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Ask DN: Britain Leaving the EU, how will it affect you?

over 7 years ago from , Design & Development Lead

Now that the votes are in and counted, time to think about the consequences of the UK's exit from the EU.

How will this affect you, designers/devs/cool people working all over the world? Does anyone have any plans in place for this? I myself have recently been applying for jobs in several EU countries (I'm a British citizen) - interviewing at a few, but the uncertainty of the new trading / visa regulations means everything's going to put on hold for a while I'd think.

37 comments

  • Dan GDan G, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    Too early to think about it too deeply but I'm gutted.

    I've already been thinking about moving to another country for a couple of years and this will probably accelerate that.

    22 points
  • Julian LloydJulian Lloyd, over 7 years ago

    I’m not optimistic. My dual citizenship appears to have taken a massive blow, and I’m staying in Switzerland with my girlfriend as a freelancer— so no work visas or official residence. Not sure how that will play out for me.

    Trump and Brexit? How come both of my countries are pure clownery right now?

    12 points
    • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, over 7 years ago

      Their common history and liberalism might have something to do with it. Not judging. It’s just different world views.

      1 point
      • Brian HintonBrian Hinton, over 7 years ago

        @Xavier #brexit was spawned by a conservative party...not a liberal one.

        3 points
        • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

          Liberalism and conservatism are not necessarily a dichotomy anymore.

          4 points
          • Ethan BondEthan Bond, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

            Of course they are. What kind of statement is this and why is it upvoted?

            They are by definition exclusive and antonymous. You can say liberal parties and conservative parties aren't reflective of their namesakes and therefore no longer dichotomous, but that's fundamentally different from your statement.

            Regardless, this recent tendency to act like every ideology is just as ugly as the next simply because every ideology has an ugly side is in itself perhaps the ugliest side of modern politics overall. The fact is that both Trump and Brexit are specifically and exclusively the manifestation of conservative actors and conservative power bases. Again, whether you believe they're reflective of conservatism is somewhat irrelevant here, and any commentary on that topic falls victim to No True Scotsman anyways.

            It breeds apathy and a sense of powerlessness to say that there is no difference between the right and the left. There is. The left didn't support Brexit and they don't support Trump. The right supports both. These alone prove your statement wrong, and there are hundreds if not thousands more distinctly dichotomous differences between the two.

            The people do have the power to change things like this, and it's by supporting non-right powers. Choose moderate views if you want, but these problems are caused by the right in dichotomous opposition to the left.

            7 points
            • Xavier BertelsXavier Bertels, over 7 years ago

              I agree with most of what you are saying.

              It is precisely why I think liberalism and conservatism in modern society are not dichotomous. In theory, they might be. In practice, less so.

              In practice, a Brexit vote can be motivated from either of those ideologies as they are currently understood. You could argue that a liberal would vote leave and a conservative would vote remain. Or the other way around. Those who are generally regarded to be conservatives in modern society sometimes have more liberal viewpoints than liberals.

              This can also be seen in the different groups that supported remain vs those that supported leave: they are in fact not, as suggested, singularly left-wing or right-wing. Their motivations and background are mixed, just like the people who voted leave or remain can use either ideology to motivate their vote.

              People do have the power to change things like this, and the irony of it all is that they have. Whether it was your preferred outcome or not is, unfortunately, irrelevant.

              1 point
        • Calum SmithCalum Smith, over 7 years ago

          Lower-case L liberalism is often not the defining characteristic of western Liberal parties. In general it's more in-line with Conservative parties, as they tend to conserve the nature of countries like the USA that were founded on liberal ideals—liberal as in liberty.

          1 point
  • Robin RaszkaRobin Raszka, over 7 years ago

    10 points
  • M. AppelmanM. Appelman, over 7 years ago

    Wonder if Banksy art will be less expensive now...

    10 points
  • Luis da SilvaLuis da Silva, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    As an EU citizen, working and living in the UK, I personally don't think "nothing" will change for the next few months. Also, I'm lucky enough to work at Novoda, which allows me to work across the Europe and USA.

    It's a shame what happened today. Here, we have people from all over the world (18 countries to be precise), and these people here are bringing huge benefits to the UK - working hard, paying taxes, working in public services and contributing to civic and cultural life as everyone else!

    All those OLD PEOPLE that voted to leave the EU, they don't really care about what will happen in 10 years, cause they will most probably be dead by that time. (RIP. #sorrynotsorry)

    Anyway, for all the people that voted for #Brexit; Good morning, UK!

    7 points
  • James LaneJames Lane, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    I don't think it will change what we do and who we do it for. I think the biggest change will come in the things we use.

    At the end of the day, our skill set hasn't been affected, we can still design, develop and be cool no matter if we're in the EU or not.

    I get the feeling (in the short-term at least) that we're going to pay more for materials, consumables etc.

    But we really don't know what's going to happen for definite and there are still negotiations to be had over the next 2 years.

    Oh and FYI, I'm from the UK, voted remain. Because I agree with Chris Johnson, I like liked the freedom to travel round Europe.

    7 points
    • Joe CJoe C, over 7 years ago

      Dependent on how the negotiations go, it may become harder to sell services across Europe. I work for a UK based company, but we sell a lot of services to EU companies - right now this is a breeze, almost like selling to someone in the UK. Depending on how the trade negotiations go, this could get a few extra barriers that mean it's more difficult to get those vital clients in.

