Moving from UK to Switzerland/Basel?

[malachi]

Its getting better now but if you are vegan you might struggle as Switzerland is still trying to adapt to it.

When my brother visit me he struggled in certain restaurants.

But he said, he can see the reason why I moved to Switzerland.....its a big step up from the West Midlands!

Cloud/DevOps and Cyber Security is in demand here. So get in while the fire is hot!

 

[arknor]

Its getting better now but if you are vegan you might struggle as Switzerland is still trying to adapt to it.

When my brother visit me he struggled in certain restaurants.

But he said, he can see the reason why I moved to Switzerland.....its a big step up from the West Midlands!

Cloud/DevOps and Cyber Security is in demand here. So get in while the fire is hot!

there's still Vegan places for dining and vegan speciality shops.

I was in a city with only 109k population and we had a few.

BTW once you've been one big city in switzerland you've basically been them all..
it's like the same few shops everywhere, crazy monopolies it seems.

must be terribly hard to start your own business because no one seems too

I don't think independent corner-shops exist, just KIOSKS everywhere

 

[randomshenans]

Its getting better now but if you are vegan you might struggle as Switzerland is still trying to adapt to it.

Same with France. They would just stare at you tbh but Basel has some really good Vegan restaurants now. Not UK levels of choice, but we have vegan friends and they tell us about lots of different places

 

[randomshenans]

BTW once you've been one big city in switzerland you've basically been them all..

Agree. Zug... Zurich... Geneva... all have lakes, look nice, all much for much!

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

I lived and worked in Biel/Bienne for five years. I had a fabulous time. Work/life balance was excellent. Healthcare not as expenny as you might think (back in 1999 anyway) but still brilliant. I have good French and passable German. I even learned a bit of Schweizer Deutch. People are mostly a bit serious, especially in work, but also kind and helpful.

Fully recommended.

 

[malachi]

must be terribly hard to start your own business because no one seems too

I don't think independent corner-shops exist, just KIOSKS everywhere

Just like Tesco Metro or 7-Eleven in Japan

Same with France. They would just stare at you tbh but Basel has some really good Vegan restaurants now. Not UK levels of choice, but we have vegan friends and they tell us about lots of different places

Yes, Hilti is nice but can be expensive and Migros is stocking more vegan foods but nothing to UK levels.

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

Lots of great live acts back in the day. Used to go to gigs in Solothurn, Delemont, Basel, Zurich, Geneva... European and international footy at St Jakob-Park in Basel. Ice hockey everywhere.

 

[arknor]

Just like Tesco Metro or 7-Eleven in Japan

Seems worse than that, I think the only independent stores I ever saw were head shops

Yes, Hilti is nice but can be expensive and Migros is stocking more vegan foods but nothing to UK levels.

UK levels aren't that great, Migros probably has more options of "qourn" type stuff than tesco, morrisons etc

in the UK it's usually a single freezer and fridge with vegetarian options for protein even in a big supermarket.

I think I remember migros having a bigger selection, where I lived the migros store was revamped though so it might be considered one of their flag ship stores.

there's way less prepared food overall though and frozen food , seems swiss people cook

BTW the LIDL bakery section in Switzerland is amazing if you have the luxury of a LIDL in your city.

 

[mid_gen]

it renews anually if you don't cancel it on the website, even if you paid in cash it will renew and you will get a bill for the renewal amont of 165chf (20chf discount) if you don't cancel it first.

This is true of almost everything in Germany. You think you're paying once for a year, but you're actually subscribing for eternity unless you write a letter and cancel!

 

[arknor]

This is true of almost everything in Germany. You think you're paying once for a year, but you're actually subscribing for eternity unless you write a letter and cancel!

It's easy to cancel it though and it's not hidden that it auto renews.

but if your paid in cash at the counter you might not be expecting that bill to come along in 1 years time.

BTW from my experiences of Switzerland even the wealthy pay with cash.
You should never tip ever unless you round up the change!

If you drop any change on the floor in a pub/bar DO NOT PICK IT UP.
that's now a tip for the cleaner.

