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Post by nibnob21 on Jul 28, 2017 8:56:33 GMT
It's the lack of holiday allowance that would put me off. With additional holiday and bank holidays etc factored in I get 44.5 days here, base level is 23. In the States, my same employer gives about two weeks compared to that 23. No thanks. I'm lucky - I've been with the company for over five years, so I get an additional 5 days. So with public holidays, that gives me 32 a year. I can also work flexible hours and from home - they don't really care, as long as you get your work done. Not terrible then. In line with a lot of places here I guess, plus there's a lot to be said for flexi working arrangements. The problem is I get treated very well by my employer. I'd find it almost impossible to find the same ts&C's in another company here, let alone in another country. |
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Post by Meerkat on Jul 28, 2017 9:11:49 GMT
joeytalent, what is your profession (if you don't mind me asking)? Seems like I'm in the wrong business 
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 28, 2017 12:50:14 GMT
I'm lucky - I've been with the company for over five years, so I get an additional 5 days. So with public holidays, that gives me 32 a year. I can also work flexible hours and from home - they don't really care, as long as you get your work done. Not terrible then. In line with a lot of places here I guess, plus there's a lot to be said for flexi working arrangements. The problem is I get treated very well by my employer. I'd find it almost impossible to find the same ts&C's in another company here, let alone in another country. Yeah, I agree - my US employer is really good and I'm lucky in that regard. But the real bonus for me (other than owning the 280Z) is that career wise, moving here is getting me a huge amount of experience in technology and practices I wouldn't have touched in my last job, and the company is much bigger, giving me room to be promoted. |
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 28, 2017 13:57:53 GMT
joeytalent , what is your profession (if you don't mind me asking)? Seems like I'm in the wrong business Not at all - I'm a senior software engineer for a Toshiba Medical company (soon to be Canon Medical). I graduated 2009 with a Computer Science degree, and after a brief stint at a defence company, got my first software development role. I've gradually moved up within the company, then was offered two placements (9 months total) across here in Minnesota. Loved the experience so much, and I was bored of 11 years in Edinburgh with the rain, so I applied for a full time role and moved here in September 2016. The company I work for is called Vital Images, they make software for medical imaging - so MRI, CT, XRAY and ultrasound. Right now, I do development in C++, C#, Java and Javascript. They're a great company; currently sponsoring my green card application, and the office is big enough to provide opportunities for career development. One question I often get asked (especially from employees visiting from Edinburgh) is how much salaries differ between the US and UK for software developers. The truth is that my salary almost doubled when I took this job, and the cost of living is probably actually lower than Edinburgh (especially with the pound getting much weaker). I'm happy to answer anything to be honest; I should really write up a couple of blog posts about how the visa processes and stuff work, and the various limitations from not being a green card holder etc - but the weather for the next couple of weeks is sunny 25 - 30°C every day, and I don't want to spend all my time indoors |
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Post by Meerkat on Jul 28, 2017 15:22:47 GMT
That's really interesting, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you got a great deal there.
I think I would consider living in the US if the right oppourtunity arose - I've been a few times on holiday and I absolutely love the wilderness areas, and relative freedom compared to Europe. I've always had a dream to build my own off-grid house, and that is so much easier to do in the US than here. I'm not so keen on the gun/hunting culture, but then not everyone is like that.
What are the winters like in Minnesota? Lots of snow?
