[oemera]

First of all thank you for your answer.

At the moment I'm having a double life between working as a programmer (40 hours per week) and studying. It's pretty hard and I really don't have much time for friends and parties but it's fun too. I think it made me a other person and maybe a better person having this double life. What I'm trying to say is I think I can handle a lot of work but I a guy who has to know why I'm doing this all. If it is fun to work in a startup I will go that extra mile with a smile but if it is not fun at all I wouldn't do that for a long time.

While living in the Bay Area seems pretty expensive I think Software Engineers are earning enough to live well, aren't they? (Everytime I read salaries from Software Engineers on HN I'm really shocked cause you would never get that amount here in Germany)

Do you know if there is a chance to study for a master degree while working as a full time Software Engineer? That's what I'm doing right know and in Germany it is possible to study part time. It takes longer but it's ok and you can live a pretty decent life when it comes to money (not everything is money but that's a other topic).

Whats about getting a job in the valley as a Software Engineer. Is it hard to get a job because of all excellent engineers around?

Any chance of chatting with you about all that stuff? Maybe Facebook?