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Comment by kovrik | Hacker News Reader

I'm a 25yo Java developer from Russia. My gf and I don't like (almost hate) our country and we want out.

We choose between USA, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

I'm not a well-known software engineer, not an outstanding genius (yes, I'm not very confident about my skills) - that is why it seems very difficult for me to get a job outside Russia.

But I love programming, I try to learn something new every day, improve my skills and knowledge. And I hope we will get out someday (hope dies last :) ).

I wish you good luck - don't worry, everything would be alright!

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We would love to have you in the USA. The other countries you listed are fantastic places to live but if your passion is in programming then the USA is an excellent place to be. There are plenty of immigrant success stories here. Look at recent news, Jan Koum moved here from Ukraine, created a mobile application, and is now worth over $6,000,000,000 thanks to the Facebook acquisition!

Thank you! But where should I start from?

I doubt that life quality is better in USA. But the money is better -- and your local social environment is what decides if you like living somewhere, anyway. (Tell me if you like it. :-) )

A suggested plan, with small steps:

Try the waters with Scandinavia/EU? If you travel by Finland from St Petersburg, you can get an EU VISA, right? Then you can do interviews etc in place. But maybe not for Britain? I think it is easier to move to the EU if a company wants to hire you, than getting a Green Card (disclaimer: I only really know about Sweden and Finland for non-EU migrants). If you don't like it, try USA.

(I would offer you to stay at my place and look for jobs, but I'm not in the North right now.)

In Scandinavia, most immigrants from Netherlands and Germany I met are the kind of people which spend all free time in a forest or in a canoe on a lake. If nature is important for you, select area carefully in some countries.

Also, if you are from south Russia, be aware of the winter dark in Norway.

Note that Scandinavians are shy, it is a culture historically from small villages, it takes years to get local friends. Finland has most Russian expatriates, afaik.

Well, I love nature, but I am young and I like life in a big city too :)

Currently I live in Saint-Petersburg (most european city in Russia) - it is rather cold here in winters, so low temperatures is not a problem.

Also, I'm shy too.

StP. As far as I know... Beautiful? Cultured, with lots of good art/music education? Like half London, but with nature quite close? You won't get similar big city life anyplace in Scandinavia. Barcelona, or something? [Disclaimer: Two short visits to St P, quite long ago.]

I don't really know any "typical" Russians -- most everyone I ever talked to were intellectual, nerd or artistic [Edit: and none of them drank more than me, either :-)] -- but I believe you might find people in other places be less cool and interesting.

But sure, it might be good to get out before the borders are closed again. Russian politicians makes the Swedish cynical hypocritical ones look like angels; at least they aren't integrated with organized crime (afaik). :-(

And good luck. Move when you are young and see other places.

Well, I love StP, there are a lot of awesome people here and so on.

But political situation in Russia bothers me (I don't like Putin and our corrupted criminal government. I don't like current situation in Ukraine. I don't like extremely high level of corruption and so on). Stupid laws being adopted every day. Bad standard of living, a lot of bureaucracy...

If you don't have a lot of money and powerful friends - it is almost impossible to live here. If you want good medicine help - you must give bribes etc.

I understand that life in other countries is not a paradise. There are a lot of problems too. But I think that I can always come back to Russia and continue living as I am living now. And if I don't give a try - I won't know for sure.

That is good, many locals around here don't realize that there are lots of advantages/disadvantages with everything.

But yes, afaik -- if you live in a corrupt place, it is probably best to get out.

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