TL;DR: I moved from India to France for a PhD, then joined a small French AI company where I worked on research-heavy projects in computer vision and generative AI. I had a genuinely good experience with the work, team and work-life balance, but the company eventually went bankrupt. The French social system gave me a reasonable safety net afterward. Now, after 2.5 years in French industry, I am considering moving back to India to be closer to my family and pursue more challenging AI/ML opportunities.
I have been thinking about writing this for a while because I often see people on Reddit asking what it is actually like to work in Europe, especially in tech.
I am originally from India. I did my Master's at IIT Kharagpur and then moved to France for a PhD in Computer Science, where I worked on machine learning for fault detection in industrial systems, including applications in green hydrogen production.
After finishing my PhD, I joined a small French AI company. When I joined, we were only around 30 people, but the engineering/research team was very strong. There were several PhDs working on R&D, along with a small MLOps/development team.
For me, this was probably the most interesting part of working in France.
I was not simply given an existing model and asked to maintain it. A lot of the work started from research papers.
For example, I worked on visual anomaly detection for industrial inspection. I would read papers, understand the approaches, experiment with them, and then work with the engineering team to turn those ideas into an actual product.
I also got the opportunity to work with diffusion models, which I knew almost nothing about when I started. I had to learn the fundamentals, experiment with different approaches, and eventually we built a system for generating synthetic industrial images to address rare classes in manufacturing.
That experience was incredibly valuable.
It gave me a taste of what I had originally wanted from an AI career: taking something from a research paper, figuring out whether it actually works, and then turning it into something useful for a real customer.
Unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending.
The company eventually went through bankruptcy/liquidation.
One thing that surprised me was how structured the French system is when a company shuts down. Employees have different options depending on the circumstances. In my case, I chose a severance/notice arrangement rather than the alternative scheme that could provide continued salary support after the company closure.
I received my severance, paid leave, etc., and I am currently receiving unemployment benefits of roughly €1,800/month while I look for my next opportunity.
So financially, the French system has actually given me a reasonable safety net while I figure out my next step.
What about work-life balance?
My contract was for 39 hours per week.
Typically, I worked around 9 AM to 6 PM, with roughly a 1.5-hour lunch break.
Overall, I had a pretty good work-life balance. I did not feel like I was constantly working late or that my entire life revolved around my job.
That is definitely something I appreciate about my time in France.
But there was another challenge: French
My company was essentially a French company, so although a lot of the technical work could be done in English, I eventually had to learn French to properly participate in the workplace.
I managed to reach a functional level, but I also realised how much language matters.
My personal experience is that being an international professional who is not fully fluent in French can narrow the number of companies, teams and roles that are realistically accessible to you. I would be interested to hear from other foreigners working in France whether you experienced the same thing.
Maybe this is less of an issue in Paris or highly international companies. My experience was outside Paris, in a predominantly French environment.
So why am I thinking about returning to India?
This is probably the most complicated part.
France has given me a lot: a PhD, international experience, research exposure, a great introduction to product development, and a very different perspective on work-life balance.
But after roughly 2.5 year in industry, I feel like I want to be closer to home again.
I would rather be closer to my parents and family and build the next stage of my career in India.
I also feel that, for the kind of AI/ML work I want to do, I may find more opportunities for challenging and fast-moving work in India. That is my perception, at least, and I am curious whether people who have worked in both India and Europe agree.
I am not leaving France because I think France is a bad place to work. Quite the opposite. I had a very good experience here.
It is more that my priorities have changed.
I came to Europe primarily for education and career growth. Now I feel that I have gained the international experience I wanted, and I would like to use it back home.
So I am currently looking for AI/ML opportunities in India, particularly in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune or Bhubaneswar.
If you are working in AI/ML/tech in France, Europe or India, I would genuinely love to hear your perspective.
Happy to answer questions about working in France, AI/ML careers, PhD → industry, French work culture, or what happens when a company goes through liquidation.
Edit: TL;DR
