birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

So who's done it then?

Beginning to hate my job and very little job prospects for me round here.
I'm in my first year of doing my Degree in IT part time through open uni.
Really i need to do something big to give me a kick up the ****.
I love the idea of moving to america or the like.
Realisitcally i could go to london and work for a few years to get the money i need. i'm only 22 so plenty of time. just want peoples experiences of doing it all really and what they'd recommend.

mamoon2

You can't just move to America, it's very complicated to get it full time.

I'll watch this thread with interest as I would like to move abroad one day. All I would say is, if you don't have kids, just do it, what's the worst that could happen?

My biggest regret is no going travelling when I had the chance

birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

I know america is very difficult but if you can get through all the red tape and manage to secure a job sponsor so you can get a visa would be worth it.

22 is old enough to be able to go and do it but not too old for anything that might get thrown my way with it.

you only live once after all ..........

stephen_942

Im living in germany at the moment. If you do go, move to somewhere that speaks english. It the hardest thing learning a new language, also there are many ex pat websites speak to them as life in another country can be so different. Just the way they do things etc.
But good luck if you do it.

Littleted

Birchy study your Microsoft unified communications exams and learn how to install design configure etc, get good and you will be snapped up like wildfire.

It's the highest most sortmafter role at the moment and only set to grow in the future

Im actually the head of a group of these guys and I don't pay less than 50k and I think that's cheeky to be honest most command 60 to 80 and that's only with 3 years exp

If you need a guide pm me but look up the exams onlinemthink there's 3 the book to get is lync unleased

You could however sit your uni place as well as do what I said, 2 of my mates who both know this stuff who started it when Microsoft did have both upped roots and now work in Canada all the big corps are moving this way and will in time be hunting for grads and people with that skillset

DYK

Got a mate who moved to Canada in 2007,he is currently building a house on some land he bought.Said it was one of the hardest things moving away,but doesn't regret it.Like most he just had enough of the UK and reckons him and his family have a far better life.Keeps asking me now and then to move over and give it a try,so i'm seriously thinking of it also.I Lived in czech for a while and like someone else said,moving to a mainly English speaking country is far easier.
Also got a cousin in Canada well he works in Detroit but lives in Canada,again said don't regret doing it.you just have to have the ***** to go and do it.Also got family who moved to New Zealand but that was like almost 14 yrs ago.But non of them regret doing it and non have come back to the UK.

TinyTim

iTrader: (3)

Chucking it all in at 22?! Christ lad, you've barely lived.

Go travelling for a year or something.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

I've always wanted to move to America but the wife wouldn't leave her mother...
She now works for MasterCard and they 'help' you work at any of their offices in the world. Sadly where they are based in the US doesnt appeal to her.

We have entered the green card lottery though.

Peedee

iTrader: (4)

Grass isn't always greener on the other side mate. Don't think that moving abroad will suddenly make your life amazing and wonderful and all things cuddly.

Ever thought about joining the forces? I was like you but as soon as I left school. Didn't want some crappy office job talking to / looking at the same boring people everyday and wanted something where, like you, I wanted to travel. I also wanted good wages, a secure job and always a roof over my head. The army gave me that and I'm still here 8 years later. There are plenty of jobs in the I.T sector in either the Army, Navy or RAF. I would consider it. And by the way, its nothing like 'bad lads army' on the TV and you don't get shouted at 24 / 7.

birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

It would have to be english speaking really. i can speak a little german but not very fluently and struggle to understand there replies!

Ted i have never heard of Microsoft Unified Communications exam?
one of my modules for 2013 is Microsoft Server Technologies so i can do my mcts exam to go with my CCNA.
If you could please PM me with more details. a quick google gave very little. Is this something you'd recommend instead of the degree or something to add to it?

DYK Canada is somewhere else i've looked. Had 2 good friend who have both worked over there for a year each and loved it.

My Cousin works for Bureau van Dijk and is US Vice Presendant and has been over there for 7 years and loves it. i spent just over 2 weeks with him a while back and loved it.

birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

The idea is i'm still young enough to go and do these sort of things

birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

Oh i realise that but i went straight from 6th form to work in property before getting a chance at my current job where i've been for almost 4 years now. They've given me loads and paid for many courses but are rapidly going down hill and have admitted there is very little room for growth now and no room to move upwards.

