity of starting your own business. Have a good job. Have a health insurance paid by your employer for all your family. Not having to look for a job for half a year and washing dishes out of despair. Better, isn’t it? Miracles don’t happen. Most likely you won’t find loads of friends and get a well-paid job in an instant. But in five years, I think that’s possible. Easy solution A very good way of avoiding all of those problems is immigrating to the USA as a software developer. Why a software developer? I’m a developer. My friends are developers, my colleagues are developers. My American friends are developers. All stories about easy immigration to the USA concern developers. 80% of job-visas in the USA are given to IT specialists. Perhaps there are other ways. I know that PhDs can immigrate easily and have good life there. If this way is better for you or you have another working option – I am truly happy for you. My advice to you about immigration: first to become a highly-qualified specialist at home and only then go to the USA. This way you’ll avoid all minuses related to long job search in America and / or work there for low-paid jobs, and living in poor neighborhoods. Let's not create problems for yourself, and then heroically solve them.

5-year plan

It’s not a fast plan, but it’s a safe one. You can move to the USA first and get a well-paid job there in 5 years or you can first become a professional at your home town and then move. Result is the same, but much less headache! Here’s what I offer:

Gain valuable experience

Work as a software developer for 5 years at home. Working as a developer there you’ll get 2-3 thousand dollars a month and gain valuable experience. It’s what open doors for you in the world of well-paid specialists of the U.S.

Get a driver’s license

I know you can get driver’s license in the USA. But you’d better be all-prepared when moving there. I think there will be enough unexpected problems, so it’s better to solve all expected one’s at home.

See the USA

Go on a business trip to the U.S. for a few times – it’s very useful and informative. Find friends and colleagues in the USA. They’ll help you with finding job, assist you or give you an advice when you’ll be moving. It is also possible that you’ll work for the same company as at home country when you move there. But directly, without any agents.

Tie up loose ends

Get technical education if you don’t have one. Distance course in some third-class college will also work. Get your teeth done, it’s expensive there. Choose a model of car – you’ll need to buy one there when you arrive.

Vacancy Wars

Half of American high-tech companies are founded by immigrants. The more software developers come to the USA, the more high-tech companies there will be, and that means – more vacancies. High salaries for hired developers is primarily the result of rivalry between high-tech companies for the best staff. Keep that in mind.