Taxis are super expensive and public transport is so convenient don't use them

Almost the only people you see paying by card of people with "postfinance" cards which would be our equivalent of a post office bank account like the poor used to use over here.

they are the poor people on benefits, maybe that's why rich people don't use cards, cos it's a sign that your poor

 

[Nexus18]

Rough areas? I'm sure it can't be any worse than parts of the UK and chav hot spots

yea you'd be suprised how many people in Switzerland don't speak English or find it too embarrassing to try

you sure it was Basel?

it's the roughest place in Switzerland I went too and looked way worse than everywhere else

@Nexus18 btw if you move to switzerland go to a railway counter at SBB and say you want to buy a halbtax/half fare card.

you need your passport, A passport photo (use a machine at a train station) A swiss address and 185CH.
You can start using the discount immediately without waiting for the card in the post.

it renews anually if you don't cancel it on the website, even if you paid in cash it will renew and you will get a bill for the renewal amont of 165chf (20chf discount) if you don't cancel it first.

Geneva to zurich the last time I was there was 90chf, but with halftax 45chf.

so few journeys and it already pays itself, discounts on buses and trams too but nowhere near 50%, also even on super saver discount tickets it still reduces them by 50%
I think it was like 20-30% on buses/trams.

don't socialise with the expat groups if you want to make swiss friends.
watch out for the Romanians, Hungarians etc trying to grab a wealthy bloke

Swiss women are amazing, especially the ones that grew up in little villages and love nature.

if you live in an apartment you need to be super quiet during the "quiet hours" I can't remember what times it was in the day , but after 10pm you gotta be super quiet or people will call the police and they will come to your house because you took a shower or whatever during "quiet hours"

swiss people get super anal about noise complaints, and the police do treat it seriously

Good to know that, thanks! I'll certainly be keeping my eye out for all kinds of women....

Didn't know that and if anything, probably an advantage for me too, usually in bed for 10.30 or so

Standard isn't 8 weeks, but I probably work 9hrs a day (WFH now) and so rack up 5 extra hours a week. So really every 2 weeks I get a day off I don't have to, but I start at 8 because it suits me (post kid drop off) and then due to working with the US loads, my afternoons end up busy. WLB in general is good though. Polar opposite from the UK.

Loads of demand out here for that. I know of places for sure.

Yea, it's expensive. No doubt. You should be able to command about 110-120k CHF I'd say without issue. Some companies for senior devops people you'll be looking at 120-140k CHF, so 95-110k GBP. It will depend on level and company though, but you still find yourself scoffing at the prices of food and takeaways. I wouldn't even say it was the level of UK food. The food scene in the UK is far better, but it has improved a lot over the 10yrs I've been here. The Swiss have a rule, so if you open a burger shop/van/whatever for example, you must use ingredients from Switzerland. All of it. As the minimum wage and general salaries are higher, produce is higher, too. Therefore, you have to charge more.
You can get pretty decent curries and chinese though. Nice thai places have popped up too. You can get good pizza.

You don't tip people. They find it weird. They're paid salaries and good ones, so tipping isn't seen as something to do.

AMA though. I don't know what you like to do, so it's harder for me to answer, but I'm here for any questions I can try and answer!

Oh, I was ready to pack the bags right now when I seen 8 weeks holiday What is the standard over there?

I would say I am intermediate level for cloud engineering (know GCP [certified in associate cloud engineering] pretty well and Azure [certified in azure fundamentals and solution architect expert], mostly familiar with IAAS/PAAS but moving more into CAAS - kubernetes, containers) and junior to intermediate for devops practices (know terraform and ansible pretty well but lacking in CI/CD pipelines currently) so wouldn't be expecting top money just yet.

Good thing I never tip as it is

As for what I like to do, pc/gaming/tech, eating out, walks (with lovely scenery, obviously, Switz. has lots to offer here) and much of the usual day to day things really, would say if I went over there, I defo be taking up more outdoor hobbies such as cycling and skiing though! Not a big drinker these days, ever since covid, kind of got out of the way of it and tbh really don't miss it.

What about house prices? As per usual, presume best to get something outside Basel town for the best value? I have read that the pensions are far superior too.

Appreciate the info!

Its getting better now but if you are vegan you might struggle as Switzerland is still trying to adapt to it.

When my brother visit me he struggled in certain restaurants.

But he said, he can see the reason why I moved to Switzerland.....its a big step up from the West Midlands!

Cloud/DevOps and Cyber Security is in demand here. So get in while the fire is hot!

I'm open to trying most foods but must admit when I was in Lake Garda (obviously completely different) a few years back, I did find the choice of food a bit underwhelming, the Germans who were staying in the same hotel as us loved it though, said it reminded them of home and not a huge difference. I pretty much eat most of your typical UK meals here i.e. roast (chicken, beef, turkey, ham), curries, pizza, spaghetti, chips, good salad etc.


Think I'll get a 1-2 week holiday in for Basel/somewhere in Switzerland at the start of next year to really get a feel for it, obviously a very big move but definitely seems like a good step in many ways.

