faved

Hey,

This might be a silly question and i can possibly guess the answer but anyway.

I am 28 years old and married with 3 children all < 10, I am about to graduate with a Double First class honours degree in Software Engineering.

it has always been a dream of mine to move to the US and i vaguely remember many many years ago reading that it can be possible if you hold a good education award. (this was a small part of my motivation for doing so well at uni, however it might be total BS - wouldnt supprise me )

Is it at all likely that i could move to the US? or would it be a case of trying to work for someone like Google UK and try to brown nose my way into a inter company transfer to Google US?

Thanks

lansbury

Please read this page from the BE Wiki http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA

Michael

Your best chance would be to work for a company (either US or international company) with headquarters or divisions in the US and transfer to the US with that company (L1 visa). In the Silicon Valley (South San Francisco Bay) there are many international software engineers that have transferred (L1 visa) or who have been hired directly with Silicon Valley companies (H1-B visa).

Although the job situation in the US is currently not great and the H1-B quotas are taking a long time to be filled, by the time you gain experience more openings should arise for either a L1 transfer or a H1-B direct hiring.

faved

thanks for the reply, i probs should have mentioned that i have actually worked as a programmer since i was 16 so have over 10 years experience in the field, only did the degree for the paper work

tonrob

L-1 better all-round (as you will have read by now) so is there a chance to get a job with the right company on the UK and then try to transfer?

Bob

The big advantage to the L1 is the spouse being allowed to work, which they won't be able to do on a H1....having 3 kids, not easy to support on one income...

rpjs

And as I've said to others before, don't assume you'll need to find work with a big multinational like IBM, Microsoft or Google. There are a lot of medium sized web agencies and internet advertising firms with presences in the UK and US and they can often be quite flexible and open to allowing intra-company transfers.

scrubbedexpat099

Network is the best bet.

Hovik

It's probably never been easier to get a job as SW dev in the US. H1Bs are plentiful, and there's a strong need for good SW developers. ( Definitively on the west coast. )

As I have no idea what your area of expertise is, so I can only offer the general advice:
- Use your contacts in the US to inquire about open positions they know about
- Identify which companies are expanding in your field of expertise, and contact the dev leads in those companies directly ( finding them can be tricky, but use linkedin, conference speaker info, etc. )
- Make yourself known. Talk at conferences, work on well known easy to access public projects, contribute to OSS projects ( don't forget Ohloh.net ), etc.
- Send a couple of applications for open positions. You may be able to find out what they're looking for, and adapt your profile accordingly.

SA: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/l...0.story?page=1

Michael

During normal years, the 65,000 annual H1-B visas are over subscribed and gone on the day they become available (April 1st) but that is because employers are having a difficult time finding local applicants with the qualifications that they need. In fact even the foreign employees that they hire are not an exact fit since it is difficult to find exact fits anywhere in the world.

Although many Silicon Valley companies have been hiring over the past year (google, facebook, linkedin, and many others), there are plenty of software engineers looking for jobs (either laid off from other companies or just want to change jobs). Therefore companies first look locally for a fit before they look internationally. This also means that prospective international employees will have to fit the job much better than during normal times.

Currently there are H1-B visas available throughout the year but employers are more cautious and particular requiring international employees to be more of an exact fit for the position. I don't know which type of job market would make it easier to get a job for international applicants.