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 28, 2017 15:58:04 GMT
That's really interesting, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you got a great deal there. I think I would consider living in the US if the right oppourtunity arose - I've been a few times on holiday and I absolutely love the wilderness areas, and relative freedom compared to Europe. I've always had a dream to build my own off-grid house, and that is so much easier to do in the US than here. I'm not so keen on the gun/hunting culture, but then not everyone is like that. What are the winters like in Minnesota? Lots of snow? Yeah, winter is pretty brutal - it gets down to around -30°C consistently, and there will be snow on the ground (at least 6") from early November through till mid-April. That being said, it's different to a British winter as it's super dry and when you're in the sun it's reasonably warm. As long as you get a decent pair of boots and a thick jacket, you'll be fine. Minnesotans love winter as well, so there's heaps of stuff to do - cross country skiing is popular, and snow shoeing. I went snowmobiling last winter as well which is a blast. About the gun / hunting culture - I'm fairly sure most of my friends own guns, but I've not met anyone who's an obsessed gun nut. Hunting is big in Minnesota, and heavily permitted. Most of the hunting is for white tail deer, which are so abundant that they're considered a pest in a lot of areas. Most people that hunt will also strip the animal and freeze the meet - fresh venison is very easy to come by. |
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Post by Meerkat on Jul 28, 2017 16:27:59 GMT
Most of the hunting is for white tail deer, which are so abundant that they're considered a pest in a lot of areas. Most people that hunt will also strip the animal and freeze the meet - fresh venison is very easy to come by. That does sit better with me than hunting purely for sport, although I don't think I could ever get into it myself really. I do know though that a lot of hunters are very careful about how they do things and do still have an innate love of nature and wilderness. |
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 28, 2017 18:28:46 GMT
That does sit better with me than hunting purely for sport, although I don't think I could ever get into it myself really. I do know though that a lot of hunters are very careful about how they do things and do still have an innate love of nature and wilderness. Agreed, there's no appeal for me at all, but hunting permits generate revenue (along with camping and fishing permits) which goes directly back into the state parks here. Far better to have it controlled and contributing to the parks than outlawing it and people just doing it illegally I guess. I'm hoping this weekend to get out hiking somewhere, just need to decide how far I want to go. I have a few pictures from a storm that passed over recently (we're in tornado season right now), and then some fireworks from Saturday night to put into a post. |
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 28, 2017 23:27:30 GMT
Rare MX5 content!  |
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Post by joeytalent on Jul 30, 2017 2:13:41 GMT
Storms and FireworksWe had some impressive storms rolling through Minneapolis a week back, and I grabbed this picture from my apartment's rooftop:  The whole sky was lit up an eerie shade of purple with every lightning strike, so after a few attempts (about 200) I finally managed to capture it. A couple of nights later, there was a fireworks display for the Aquatennial festival. Unfortunately, I had to work, but I set my camera up in my window and took a few shots.     I also managed to get a couple of bits and pieces done on the 280Z. First up, the odd spark plug is now no longer odd:  Next up, the spark plug wires were all over the place:  You can see the left over brackets that should be guiding the wires over the cam cover. I sourced some replacements and...  Much better! Final little piece was swapping the throttle body for a modified one with no BCDD valve:  Very simple job, new gasket fitted as well and happy to report there's now no sticking throttle and the car drives very, very nicely.
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Post by minty on Aug 1, 2017 8:10:20 GMT
Thought you would appreciate this from Sunday...  |
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Post by joeytalent on Aug 1, 2017 12:33:08 GMT
Thought you would appreciate this from Sunday... Oh yeah, that is nice! |
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Post by Fizbne on Aug 2, 2017 12:25:51 GMT
That's really interesting, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you got a great deal there. I think I would consider living in the US if the right oppourtunity arose - I've been a few times on holiday and I absolutely love the wilderness areas, and relative freedom compared to Europe. I've always had a dream to build my own off-grid house, and that is so much easier to do in the US than here. I'm not so keen on the gun/hunting culture, but then not everyone is like that. What are the winters like in Minnesota? Lots of snow? Yeah, winter is pretty brutal - it gets down to around -30°C consistently, and there will be snow on the ground (at least 6") from early November through till mid-April. That being said, it's different to a British winter as it's super dry and when you're in the sun it's reasonably warm. As long as you get a decent pair of boots and a thick jacket, you'll be fine. Minnesotans love winter as well, so there's heaps of stuff to do - cross country skiing is popular, and snow shoeing. I