Justgoingtoaskadvice

Thank you, I think that staying in the United Kingdom could always be an option. 25K-60K is not bad.

Guindalf

OP, you are young enough to open your eyes. The US is not necessarily a Shangri-La with streets paved with gold as many in the UK seem to think. Just like the UK is not all doom and gloom.

Bottom line is, ANYWHERE is great if you have a good income, so working toward a needed skill is your first step. However, I would recommend a skill that would be of value around the world and not specifically the US. For example, a lot of tech is developed out of the Slough area without the need for a visa! Israel has some very advanced tech companies and there are regions of the US that are highly regarded like Silicon Valley and some of the big universities (MIT, Georgia Tech, Stanford, etc.).

Justgoingtoaskadvice

I'm not treating it as if the streets are paved with gold, I realize that there are quite a lot of issues with the United States. However I also realize that Software Engineers have a high quality of life in many parts of the world, notably the United States. At the moment I am juggling multiple options and trying to settle on the right one so I can start focusing on how I am going to achieve that.

Please don't think I am glamorizing other countries, I do realize that the United Kingdom is not a dump.

Bob

Something to look at and possibly consider when checking out uni's would be their alumni and work experience networks. Some are much better than others. Also see if they offer exchange programs.

Brunel, well the design department does an exchange with a couple places in San Fran as well as other countries. This would get you the chance to experience the country a little bit without the big cost and a lot of folks do this as a sandwich exchange, so only a semester and then do a work placement in the second semester to get some work experience. Doing this gets you contacts in multiple places which is very handy.

Justgoingtoaskadvice

Thank you, this is very interesting.

tom169

I've heard many good things about that college from friends who are current students and alumni.

Bob

Yes, it's a odd place. The things it does well, it does very, very well but the other things and more general studies, not so much.

Great place for mixing up design, computer science and engineering subjects but it's hard work. Stuff we were doing by the end of the first semester was much more impressive than final year students were showing at Bournemouth for instance.

Justgoingtoaskadvice

Would you say that it was difficult in a good way?

Surely if it is difficult you were learning a lot more, particularly soft skills?

Bob

Oh yeah, it was good and folks in the industry notice the quality but the thing is, end of the day, it's still just a degree and if you moved to the US, unless it were OxBridge, people generally would not know the difference in quality between a good place or a party place and it would just be a degree.

I suppose like most things, it's all about what you hope to gain and what you're looking out for. End result is a degree, but it's the journey and what you take away from getting there is up to you.

Nutmegger

At this point in time, it would appear that you have no experience of working in the UK, so it is a little hard to compare what life would be like if you started your career there as opposed to what it would be like in other parts of the world. Have you visited the US? It is very different from the impression gained either on vacation or on TV. Study in the UK and then get job experience there, and the world could open up for you.

MsElui

I believe Degrees in german universities are free. And taught in English in places too.

I lived in Germany for a year and thought it was a fabulous place.

Wintersong

Then, based on my experience, you really do not want to be working as a software engineer in the US (or, at least, in Silicon Valley).

BenK91

There are perfectly good software houses in the UK paying very good wages - I work for one.

The life/work balance I have is great and as said above you can find out in more detail what companies are like through the website Glassdoor.

GOOD .NET developers fetch extremely good wages as there seems to be a short supply of people that possess a very good skill set in that particular avenue of development.

I can't help much with the US plan, but don't write-off the UK. I work in Cambridge which is arguably one of the best tech-hubs in the UK. Best of luck with your studies, you certainly shouldn't be short of graduate developer roles in one of the various tech-hubs across the UK.

livinginnyc

Just echoing what others have said - I know some coders that are based in and around London and earn very, very decent salaries.

The UK has a pretty booming tech sector (London, Cambridge and Manchester all have tech hubs), with a lot of global companies choosing to setup camp there so I certainly wouldn't rule out the UK for quality of life as a programmer! (I read that Google just recently enlarged their London campus, including a large tech space for YouTube).

As others have said, there is a lot of doom and gloom in the UK but in all honesty - there is a lot of global admiration out there for UK skill and talent (there is a reason most video games are made in the UK and pretty much all major blockbusters are shot there). If I were you I'd look at working for a major IT company in the UK and do your research, after a couple of years evaluate where you are, where you want to be and if you can transfer to another office within your company.

Guindalf

Source?

Have you ever noticed a peach running through the credits at the end of many blockbusters? That means they are shot in Georgia (USA, not the eastern block country!). This is certainly true of ALL of the Marvel movies and many more. I see the casting calls for extras all the time locally!



I think if you actually research this (which, I admit, I haven't), you'll find that, although UK involvement is still pretty good, fewer movies are made there every year!