[cdavid]

No, but there is some bureaucracy. Not so much taxes as much as being able to make sure not to pay things you don't have to. I have done internships in some companies where they did not realize they could recover a lot of taxes, etc... if they had filled the forms.

But I actually think the most significant issue is the culture, especially the whole higher education system, the so called "grandes ecoles", which could be somewhat compared to the Ivy league in the US. The incentive to go into big companies is huge, and there is also relatively poor consideration for IT jobs. I also think failure has more impact in your career than in the US/UK. Not so much failure itself as much as unusual careers.

I should note that I am highly biased against this system. I went through it like most students "who are good at math", and I hated it. The engineering education you receive compared to what you can expect in good engineering universities in the US is terrible.