I've concidered the RAF but just never been quite convinced.

bigsinky

what ******* drag. i feel for ya mate. those 60 pointers are a PITA. i ended up doing modules i wanted like Cosmology, Astronomy and Planetary Science. Unfortunately they need calculus so i had to do some "hard" sums modules as well. you do realise in the 6 years it takes you to do your BSc Hons your degree will not be worth the paper it is written on.

GlesgaKiss

Is that just due to competition, or becoming obsolete with things moving on etc?

bigsinky

that's what i was told by the course director at University of Ulster when I asked to take a year out after studying for 3 years part time. basically in computer science teaching moves on that fast that subjects relevant this year become obsolete a couple of years down the line. yes, there are fundamental grounding modules like networks, discrete maths, human computer interaction, algorithms and data structures, databases but some of the level 3 modules based around object oriented programming change quickly.

mart360

My Sister & brother in law emigrated to OZ 3 years ago..

They love it to bits, and wont be comming back. The kids love it too

I have a friend who went to canada 3 years ago as a contractor, now in perm residence and loving it, as do his family ...

I had the chance to do adelaide 6 years ago, but the other half turned it down.... "What if something happens to my mum"!!

My mum said go for it... My sister did, (perth) and now my Mrs is kicking herself... (and to cap it all her mum wanted us to go too) lol

if you get the chance do it


Mart

bigsinky

and miss all the $hit weather in Northern Ireland........behave yourself lad

EOEUMC

iTrader: (5)

I would love to just pack my bag and feckorff.

I would move to Australia if I could. Have family over there and my cousin runs his own business, so I could walk in to a job and live on his land somewhere lol

Just getting the cash together to even think about starting the ball rolling is the bitch

Oh well, nevermind. Stuck in this ****ehole still

SJ_Skyline

Are you ready for the USA right now? It's brutal at the moment with over 9% unemployment; expect 2 weeks a year holiday, no job security and most likely having to go back to school to redo exams so they are recognised by employers.

The grass isn't always greener...

speye91

Green card lottery is not open to Residents of the United Kingdom.

Funkii Munkii

Try having a read through this forum, it will give you an amazing insight.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/

Especially from people who have been away for years and then decide at 60+ its time to come home, people who move away come home move back come home again (ping pongers)

Been there done that, lived in paradise and ended up coming home.

Long story short, wife wanted to come home, spent a fortune on the whole process, 6 months back and the wife says maybe I made a mistake we should go back ! sadly the life we had and I jacked in for our return (her ) wouldn't be there if we went back and after the monies spent doing the whole thing it would be financial suicide to try again only to return 2 years later.

Been back 15 months and I'm still home sick for the place, although it easier to deal with.

There were times when we were away that I got home sick for the UK, that lasted about 30 minutes and happened on about 5 occasions

I couldn't say I would have stayed there for the rest of my life but I wasn't ready to come home, cried like a baby many times making the decision to come home. When we got back nothing had changed the country was still a 5hithole and all the reasons we left the UK are still here.

My circumstances are very different to yours, I'm old enough to be your dad and I had 2 kids and ended up coming home with another in the oven, a strong reason for my wife wanting to come home.

I still read Expats to try and cure my home sickness LOL

Seriously though have a proper read of Expats and consider everything, i.e what are your entitlements as a Brit abroard, healthcare, how to get a visa (there are hundreds on offer).

Your best suggestion is from Tiny Tim, you're 22, take 18-24 months out and see the world.

Markus

Expats is a pretty good forum, but you do tend to get a lot of bitter moaning types, seemingly going on about how much better the UK is to <insert country>, but all seem not to actually want to pull their fingers and bugger off back to the UK. However, for advice on how to relocate it is a very, very useful forum.

I relocated to Canada in 2003. We had a lot of customers in North America and I had been visiting our US office and clients from there for a couple of years beforehand, and when in the UK I had changed my hours slightly to deal with EDT, but that started to get tiresome and US Immigration wasn't overly happy about us flying in for a month or so every four months. They would not grant work visa's for us, so we looked at Canada, who were more than welcoming.

I was asked if I would like to relocate to the new office and jumped at the chance. There was the understanding that if I did not like Canada I could return to the same job in the UK, so that did make for a nice safety net.

