Re^2: How do North Americans find Europe as a workplace?

Regarding telecommuting to Europe from North America, my gut response is "Nope -- wouldn't work."

That's based on my experience while working in Germany in 1980 -- at 4pm on Fridays, we would down tools (well, step away from our keyboards) and have a wonderful little party with snacks, beer and wine. The artificial pecking order would disappear, and we'd all chat as equals, hearing about the news, the families, our plans for the weekend.

My brother is currently working in Italy, and described a colleague who talked about who she knew in the business on their first meeting. He thought that was odd, then as he met more people discovered that this was a way of people showing their bona fides.

Thus, from these scant two examples, I'm left with the impression that social relationships appear more important in Europe than they are in North America, which would suggest that telecommuting (working without much face to face social interaction) wouldn't work.

The other, relatively minor detail is that Europe is six to ten timezones ahead of North America, so unless one was working on a totally independent project, it would be a graveyard shift kind of job.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

"Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds

Comment on Re^2: How do North Americans find Europe as a workplace?

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Re^3: How do North Americans find Europe as a workplace? by wwe (Friar) on Aug 18, 2010 at 06:57 UTC
Hi thalexb, I'm happy to hear you have spent nice time in Germany in 80ies as I'm currently living and working in Germany. I just want to warn you that times have changed and you most likely will find no Friday afternoon party anymore in most german offices. Sure it depends on a company and there are for sure some lucky guys who are still working like a family but most of the time there is a pretty dry atmosphere. I would say spanisch, italian and french people are more like you described: they are very interested on social contacts and spend a lot of time talking about their interests. Don't worry, Europe is for sure amazing and you should take a chance to spent some time here if you find a job or have enough money to stay here without working. Just be aware of time is changing and (this is always the best) don't carry any expectations with you.	[reply]

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Re^3: How do North Americans find Europe as a workplace?
by wwe (Friar) on Aug 18, 2010 at 06:57 UTC

thalexb

Sure it depends on a company and there are for sure some lucky guys who are still working like a family but most of the time there is a pretty dry atmosphere. I would say spanisch, italian and french people are more like you described: they are very interested on social contacts and spend a lot of time talking about their interests.

Don't worry, Europe is for sure amazing and you should take a chance to spent some time here if you find a job or have enough money to stay here without working. Just be aware of time is changing and (this is always the best) don't carry any expectations with you.

[reply]