went snowmobiling last winter as well which is a blast. About the gun / hunting culture - I'm fairly sure most of my friends own guns, but I've not met anyone who's an obsessed gun nut. Hunting is big in Minnesota, and heavily permitted. Most of the hunting is for white tail deer, which are so abundant that they're considered a pest in a lot of areas. Most people that hunt will also strip the animal and freeze the meet - fresh venison is very easy to come by. Maaaaaaaaaan I'd love to move to the US or Canada, get on that V8 Muscle car life but all joking aside, being brown might make things difficult in regards to moving to the US nowadays /cry I've only been once when I was like 13 to Oklahoma and I loved it there albeit a bit boring but all the open space was nice from what I remember! Also, GUNS. CanoeIN SHOOT SHOOT BANG BANG PEW PEW. I did some shooting in Australia with a couple of friends of mine, and the lady. We had a choice of a pump action 12 gauge shotty, a double barrel shotty, and lots and lots of rifles! One of which was a Portuguese WWII era rifle that was supposedly used in the war  - Holy prarrie canoe this thing KICKED! The lady also had a few shots of a .45 caliber (I think) rifle, and the double barrel shotty. I had to catch her ahahahaha. She doesn't like guns. I DO, if you couldn't tell. So much fun. And yes, you should 1,000,000% write a blog about moving to the States. |
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Post by joeytalent on Aug 2, 2017 15:49:15 GMT
Maaaaaaaaaan I'd love to move to the US or Canada, get on that V8 Muscle car life but all joking aside, being brown might make things difficult in regards to moving to the US nowadays /cry I've only been once when I was like 13 to Oklahoma and I loved it there albeit a bit boring but all the open space was nice from what I remember! Also, GUNS. canoeIN SHOOT SHOOT BANG BANG PEW PEW. I did some shooting in Australia with a couple of friends of mine, and the lady. We had a choice of a pump action 12 gauge shotty, a double barrel shotty, and lots and lots of rifles! One of which was a Portuguese WWII era rifle that was supposedly used in the war - Holy prarrie canoe this thing KICKED! The lady also had a few shots of a .45 caliber (I think) rifle, and the double barrel shotty. I had to catch her ahahahaha. She doesn't like guns. I DO, if you couldn't tell. So much fun. And yes, you should 1,000,000% write a blog about moving to the States. I saw a couple of V8 280Zs at a Cars and Coffee event, there's so much space for a LS1 in the engine bay. But I want ITBs more. Hardest part of getting into the US is finding a job with a company that will sponsor your visa. I'll write a blog post about the process I had to follow for my placement and permanent employment, and about my green card so far. Will be more wordy and less pictures though, maybe I can grab some general Minneapolis shots to make it more interesting. I've never fired a gun. There's plenty of ranges around here, and a few of my friends offered to take me hunting. Still undecided if I want to go or not. I'm also gathering some photos now to do a post about breweries in Minneapolis - craft brewing is HUGE here, we probably have around 30 independents, all with good tap rooms. If you like beer, then you'll like Minnesota. |
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Post by Fizbne on Aug 4, 2017 8:10:03 GMT
Maaaaaaaaaan I'd love to move to the US or Canada, get on that V8 Muscle car life but all joking aside, being brown might make things difficult in regards to moving to the US nowadays /cry I've only been once when I was like 13 to Oklahoma and I loved it there albeit a bit boring but all the open space was nice from what I remember! Also, GUNS. canoeIN SHOOT SHOOT BANG BANG PEW PEW. I did some shooting in Australia with a couple of friends of mine, and the lady. We had a choice of a pump action 12 gauge shotty, a double barrel shotty, and lots and lots of rifles! One of which was a Portuguese WWII era rifle that was supposedly used in the war - Holy prarrie canoe this thing KICKED! The lady also had a few shots of a .45 caliber (I think) rifle, and the double barrel shotty. I had to catch her ahahahaha. She doesn't like guns. I DO, if you couldn't tell. So much fun. And yes, you should 1,000,000% write a blog about moving to the States. I saw a couple of V8 280Zs at a Cars and Coffee event, there's so much space for a LS1 in the engine bay. But I want ITBs more. Hardest part of getting into the US is finding a job with a company that will sponsor your visa. I'll write a blog post about the process I had to follow for my placement and permanent employment, and about my green card so far. Will be more wordy and less pictures though, maybe I can grab some general Minneapolis shots to make it more interesting. I've never fired a gun. There's plenty of ranges around here, and a few of my friends offered to take me hunting. Still undecided if I want to go or not. I'm also gathering some photos now to do a post about breweries in Minneapolis - craft brewing is HUGE here, we probably have around 30 independents, all with good tap rooms. If you like beer, then you'll like Minnesota. Sooooold! Yeah, I'm not a fan of hunting. I don't have a problem with it at all, I'd just rather let someone else kill my meat ahaha. Target shooting is great fun - I find it quite a relaxing as you're all like patient and concentrate-ey trying to shoot them target nigraz. Give a range a go, use small caliber bolt action / semi-auto rifles and see how you find it :3 Canoein LS1 240Z YES. |
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- Holy prarrie canoe this thing KICKED!
le sigh