Ask HN: Stuck in Switzerland | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Stuck in Switzerland

2 pointsbrownich9 comments

I recently moved to Switzerland to be with my partner, who has a great job in a multinational company. I have a Ivy-league PhD in Statistics/ML and extensive experience in development, also as a startup founder (unfortunately not very successfully... but, hey, at least I gave it a shot). After 1 year, I'm still looking for a job. I strongly suspect he main issue is my age: I'm approaching 50 and - although it's illegal - in Switzerland age discrimination is tolerated. Very often job applications must contain the applicant's photo, which may bring discrimination to a different level. Anyway, I'm not going to try and change the system, I'll just hold tight for a couple of years and eventually leave this country. In the meanwhile, I'm trying to get a job at Starbucks or something similar, but I'm obviously over-qualified. What should I do? Should I lie and fake my CV, delete my LinkedIn profile?

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I think this is not likely to be something you would encounter only in Switzerland; it's a global phenomenon as far as I can tell (it certainly seems common here in the Netherlands).

You just don't fit the ideal profile of what many companies (and certainly start-ups) are looking for in a new developer: i.e. slightly naïve, little to no familial obligations, willing to work long hours (beyond what is healthy and reasonable), and little legacy baggage. Also, childishly put, having a PhD means you would academically 'outrank' most of your would-be colleagues and (most significantly) bosses, and for a lot of people it marks you as someone who is way too theoretical to fit into a development team. These are prejudices to be sure, but we don't appear to live in a world devoid of them.

Of course you would probably be a very good hire for a company that values its employees and sees a well-balanced career like yours as a chance to built on your experience, but those companies may be harder to find.

If a job ad doesn't explicity ask for a photograph or even a birth date it doesn't hurt to omit it. Maybe even go as far as lie about your age on an application? Switzerland does NOT have a law against discrimination (yay) but there is a equal opportunities law, which won't come in handy unless it's a gender based decision.

Also, obligatory IANAL.

I removed my birthdate from my CV, but I'm usually asked my age during the first (often also the last) interview round.

Please don't do it, you deserve better.

Have you taken a look at Who Is Hiring threads here on Hacker News? There's also whoishiring.io and remoteok.io that lets you filter by location and look for remote.

Last but not least, could you please send your CV to hnfriends31415@gmail.com

I'm afraid I don't have great suggestions, but if you're around Lausanne one of these days, do not hesitate to ping me to have a chat about it.

There seems to be no shortage of remote-first data-driven startups, at least if SO Jobs is any guide...perhaps that could be viable?

I would have to set up a company, free-lancing as non-Swiss (and non-EU) citizen is very difficult. Admin costs can be very high, bookkeepers charge 150-180$/hour. Also, it's difficult to be able to offer competitive rates when living in one of the most expensive countries in the world.

Build side projects with the latest technologies to show companies you're "cool" and "hip"

Been there, done that. I think "cool" and "hip" do not work well here. Switzerland figures as one of the most innovative countries worldwide and when I realised that it didn't really feel like that, I did some research. It looks like most patents are filed by large international corporations (https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/intellectual-property_...). Swiss love come together to talk about "cool" and "hip" stuff, but actually changing how things are done seems to be very difficult.

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