Title: Hi everyone,<p>I wanted to ask for your comments. I&#x27;ll try to keep this as short as I can.<p>I&#x27;m a 26yo enterprise Java dev and the sole provider for my little family (wife and toddler). We&#x27;re EU citizens. We spent the last 8 years in UK, and have recently moved to Belgium looking for a change. And change we got, but not the good kind. So want to move again. My wife keeps saying we should move to US, perhaps California. She thinks we&#x27;ll finally have some sunshine, lots of affordable fresh food, perhaps live in a house with garden, beautiful nature close enough to actually go camping for the weekends, and friendly and approachable people. And she&#x27;s probably right about these, but I&#x27;m a little scared about what we&#x27;d be giving up. Namely,<p><i>40h workweek
</i>5 weeks of holiday a year
<i>free&#x2F;cheap health insurance
</i>free&#x2F;cheap education up to university level for our daughter.<p>Am I being paranoid? I hear stories from both ends of the spectrum. Some say they&#x27;ve been working 60h&#x2F;week with no holiday for 5 years, in which case all that sunshine and nature have as much value as a travel brochure. But others claim that US is developer&#x27;s paradise. And while health insurance is expensive, some get it from their companies or it&#x27;s offset by the substantially higher salary. Some claim that public education system is also underrated.<p>What&#x27;s your opinion&#x2F;experience with this? What would you expect re: work&#x2F;life balance &amp; health insurance in a decent (choose your own definition) company? Any comments on school education? General cost of living?<p>Also, I do realize US is huge, but California is the only state I get to hear about - please give a shout for your favorite place!<p>Thanks a lot for comments, they are important to us.
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