I'm a software engineer from the US with 8+ years experience looking for work in Zürich. I mainly work with Java/J2EE, but I'm very technology-agnostic, as I also have good experience in the .NET world. I'm scheduling a trip to Zürich for interviews in November...hopefully.

I won't bother you with the typical questions that have been answered many times over on this forum.
--I know it's hard for a non-EU citizen to get a permit. I also know it's not impossible because I see Aussies/Indians/Americans/etc... working there in IT.
--No, my wife is not an EU citizen, either. She is Venezuelan.
--I know the job board sites, or at least most of them.
--I know (more or less) which companies are around Zürich.
--I realize not speaking German (yet) doesn't help me any. I'm working on that.
--I know roughly what to expect salary-wise in Zürich.

I've done my homework and much of the information I've gathered has come from this board. For that, I'm very grateful to you folks.

I've noticed from your posts, that many of you are in IT, and some of you even work in IT recruiting. If anyone has any leads on jobs for a seasoned software developer (that requires a work permit), please let me know or feel free to forward my attached CV to anyone that may be interested.

Thanks!

Surely you want to avoid posting all that personal information on a public forum...?

Eh, that's an attitude I've run into a lot over here - honestly, I think Europeans (heck, maybe the whole rest of the world, I dunno) are more sensitive about the "private information" in their CVs than we Americans are. This way, he picks up people who are only mildly interested (such as myself) who wouldn't take the time to write him just yet, but might have a need in the future. I'm much more likely to remember him now that I've seen his work history. And contact information (if that's what you were worried about) is pretty easy to glean regardless these days....

And please leave the inevitable comments about "americans don't have privacy under Bush anyway" out.

Anyway, back on topic - I'll keep an eye out. I don't know of any positions at the moment, but having played this game not too long ago, I'm a bit more keen to help my fellow Americans. You said you know the job boards, but have you used Xing much? (google it if not) That's becoming a more and more popular way of finding recruits these days.

Lance

In retrospect, I scrubbed the contact details from my cv. As for the rest of it, I'm not extremely worried that someone can find out where I have worked. Like the last poster mentioned, I'm going for maximum exposure. I have no secrets

On the flip side, corporations have a reasonable expectation of confidentiality from current or ex-employees, but I have included nothing that could be considered sensitive or proprietary information.

As for Xing [http://xing.com], thanks for the tip. It seems like LinkedIn [http://linkedin.com] with a more international flair. As soon as I registered, I found my sister-in-law and her husband, who both work in Zürich. They had never mentioned the site to me. I hope they don't mind pimping out their contacts.

Out of curiosity, is Xing pronounced "Crossing", or "Zing"?

Alanbrito:
If you know java and are non-EU citizen too, maybe you've already
checked this post from Polorise...? (Work permit for EU/US nationals...)

http://www.englishforum.ch/jobs/8019...er-others.html