I don't have a tech background. In 2009, I was a BA holder (Philosophy) working 3 jobs (retail/hospitality/merchandising) with no real prospects. I had always had the bug to get out of the country, but had no specific plan. I took a year to go back to school to study foreign languages (French, Italian, Portuguese) with the plan to find some way to transition to another country.
One of my French professors pointed me to TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France), that gives you a 6 month contract to teach English in French public schools. So, in 2010, I was placed in Lille, France where I "taught" English in primary school. In reality, I got around 900 euros a month (with full benefits) to work around 10 hours a week. I did this for two years, and was able to afford a modest room and a few trips to Barcelona, Amsterdam, London, etc. I also met the woman I would eventually marry.
The TAPIF program disincentivizes a transition to permanent residency, so I instead decided to do a Masters in France. This is highly preferable to doing a study abroad program, since you pay French tuition (less than a thousand euros for the ENTIRE degree...that includes tuition, books, materials, etc.), you can work 20 hours a week, and you get healthcare, housing subsidies, food subsidies, etc. So, while going to school full time and working part time, I could afford a really full life in a an apartment in the city, taking plenty of vacations, and generally not worrying about life.
Until my future wife and I realize we were never going to become French. Don't get me wrong, a lot of expats, both American and European, become French. We just couldn't. Even with above average fluency for non-native speakers, you will be constantly singled out as non-native. You may make local friends, but in France, it is a life's work to become a local yourself.
So, in 2014, we moved to Romania (wife's home town). I managed to get a job with a web marketing company, which provided a decent salary for life in Romania (~$800/month). We had enough to live comfortably in rent for a while, and enough to build a house. We had family and friends, and the ability to take trips both in the country and around Europe. However, even though I learned Romanian (a rare feat for ANY non-native speaker), people still treated me as a novelty. To this day, I will engage in conversation with native speakers in Romanian, and they will invariably respond to my wife, about me, in the third person, while I am standing there. Somehow, being an outsider never really wears off.
It wasn't all bad though, since I did manage to get into tech without having any background. This alone is an achievement, since one of the biggest differences in Europe vs the US is the importance of the subject on your diploma. European education sets you up for a career around middle school. You want to work as a SWE? You'd better take the rights middle school classes to get in to the right technical high school, so you can pass the entrance exams to the PolyTechnic college and earn the degree you'll need to even GET an interview with a European tech company. Not that it's impossible to cross over, but it is far far less common.
The biggest thing I gained was a sense of value in myself and my skills. Having worked for peanuts in tech in Romania, while counterparts in America were pulling down close to or over 6 figures for the same work, I began to lose patience with the whole system. I got extremely lucky to get a remote job with an American company in 2018. My wife decided she would like to transition to an American company as well, and in 2019 we moved to the US.
We are in San Diego now, and our life is miles ahead of where we were before. Yes, the cost of living is higher. Yes, healthcare is tied to our jobs. Yes, you need a car because public transportation is insufficient. Yes, America has a gun violence problem.
But we live 10 minutes from the beach (nice beaches too; not sure what's wrong with the water in LA...San Diego provides a far superior life to LA anyways), we have quality friends from a variety of backgrounds who treat us as equals, the population is diverse in age, ethnicity, education, etc. We will manage the cost of being here, because the benefits are superior to anything we've had in the past.
If you are considering a move to Europe from the US, you should consider these things:
- Language: you need to be ready to learn it; don't rely on other people speaking English
- Friends / peer groups: you need to be ready to abandon your current ones, and start from scratch with new ones
- Family: close family relationships in the US will be difficult to maintain; at best there will be a 5-hour time difference that will hinder communication
- Living space: unless you are taking your big American salary, you can expect to give up your big American personal space
- Cars: in a metropolis (Paris, London, Rome, etc.)? don't even try; in a suburb? think about getting a license (much harder in Europe) and a car (much more expensive than in the US)
- Food: don't be a picky eater
- Measurements: all things will be different...can you measure it? clothes, shoes, food stuffs, liquids, speeds, distances, etc. will be different and no one will care that your American sizes don't match up
- Intangibles: depending on where you choose to live, cultural differences will mean others will seem cold or mean or loud or timid, and you will appear obnoxious or rude or stupid or uncultured...and you have to be ok with that. You will always be wrong, because it's their culture, not yours.
Do I recommend it? Yes.