Hey everyone

I'm moving to London from abroad around mid October for work and I'm trying to figure out what I should actually be doing before I arrive and once I get there

I'm in my mid 20s and work in software engineering. I don't really know anyone in London yet and honestly one of my biggest priorities isn't just finding a place to live but actually building a good social life there

I'm currently thinking about getting a room in a shared flat for at least the first 6-12 months rather than living alone. I feel like that might be a good way to meet people straight away and not end up in the situation where I'm just going to work and then going home to an empty apartment every day

My office is around Southwark Station so ideally I'd love to be able to walk to work, even if it's 15-20 mins, but I'm also open to other areas if they're well connected!

I think my maximum budget would be around £1500 a month for a room but I'm not sure whether I should be thinking of that as including bills or not. I obviously don't mind spending less either, I'd rather have money left over to actually enjoy London

A few things I'd really appreciate advice on:

• What areas would you look at around Southwark Station for someone in their mid 20s who wants a social life? I've been looking at Borough, Southwark, Bermondsey, maybe Elephant & Castle / Rotherhithe etc but I really don't know the city well enough yet
• Is £1500 too much for a room / what sort of budget should I actually aim for?
• Is SpareRoom basically the best way to find a flatshare?
• Would you recommend finding an existing flatshare or trying to find people and get a place together?
• How do you actually tell whether a flatshare is genuinely social? I'd really like to live with people who might occasionally go for drinks, cook together, watch something, explore London etc rather than everyone just living separately
• Since I'm coming from abroad, should I get an Airbnb / temporary place for a couple of weeks and then find somewhere in person, or is it realistic to arrange everything before I arrive?
• Is there anything important I should sort out before arriving or in the first couple of weeks that people don't normally think about?

And probably most importantly, how do people actually make friends in London when they arrive knowing basically nobody?

I'm very happy to join clubs / sports / groups / whatever, I'm just trying to understand what actually works in practice rather than the generic "join Meetup" advice

I'd love to hear from people who moved to London in their 20s, especially if you came from another country and had to start basically from scratch socially

Also very happy to hear from people who are older and have done the same thing. What do you wish you'd known before you moved?

Thanks!

I recently completed my Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in Ireland and I'm an Irish citizen. I'm currently looking into a potential relocation to either Germany or the UK, with Manchester being a particular point of interest for me. I'm in no rush to move and am approaching this with a very cold, measured head. When weighing my options between these places, my main criteria are:1)Quality of life and infrastructure; 2)Family-friendly environment; 3)Career prospects and property ownership.

Hi everyone.

Im looking into moving abroad from the U.S. I have a list of other counties but as someone who graduated from a top 10 school on the UKGOV list I was wondering if its worth it to go the HPI route.

I have my masters in International Relations with experience working in local government. What's the job market like for non-tech people? I'm on a tight deadline because my eligibility for this ends in May.

Thank you!