If you really consider moving abroad, then Berlin might be a good option. It has a decent American expat community, it's relatively “cheap” and culturally rich.
BTW: of course another great option in Germany is Munich, my favorite city. But: rents are higher, salaries too though. The range of employers is larger. You can go for companies like BMW if you like but also startups. Shoot me a mail if you’re interested to get more insights
Munich is an amazing town but it is literally one of the most expensive places to live in Germany. Getting an affordable flat close to downtown is a nightmare.
Comes down on what you want to get. It is easy to find jobs at startups because there is a shortage of developers here but on the other side it is hard to find entry level jobs overall. But I guess this is true for most of the major cities.
Mentioning here that startups are not really obsessed by technology, at least most of them. There is this a weird mindset going around I think that technology is a 2nd class citizen. But it is depending on the startup I guess.
To get into one of the bigger companies like Zalando, contentful, N26, GetYourGuide, Klarna, Auto1, GoEuro, DeliveryHero, HelloFresh or SumUp takes more work and experience but it's completely doable. I am now at one of the companies above after 1.5 years of company experience.
When I looked into it there were a couple of issues:
Visas they will be different for wach person but for most people but if you're not under 30 and not from a western country it is a hassle
Jobs : a lot of jobs require German and the ones that don't you'd face more fierce competition which drives down the wages considerably.
Wages: on average is lower by 20-30 percent than Toronto, 50-60 percent than sf again taking these numbers out of my ass but you get the gist. Higher end more senior jobs pay even less.
Benefits and holidays: significantly better than NA you get like 30 holidays in Bavaria last time I checked
Overall if you don't have a big friend group/ family it's worth the move in my opinion the lifestyle is much more sustainable.
Since you mentioned Toronto, how easy is to get a job in Toronto if you don't have a work Visa or PR, is not from North America and have like 1 year of work experience?
Very easy, but Berlin is booming so rents are going up and vacant apartments have lots of competition. Zalando has 245 open tech positions: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?search=technology
Depends where you're comparing them to in the US but in general most European tech wages are lower than the US. If comparing to SF perhaps even shockingly lower.
It can be hard to swallow at first, but when you account for lower rent, much cheaper health insurance, and far more vacation days (~20-24 by law - and no one actually expects you to be available) along with safer cities with generally higher quality of life, in my opinion it ends up being a very, very good trade off.
I moved to Amsterdam some years back (and have worked for a Berlin based company) and don't know if I could ever move back to the states.
+1 for Amsterdam (the Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht). Rent is getting more expensive, but quality of life is very good, healthcare is 60€/month, top universities at 2000€/yr and overall good job prospects
I'd like to add that I've found the Netherlands to be among the most welcoming countries to expats that I've spent meaningful amounts of time in. I've moved away, but I'll always feel like home there.
Also, at least in the cities, everyone will be fluent in English.
If you pick city other than Amsterdam, or are willing to have a 45 min+ commute, rents should still be reasonable.
You should compare US wages to EU contractors income. The rights between the two are similar and the income is too (~ €150.000 per year). But everything is cheaper here so you quality of life will be much higher.
I've heard that before from contractor friends, especially in London. Another option is working for a US company from Europe which I've done twice now. Wages can be quite a bit higher than working for a local company. Often both the US company and the employee feels like they're getting a great deal as you meet in the middle on wages.
Also the rights point you bring up is pretty key, the amount of protections, safety net, and rights you get as an employee in Europe makes it so that needing to save copious amount of money in case things go sideways is not a thing.
