Ask HN: What are your suggestions for a coder who will start working in USA?

3 points·diamondhead··2 comments

Hi.

I'm a coder with little professional experience in my own country (Turkey) and am going to work for an American company in San Francisco.

What are your suggestions for such a newbie of professional life in US? How can I communicate with American people better?

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I'm an immigrant to the US. Language is huge. Learn English and learn it well, both verbal and written (even for coders). You will find most stereotypes about Americans being false. US is a big country, just California will feel bigger than all of Turkey. There are more options here for everything than anywhere in the world. Here customer is king. People dress less formal usually. Your instincts will develop with your stay but find a network of trusted people here so you can run major decisions by them. You will also find Americans to be more open to radical ideas about life, technology, and world view. Being self reliant is expected.

Have you participated in open source projects involving americans? I think if you can handle american nerds online, you should do fine in real life.

As far as regular people. just do your research about what people are like, and what the city is like.

What have you read so far? I think that might give a better indication on how folks could give you better advice.

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