      I agree with you though, and it's nice to hear some optimism! We can certainly go on building cool stuff, and being cool, nice people in general.

      0 points
      • Ix TechauIx Techau, over 7 years ago

        Key words "may" and "could"...the fact is no one knows what will happen. We could end up in a better position, who knows. I'm not going full doomsday just yet. Democracy has had its say and I accept that outcome.

        2 points
    • Ix TechauIx Techau, over 7 years ago

      I liked the freedom to travel round Europe.

      You will be free to travel around Europe just fine...leaving the EU doesn't mean building a wall around England to keep people from leaving. It will literally be no difference at all if you travel to Spain for example...you get on a flight, land, show your passport and you're in - just like it works now. Norway isn't part of the EU and you can travel there just as easy as you can travel to Belgium.

      6 points
      • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, over 7 years ago

        Well, it will be like you say, but remember showing your passport and being brit doesn't mean you will be accepted. You may find troubles too and even more in non EU countries.

        1 point
      • Andrius PetraviciusAndrius Petravicius, over 7 years ago

        Oh there will be difference, it won't be the same, you will need to apply for visa. The difference with Norway is that it never was part of EU, while UK chose to leave EU.

        0 points
  • Maggie AppletonMaggie Appleton, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    Changes the life plan a little... Am a UK citizen living in Amsterdam & working for a US company. Although it will take a few years for the immigration policy to change, am pretty frustrated we just lost the right to freely live in any EU nation.

    The depressing silver lining is that with the UK plummeting into a recession perhaps London will turn into a more affordable place to live (or so I hope...)

    4 points
    • Rasmus ErikssonRasmus Eriksson, over 7 years ago

      Morally I sympathise with your thoughts, but as a new homeowner it terrifies me at the same time.

      2 points
    • Rebecca Reagan-Thieme, over 7 years ago

      Life plans almost certainly changed here: I am expecting a work contract from a London company in the next two days, and I was planning to move from California with my US-citizen husband and take advantage of my EU citizenship. We're seriously reconsidering now. So sad.

      3 points
  • Russ BrownRuss Brown, over 7 years ago

    I'm gutted to leave and I think it will be bad for England and Britain in many ways but in one way ti could be good........

    .....No cookie banner!

    2 points
  • James Young, over 7 years ago

    Paying our two US based staff today was significantly more expensive. :(

    2 points
  • Chris JohnsonChris Johnson, over 7 years ago

    As a developer/designer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, I think it will hit us locally in a big way. With the only part of the UK with a land border with the EU i suspect we will find it hard over the long run to perform. Having spent a year working in Germany and for european startups, I am glad I did at the time, i just fear that my children will not get the freedom to do that as easily as I did.

    Working now for a US based company who acquired the UK company i was working for in the TV industry, I am looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

    2 points
    • Joe CJoe C, over 7 years ago

      Interesting, it will certainly be something new to see how the US based company reacts - whether they might try to move the UK-base over to the US, or even if they'd relocate your Belfast office to an EU base. Depends on how the negotiations go I guess. Best of luck!

      0 points
  • Stefano TirloniStefano Tirloni, over 7 years ago

    Nothing

    1 point
  • Scott HutchesonScott Hutcheson, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    As a Scottish citizen, I have never felt such a great divide in the country as happened yesterday. I was in both Edinburgh and Glasgow yesterday, with the general mood quiet in both cities. You could feel the overwhelming disappointment.

    I have major concerns about how this will limit my freedom to work abroad in the future, especially in the short term.

    0 points
  • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, over 7 years ago

    Brits will have it bad in the next 5 years. I've been in similar situations like this and it will affect you pretty much.

    they will print more money prices will go up resources will go down the money will lose value import will cost a lot they will start taxing more the imports till the point importers will start import more ilegally Lots of great minds will emigrate UK Lot of people will find out more well paid in summer jobs in Spain than ever.

    0 points
  • Luis La TorreLuis La Torre, over 7 years ago

    I'm wondering how startups over there think about this? Marvel?

    0 points
  • Account deleted over 7 years ago

    I'm a brit currently running my business in the middle east. Me and my wife have recently discussed moving back home (moving the business also) to start a family. Thinking I'll wait a few years now to see how this all rolls out...

    0 points
  • Joel CalifaJoel Califa, over 7 years ago

    My passport is infinitely less valuable now. Hooray! I never planned to move back to the UK, but I've always like the idea of living in Europe. Guess that's done now.

    0 points
  • Paul NevinPaul Nevin, over 7 years ago

    I'm from the UK and have been living and working in France for 20 years now. I am going to need to apply for residency as well as a work permit... that I'll probably need to renew every 5 years...

    0 points
    • Dave HawkinsDave Hawkins, over 7 years ago

      Thankfully, It's very doubtful mate. If we are going to want free trade (which we definitely will) with Europe we will have to accept free movement of labour, so that side of things won't change. Despite what leave told us all.

      2 points
  • Giulio MichelonGiulio Michelon, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    Game of Thrones has some fundings from EU: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/23/brexit-is-coming-game-of-thrones-funding-could-be-hit-by-leave-v/

    0 points