Developers: what if we worked in Lyon?

More and more devs are deciding to leave Parisian stress to work outside the capital.

We interviewed Yohann, a Back-End Node JS developer who left his company in the 12th arrondissement of Paris to settle in Lyon and relaunch his career.

After a successful Hackathon, he leaves his IAM (Identity Access Management) project in Paris to work on a personal project in tourism. After a year without a fixed salary, he decides to find a job outside the capital.

Why leave Paris?

The first arguments that come up are: the need for a better quality of life and to refocus on personal life and family.

"I didn't want to go back to Paris for many reasons. Rents and life in general are expensive, public transit is unpleasant. People are often rushed, always in a hurry, and I find that Parisian life generates a lot of stress."

Professional opportunities in Lyon

It's obvious — Paris offers a multitude of professional opportunities for a developer looking for new technical challenges!

But beware, don't underestimate the Lyon ecosystem, which, while less developed, also offers very interesting roles with great challenges!

Yohann's experience proves it — he had interviews with startups in robotics, energy, or retail. There's something for everyone, every tech stack and every level! There's plenty of choice — it's still the 3rd biggest city in France.

On the salary side, they're slightly lower than in the Paris region, but the cost of living is lower, so the standard of living is for most people higher than for Parisian developers.

Another professional advantage in Lyon is its strong tech ecosystem. You'll also find well-established incubators that encourage startup launches and bring more challenging, innovative projects!

Today, Yohann has joined a new technical challenge at a Lyon startup and doesn't regret his life change!

"It's an active city, there's a well-established dev community and tech meetups happening regularly."

Lyon and its advantages

"There's nothing I had in Paris that I don't have in Lyon"

An apartment almost twice as big for the same price isn't a fantasy! Yes, Lyon is about 30% cheaper than the French capital. Life is also more pleasant thanks to less disrupted public transit, proximity to the mountains and the sea — and let's say it: 30 extra days of sunshine per year! ☀ And if you ever miss the Eiffel Tower, you can always pop over to the capital for a weekend — it's only two hours by train 🚀

He works in Lyon: his advice

"In our field of development or the digital world, there will always be an interesting role in Lyon. We have the added luck of being able to negotiate our salary properly. So if you want to leave Paris, it's entirely possible without losing the city life you find in Paris. And if Lyon doesn't appeal to you, there are plenty of cities with developed enough ecosystems to find what you're looking for, like Rennes, Bordeaux, Montpellier…"

Alright, bye bye Paris! 👋