Trump has created an opportunity for EU nations to attract the best and the brightest from the US. Our man in Europe gives that notion a thumbs up, while offering some advice for Americans who might be thinking the time might be right to get out of DOGE Dodge.
On February 21st I reported about how a “European alternative for digital sovereignty” seems uncomfortably filled with ideas and solutions a bit too subservient to US visions and interests.
To fix that inferiority complex, I argued that instead of limiting itself to retaining domestic talent, Europe should go for a brain drain, done right:
“There are plenty of talented people living across the Atlantic who are quite unhappy with their new leader – both the real one, and the one that was elected. Let’s reach out to them, and make them a Europe relocation offer they can’t refuse!”
And Lo!, just six days later the EU found my proposal and went for it.
I’m joking, of course. But it’s true that EU funding bodies are working seriously to prepare havens for US researchers unhappy with Trump reforms, in order to make Europe “rise for global science as the US sinks” with support coming from, among others places, Canadian research universities scouting for more joint EU-Canada research projects.
Two days after those news items came a denouncement that — me being a guy who’s been calling since 2013 for an easy, complete alternative to Gmail, Facebook, and such — really pleased me, since “the US has dismantled the official privacy framework” means it would be both dumb and unlawful for EU countries to keep hosting European data and services on US-controlled clouds.
Add to all this initiatives to use or buy “Made in Europe” high-tech like this or this, and it’s easy to see that Europe wouldn’t mind at all giving US researchers and developers just what I (and countless others) have been thinking.
Which Americans should the EU hire, exactly?
Here’s the official guide I would hand out to any candidate for any high-tech job or research position in Europe, if I were the EU Supreme Headhunter.
Don’ts:
Don’t even try if the bulk of your CV is DOGE experience, “Uber-for-something” startups, or “apps.” For the kind of high-tech people Europe actually does need, see below.
Also, don’t come to the EU to Make Europe Another America Again. America is still great in its own way (I mean it!), but if there’s one product we should really put 1,000% tariffs on, it is the American Urge to be defined by your job. We already have too many endemic cases of that particular pandemic, and America is too pointlessly fast anyway. Come here to just slow down, instead.*
For the same reason, don’t be fooled by news like “Italian village offers $1 homes to Americans upset by the US election result.” In general, to avoid cultural shocks and failures like this (Italy) or this (Spain), be prepared and willing to do what every US immigrant always did to be accepted in America: do blend in, to actually settle in. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” isn’t just for tourists. Oh, and forget most of what you’ve come to expect or demand about European food.
Digital Nomads also don’t need to apply. Long term digital nomadism never made real sense to me, but never mind me: listen to the people who actually lived or hosted that lifestyle, instead, here, here, or here.
Summarizing, the best candidates may be Americans who would have been unhappy even if Trump had lost the election.
DOs:
First, do come only to build physical stuff that’s really, urgently needed, like (add your own examples, please!):
- Really smart toilets, scooters or physical containers
- Chinese EVs, the EU way.
- “Liberty-like” nuclear reactors.
- The 100% European ASICs and FPGAs that I’ve been waiting to see for 13 years now.
- Open, sensible innovation in agriculture.
- Military stuff, because “so much of [European] intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US that if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gates.“
- What??? No AI??? Yes, AI too, but only if it’s like this and this.
Second, look for job offers that demand handwritten CVs and cover letters. If software-powered hiring and job hunting means purple squirrel positions and remaining jobless after 2,200 automatic applications, that’s what serious companies will turn to, to spot real humans who do actually want to join them.
More Advice and Points to Ponder
One last bit of advice, if I may: luckily for Europe, I am not its Supreme Headhunter. Nevertheless, momentum for Brain Drain Done Right is building in Europe now, and I heartily suggest that every American considering working in Europe takes all the advice given here seriously.
* 100% true story: back in the ’90s, I came across a Silicon Valley engineer who regretted having worked in the team that installed one of the first fiber networks in Rome. He told me that after work, while relaxing in downtown cafes, he’d observe the crowds happily strolling away and think, “what the f**k are we doing? Here are folks who know how to really enjoy life, and we’re bringing them Cable TV???“
Marco Fioretti is an aspiring polymath and idealist without illusions based in Rome, Italy. Marco met Linux, Free as in Freedom Software, and the Web pre-1.0 back in the ’90s while working as an ASIC/FPGA designer in Italy, Sweden, and Silicon Valley. This led to tech writing, including but not limited to hundreds of Free/Open Source tutorials. Over time, this odd combination of experiences has made Marco think way too much about the intersection of tech, ethics, and common sense, turning him into an independent scholar of “Human/digital studies” who yearns for a world with less, but much better, much more open and much more sensible tech than we have today.
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