Good places to live/work in California

Some_randomer

Hi - I'm currently looking at working on the west coast of the US for maybe 6 months to a year. I work in IT at a fairly senior level and am hoping to find a company/agency to offer sponsorship.

Some of the places I have been thinking of are San Diego, in or around Los Angeles, San Jose / San Fran etc. I have never been to the west coast so don't know the geography at all. It would be good to find a place that has access to some surf beaches. I heard that LA itself is a bit crap and places like Long Beach / Santa Barbara etc would be better.

Is anyone familiar with California...is it all sun and surf as it's portrayed or is that a bit of a myth? Is it difficult to get sponsorship for work?

TIA

lonestargirl

Some_randomer wrote: »

Hi - I'm currently looking at working on the west coast of the US for maybe 6 months to a year. I work in IT at a fairly senior level and am hoping to find a company/agency to offer sponsorship.

Is anyone familiar with California...is it all sun and surf as it's portrayed or is that a bit of a myth? Is it difficult to get sponsorship for work?

TIA

Sponsorship Can take a few months and will cost the company $5k+, I think you would have to be committing to more than 6-12 months in the US in order to find someone to sponsor you.

thenobody

without your current job giving you sponsorship and bringing you over you wont be able to get it just from anyone. And as said the visa process will take ages and cost lots so you would have to be something they cant find in the states.
And would also not be able to just go for 6 months to a year. You would probably have to see the visa through to the end with them and if leave early paying a balance of the costs.

And yes, it is mostly all sun but not necessarily all surf.

ianhobo

I wouldn't be overly concerned with location right now, as you'll probably find getting a job offer anywhere in California difficult, never mind trying to pick a specific area. From my experience, the "hot" areas in IT/Engineering seem to be Silicon Valley (South of San Francisco/Mountain View/Sunnyvale/San Jose - all commutable from SF), and then areas like San Diego. What sort of field are you in?

In summary, there are typically 3 ways/visa paths available: L1,H1B,J1

L1: Involves an inter company transfer within your current employer to offices states side. You must have worked in your company for 2yrs outside of the US.
Valid for approx 3years, and renewable at least once.

J1: (Professional Career Training/Exchange/Intern) - As you're not a student, you probably go into the career training category. Requires a Degree or 5years work experience. You would have to find a company willing to sponsor you for the training - typically via recruiters or contacting companies yourself. The career training version of the visa can be applied for for a max duration of 18months and typically costs 1k-2k depending on duration. They are applied for through somebody like usit/goforless/sayit and can be applied for all year round.
Valid for 12-18months. Not renewable.

H1B: Again, requires you to find a job with a company willing to sponsor you.
These visas are limited and applications open each Arpil for work commencing Oct1st. Once the amount for the year are gone, they cannot be applied for until the following April. They are typically gone by Christmas. Usually the company will have immigration lawyers, and will cost the company several thousand dollars in fees. I don't believe you are required to repay anything if you decide to quite your job, unless agreed to in your contract.
Valid up to 3yrs(?) Is renewable

Sign up with the likes of dice.com or monster and create a profile. Also, maybe register with some recruiters in the locale you're looking for. Best get as much info as you can as most recruiters are not familiar with the visas, and the majority won't be willing to go down that path anyway, only the minority.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
http://www.usavisa.ie/

snowyeoghan

I can't speak for sponsorship, as I'm a dual citizen. But, I moved to San Jose from Dublin last year and got a job within a couple of weeks with one of the big tech companies - a job I could only dream about if I had stayed in Ireland.

There seems to be a big hiring spree this year (with respect to Yahoo laying a few off):

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-hiring-mobile-app-developersand-6000-other-googlers/2770

I also hear Skype are hiring 350 people this year. http://blog.seattlepi.com/techchron/archives/237646.asp

And your question regarding sun and surf - yes, it's true - this weekend coming looks to be in the 20's. They say San Jose gets on average 300 days of sun a year.

Also, I spend pretty much every evening out surfing - in Santa Cruz anyway, I can only compare the popularity and media coverage of surfing to the GAA back home.

So, I'd say with all hiring planned for this year, get out there, track down and talk to people within these companies - thats how I got my job, not by talking to recruitment agencies, or sending my CV into the black hole that is the internet.

best of luck

Some_randomer

ianhobo wrote: »

I wouldn't be overly concerned with location right now, as you'll probably find getting a job offer anywhere in California difficult, never mind trying to pick a specific area. From my experience, the "hot" areas in IT/Engineering seem to be Silicon Valley (South of San Francisco/Mountain View/Sunnyvale/San Jose - all commutable from SF), and then areas like San Diego. What sort of field are you in?

Hi Ian thanks for the detailed answer. I'm a .NET lead developer / architect with 14 years experience in total. I'm not overly fussy when it comes to location once it's a nice area. I knew the process would be difficult whatever way I looked at it. The J1 Professional option might be worth looking into a bit further. Also I've been in touch with a recruiter in Orange County and they asked for a CV so will send it on.

ianhobo

Great, thats a good way to start.

Obviously the methods mentioned by snowyeoghan are ideal as you can meet face to face with people, and be present for interviews, however the time and cost - paying 1000eur+ for flights for potentially one session of interviews if quite restrictive, the hardest part of the process is the interview side of things as you can't be face to face for the interviews, and theres often a few days/weeks between sessions, as is the norm anywhere. However, if you can line up a few interviews and are planning on holidaying in CA, that's a good option. Also, don't expect even the big companies to fly you out at their expense for interviews like they used to (apparently).

It's worth checking some company pages directly too, the things to look out for are that they will often say explicitly "no sponsorship", also "must speak fluent english" is a sign that the company is used to dealing with international applicants so are often more familiar and open to sponsoring.

Most 3rd party recruiters (i.e recruitment companies) are either oblivious to the visa requirements and process, or as policy just say no. So be prepared to explain the process over...and over... In my experience the internal recruiters of a company tend to be a bit more versed. Helpful ways to get your foot in the door and parties interested before they say no can include trying to get a US skype number for voicemails, and using just your email address for contact info on your resume. Recruiters often don't want the hassle, but if a company is interested, the few thousand dollars the process can cost is nothing compared to finding the right employee.

Persistence is the key, don't get disheartened. Less than 1 in 100 recruiter emails accept sponsorship, less lead anywhere.

Some_randomer

snowyeoghan wrote: »

And your question regarding sun and surf - yes, it's true - this weekend coming looks to be in the 20's. They say San Jose gets on average 300 days of sun a year.

Also, I spend pretty much every evening out surfing - in Santa Cruz anyway, I can only compare the popularity and media coverage of surfing to the GAA back home.

Sounds good Eoghan you have a way of making a guy jealous Defo going to track down those roles and companies you mentioned, thanks for the info.