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Comment by yodsanklai | Hacker News Reader

I think this is correct, and it applies to several other european countries.

It would be interesting to hear the point of view of people that worked for the same company both in France and the US.

In my opinion, one problem in France is that many (well-paid) jobs are in Paris where housing is getting increasingly expensive. Besides, the layout of the city is such that commuting can be a pain and maybe unavoidable. I think New York is much better from that point of view.

I'm curious, is it possible to negotiate 10 weeks vacations in an american company?

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> I'm curious, is it possible to negotiate 10 weeks vacations in an american company?

You cannot do that for any kind of normal job, no. Maybe you could negotiate 3 weeks at most.

Also a 45 hour work week is now accepted as normal.

I just negotiated 4 weeks. Wasn't too difficult, you just have to ask. The funny thing is... I'm likely to pass on the job opportunity, while I stay with my French girlfriend in Paris, building and testing product ideas for a few months =)

If 3 weeks is normal at the company you're applying for then you might be able to get 4

Seriously 10 weeks? We get 10 days here (no joke)..

Yep, Amazon SDE I's start at 2 weeks vacation + 6 days personal time + (6 days sick, in Seattle only)

What's the difference between vacation and personal time?

Nothing (except in how they accrue, but that's getting very specific). Personal time originally was offered in place of sick days and other floating religious holidays. But Seattle now requires paid sick days, so you now get personal days + sick days.

You can't be sick for more than 6 days? What happens if you break a leg?

I wouldn't expect a broken leg to keep a programmer from working, but if it did then you'd have disability leave, probably paid for by your work via disability insurance.

Yes but those days dont count the weekends, making it 2 weeks.

Given that America is a wealthy country that seems incredibly low. The legal minimum in the UK is 5.6 weeks per year.

This is Canada but I don't think it's the norm (especially not in tech). 3 weeks is much more reasonable at a new job.

no, usually it's between 5 and 8 weeks depending on the number of hours worked daily. I just picked 10 as an example.

Of course, salary is then lower than in the US.

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