Immigration wise it was pretty simple at the time. I was classed as an intracompany transferee and really only needed proof from the company of who I was, where I would be working and my salary. I turned up at Toronto Pearson Airport, presented the paperwork and in 45 minutes had a one year work permit which could be renewed.

It did take a little while to adapt, but I had a couple of visits back home shortly after I left in April, one in June, the other in July. Beyond that I did not go back until Christmas 2006, and I've not been back since then. Friends and family have been out to visit and email, msn, Skype, and this old fashioned thing called a telling bone (think that is it's name) keep me in touch with friends and family.

There are things which do annoy me about Canada; having to pay a monthly fee for a bank account, no real online insurance purchasing (might have changed, been a year or two since I checked). Mainly small stuff though, on the whole it is rather good.

I would say I'm pretty content here, have a fairly nice house, and I doubt we could afford a similar sized place in similar location in the UK, have a lovely wife and a new son, and a good job.

I would say that if you have an opportunity to work in another country, take it, if only for a short while.

If I had a choice of places to relocate to then prior to this move it would have been US, Canada, or Australia. Think I'm too old to qualify for Oz these days, and they are pretty strict. The US doesn't overly appeal for various reasons, but Canada is like the US, only not, which is a good thing. Ok, we do have to put up with Frenchies in Quebec, but I'll forgive them because Montreal is a great place.

Feel free to PM me if you're considering Canada and have questions and I'll try and answer what I can

mamoon2

Markus, can you tell us a bit more about the cost of living over there?

What is the cost of property like over there and what do you get for your money? Any links to see the type of houses or pics of your house would be great

Also what would be the equivelent wage to say £80k over here and would what sort of lifestyle would that give?

Thanks

urban

iTrader: (1)

Lads - trust me
Those exams are not worth the paper they're written on, as the answers to all those exams are widely available on the net.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Where abouts in sausageland are you then? I am down near Stuttgart.

wasbakerman

He he I had the same dilemma a couple of years back. I am now late 30s and have just completed on a house and land in southern France. Plan is to jack it in for a couple of years and see what happens, difference is if I can live on 15k a year then I can stop work for ever as have a load of equity in the UK house and a decent pension post 60yrs old.

If however you get the opportunity to work abroad then I would say take it, life is all about different experiences and different places.

Markus

I would say the cost of living is a little bit better over here. But it is all relative, you cannot compare the UK to Canada like for like, for example;

1l of premium grade petrol is about $1.40, which is about 89p a litre. When I came over I think it was about $0.75 a litre, so it has gone up,and as said it is relative, costs about $60 to fill up our car.


Property prices, well, depends where you go in Canada. Toronto is fairly expensive. We wanted a 3 bedroom semi / row / town / terrace house, garage, finished basement, decent garden. Nothing fancy, just something rather nice.
for about $350lk - $400k we could have got something in the neighbourhood where we were renting, but they were older houses with small bedrooms, and did need some work. We had to look outside Toronto, and looked in various areas, settling on Oakville, which is slightly ironic as it's got a bit of a stigma as "posh" area, but it's not all like that.

We paid $350k for our house, which seems to be a good price. It was a private sale and originally the owners had it up for $389k, which was out of our budget, but $350 was right in the sweet spot for us. you'd probably be looking at about £260 - £280k for a similar place, but without a fully finished basement.

House is about an hours drive from downtown toronto, on a good day. We are 10 mins from the train station and I take that into work and it's a 40 min ride, so all in all probably takes about an hour to get in to the office. Free parking at the station if you need it. It's about $300 a month for a ticket, though I use their electronic card thing (think oyster) and you get discount after a certain number of trips, ended up with four free trips last month.

Here is a link to the rough area where I am, play around with the pricing and things like that

As for wages, again, relative. direct conversion, which unless you're very lucky you won't get, would be about $120k, which would give a pretty good lifestyle, middle management / director level would be on about that amount.

Also depends on what area you are in. If you're in healthcare / teaching you would need to retrain to meet the canadian standards, if you're in a trade, again, need to get the ca qualifications. This is why you find there are doctors driving taxis, as their qualifications aren't recognized here so they need to re-qualify.

mamoon2

Thanks very much for that, a good insight.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Sieg heil

EddScott

Might be going off topic here but how did go about starting on this course?

I'm not after leaving the country, I quite like it here, but I wouldn't mind having the opportunity of a career change.