 

[randomshenans]

Yes, Hilti is nice but can be expensive and Migros is stocking more vegan foods but nothing to UK levels.

You in Basel now?



....beer?

 

[panthro]

Go for it. I have no doubt you'll enjoy it and if you don't you can always come back. I lived and worked in Baden almost 20 years ago and loved my time there and made lots of friends (ex pats....I found making friends with the Swiss not easy). I have been longing to go back but having kids in school has put the dampers on it slightly. I'm lucky that I still manage to get out there for work related trips fairly often and go to see my friends infrequently. It's such a beautiful country.
A lot of people used to drive across the border to buy food from Germany, but we were students at the time.

 

[arknor]

Rough areas? I'm sure it can't be any worse than parts of the UK and chav hot spots

maybe more "seedy" than rough .
but compared to the rest of Switzerland that I saw it wasn't a nice place.

seems to have way more outlanders(what swiss people call migrants) than any other cities did.
loads of dodgy looking people hanging around the big park etc

Most of the migrants in switzerland seem to be Turkish people

The train station seemed to always have more drunks hanging around it in an evening than even zurich.
people literally sit getting drunk with a blue tooth speaker on a lot of the big train stations.

proper anti social behaviour stuff.

my partner used to live in Basel though so I probably got shown a lot of the areas normal people wouldn't visit.

BTW prositution is legal in switzerland, don't enter a "Kontakt bar" thinking it's a regular night club like they appear from outside, because they aren't
I only ever saw one real homeless looking person in the years I spent in switzerland though and that was some random guy at Geneva airport that wanted only a cigarette.

I never had anyone ask me for money and I never witnessed any real crime apart from people doing drugs.

but as said police will come out even for a noise complaint, it's not like the UK where your house gets burgled and the police aren't interested so most crime is probably invisible and victimless.

The one crime you have to look our for is on trains, never leave your luggage where you can't see it from your seat

 

[malachi]

You in Basel now?



....beer?

Im actually in the UK at the moment visiting, first time since December 2019. But fly back to Zurich on Monday.

Oh yeah beer! Note to others, a pint is round £10.....FYI.

A lot of people used to drive across the border to buy food from Germany, but we were students at the time.

This is what I do, I head to Konstanz every 3 weeks. As the Konstanz is covered by the SBB pass.

The one crime you have to look our for is on trains, never leave your luggage where you can't see it from your seat

And bike thefts.

 

[Kreeeee]

.

 

[arknor]

German parts are the most civilized , swiss french people are weird

anyway OP should do it , anywhere in Switzerland is a massive leap up from the UK

marry a swiss chick, I think it's 5 years before you can become a swiss national.

then never look back

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Didn't know that and if anything, probably an advantage for me too, usually in bed for 10.30 or so

9:30

Knowing you as I do, a mute gamer who doesn't socialise and scared to show their face in pictures or on camera, I'd say its a great opportunity to really step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself, go for it life to short.

 

[Nexus18]

maybe more "seedy" than rough .
but compared to the rest of Switzerland that I saw it wasn't a nice place.

seems to have way more outlanders(what swiss people call migrants) than any other cities did.
loads of dodgy looking people hanging around the big park etc

Most of the migrants in switzerland seem to be Turkish people

The train station seemed to always have more drunks hanging around it in an evening than even zurich.
people literally sit getting drunk with a blue tooth speaker on a lot of the big train stations.

proper anti social behaviour stuff.

my partner used to live in Basel though so I probably got shown a lot of the areas normal people wouldn't visit.

BTW prositution is legal in switzerland, don't enter a "Kontakt bar" thinking it's a regular night club like they appear from outside, because they aren't
I only ever saw one real homeless looking person in the years I spent in switzerland though and that was some random guy at Geneva airport that wanted only a cigarette.

I never had anyone ask me for money and I never witnessed any real crime apart from people doing drugs.

but as said police will come out even for a noise complaint, it's not like the UK where your house gets burgled and the police aren't interested so most crime is probably invisible and victimless.

The one crime you have to look our for is on trains, never leave your luggage where you can't see it from your seat

Even better

9:30

Knowing you as I do, a mute gamer who doesn't socialise and scared to show their face in pictures or on camera, I'd say its a great opportunity to really step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself, go for it life to short.

10.30, I have to jump of at 9.30 to do my bedtime ritual

Socialise in real life, just not online and I hate photos being taken of me, trust me you don't want to see my ugly mug