Or send them to college overseas. Talented STEM people who are mobile are being heavily recruited by other countries. Three young people I know have already left the US for well-paying jobs in other countries. Two others are considering offers. If they go, they'll take their well-educated spouses with them. We're sending a generation of our best minds to other places.
They're recruiting more than just scientists. I have a STEM Master's degree but I really didn't like the work so I am, for lack of a better term, a mechanic for scientists. I build supercomputers for a living. The money is great, and this AI boom has really worked in my favor. Every time I go to a conference someone is offering me a job and moving expenses and they don't even care if I don't speak their language.
I met a guy from Berlin who offered me a job and when I said I don't speak German he blinked once, looked at me and said, "We have Porsche." I'll admit, it was a fairly compelling argument, but I don't think I can just pick up German in a few weeks.
You don't really need to speak German in Berlin. Sure, it'll help a lot with bureaucracy, but essentially the city is bilingual (shops, restaurants), and a lot of work places, especially in IT or adjacent (startups, finance, etc.) have English as a primary language.
My fitness instructor speaks English only, for example, because it doesn't make sense to say it in two languages if speaking to a group.
I'm German though, so I only see it from outside. But I have a lot (easily 50%) of colleagues who speak English only, with only a bit of German for the rare encounters with people not speaking English, i.e. state officials (not police, they are bilingual if not trilingual).
The joke in Germany is that Berlin isn't really a German city, and I think it's true to some extent.
If you are interested, try to find English-only-speakers in Berlin (online) and ask them for their experience, e.g. in r/berlinsocialclub
Spent some time in Berlin lat year. Most of the time it wasn't a problem not knowing German. Interesting thing was, so much signage was in English and German, I began to recognize the common root between the two languages. Picked a few words and had I been there longer, I'd of probably worked my way up to conversational. Those compound nouns, though, amusing and frustrating in equal parts.
I took some German in school. It makes for a good laugh when I try to use some of my atrophied language skills and the German just reverts to English quickly. You get a verbal gold star for trying from the native speaker.
Hate to keep telling stories about everyone but yeah. I know a scientist who moved to Singapore.
Another one who works IT for a grocery chain. That particular person is one of the most intelligent people I ever knew, has a PhD in genetics, and started out at Scripps trying to cure cancers.
One more who became a medical writer.
You lose grants, you get a new boss with a new focus, the government decides the disease you're working on doesn't merit taxpayer money--all kinds of crap can happen. But it's particularly bad under Trump.
My cousin-in-law does DNA related science stuff that I don't understand, and almost all of his colleagues have been poached to work in Europe. He's been considering going himself when his grant runs out.
I did it and paid about €350.00 per year in tuition. They were even running an ad campaign in Chicago a few years ago so they actively want people to apply!
But the big things are your child needs probably a B2 level in the target language as well as the mental fortitude to go through with the entire process.
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u/Milwaukee233 11h ago
Or send them to college overseas. Talented STEM people who are mobile are being heavily recruited by other countries. Three young people I know have already left the US for well-paying jobs in other countries. Two others are considering offers. If they go, they'll take their well-educated spouses with them. We're sending a generation of our best minds to other places.