I saw on levels that Israel pays really well (at par with US) and has Google and Fb offices. How is the overall tech industry there? How is the work culture? Is living there safe for a foreigner given it's in the middle East? Anyone from Israel here?
1) Tech industry is solid. SWE comp in Israel is 3rd highest in the world after the US and Switzerland 2) From what I understand, work culture is fairly similar to the US. A friend of mine is a startup CTO there and it sounded like he had no difficulty firing a couple developers he had hired 3 months previously (and mismanaged, by the sound of it) 3) Depends where you live. Tel Aviv (the main tech hub) is quite safe in most parts despite (or because of) the occasional military person walking around with a machine gun. Just stay out of the main bus station and other popular suicide bombing targets if you want to be extra cautious. There hasn't been a deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv in over 10 years afaik. 4) Not me but undoubtedly yes Tel Aviv is incredible! Seriously one of my favorite places I've ever visited out of dozens of cities in >20 countries and >15 US states. Imagine San Francisco except with LA weather and beaches, no homeless people, no tech industry dominance, no skewed gender ratio and a reasonable cost of living. No idea what it's like as a nonwhite person, though. I saw very few nonwhite and non-Arab people while I was there. EDIT: Hebrew is not needed to work there but may be needed if you aspire to assimilate long term. If you aren't Jewish, then it may be hard to truly assimilate, but you can still have tons of fun and make good friends there for a couple years.
While you are there please protest on behalf of Justice for the country selling of arms to Azerbaijan killing and ethnically cleansing Karabakh.
What weapons does Israel have to sell? They literally get everything from the US. If you mean tech, that's a different story.
Israeli made drones, tanks, missiles etc. These deals have been public.
Pay is just ok, ~30% lower than US. Taxes are very high as well as cost of living. Most of the major (including FAAMG) companies present. INTC is the largest employer in Israel (~11,000 employees).
Israeli here. Take everything with a grain of salt, there are good and bad things here. Lots of israelis move back and forth between the Valley and the wadi. 0. It is NOT important to know Hebrew I'm tech. We don't write Hebrew emails amongst ourselves, let alone foriegners. We whatsapp in english. Salaries are treated differently here, so it's really hard to compare 1. Your base salary is monthly. 30-60k shekels per month (10k-20k$ roughly) 2. All Taxes are deducted monthly 3. Healthcare insurance not needed, covered by state. You can have a private one on top, would be 100-200 $ per month 4. Obligatory pension (401k like) and trust fund This is actually quite nice. Any amount you put in the pension fund is matched by the company. Severance package (for future termination on any reason) goes into mention. Trust fund - company puts x2 the amount you put, on top of salary. 5. Work culture - similar to us. Go to a big company. Firing someone - one month notice. Hiring - compete on talent. As Israel is extremely small, there are no distance issues really. Something that I found very different and also surprised american colleagues - lunch is the big meal, dinner is the small meal. We do ~ 1 hour lunch. Pregnancy - obligatory 3 month paid leave, 3 mo the unpaid, without firing. Can be switched between either parent. Culture is usually overwhelming for foreigners. Israelis are painfully honest, Americans initially are too nice. This often led to workplace conflicts, from past experience. IMHO - work/life balance is better in the states. 6. Safety - there haven't been suicide bombings for more than 20 years. There are no mass shootings. It's scarier for us to come to the states, where people have free access to guns, while don't (and really don't need it). There's practically no crime here other than car theft maybe. Across the borders, different story - gaza is a no go zone, syria is a no go zone. Palestine - west bank - is Ok for foreigners. Jordan and Egypt - highly recommended. Seriously, I'm more afraid of going to europe because of anti-semitism, rather than anything happening here. 7. Military tech (and replying to a previous reply) - Israel makes its own tank, its own UAVs, rockets, missiles and specifically, defence missiles against rocket attacks. Cybersecurity tech is maybe one of the largest here. 8. Food - way healthier and accessible. Life expectancy is amongst 10 leading countries, probably relates to food and accessible healthcare. Quality of life - https://teleport.org/cities/tel-aviv/
This ^
"0. It is NOT important to know Hebrew I'm tech. We don't write Hebrew emails amongst ourselves, let alone foriegners. We whatsapp in english." But with your workmates in person, when in the office, do you speak in English or Hebrew? I'm Jewish but there are newborn babies with better Hebrew than mine!
Hi thank you for this thread! Tacking on here- I am interviewing on Monday for TikTok in Israel as I am moving there later this year the role is a Manager level in marketing/events. In New York I am a Director at a mid sized agency and make $135-150k including bonuses. I have 12 years experience. What salary range should I ask for in this interview? I want it to be on par for the range they will likely pay for a manager in Israel. Thanks for any insight.I
~35k nis / month base
Follow-up question, is it important to know Hebrew to work there?
It's not. At all.