Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#551

Post by throwaway_12351 » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:12 AM UTC

After leaving SF in 2018, I have worked from Oxford/London/Mexico City/Istanbul. I would totally avoid Istanbul, I have been harassed by police officers way too many times in attempt to get bribes.

If I were to work with an American company as an engineer then London/Oxford is really good. The timezone difference is quite appropriate to take meetings without asking for too much rescheduling and adjustments, and the London food is way better than any city in the US, plus the location is quite appropriate to travel anywhere within Europe. It's not cheap, but city life is worth it. I don't quite like Oxford, but my family lives in Oxford, so it's kind of nice to be home and everything is taken care of yourself.

If I was in meeting heavy role like Product Manager, then Mexico City is impeccable. Good food, bay area weather, reasonable cost of living, just a quick flight away from bay area if you have to visit and easy to get visa as well. It's not at what you see in the news, and there are more starbucks on Reforma than they on Market St. in SF.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#552

Post by quietthrow » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:13 AM UTC

camgunz wrote: post #546

I've made a pretty long list, and here are my faves: - Auckland - Taipei (Taoyuan and Kaohsiung are very close by HRT) - Sydney - Helsinki - Stockholm - Oslo - Amsterdam - Copenhagen - Toronto - Dublin - London - Paris - Berlin - Barcelona (or Madrid) - Lisbon My criteria were things like Gini coefficients, diversity, democracy indexes, gender equality, and LGBTQ rights. Most places in Asia got bumped because of poor…

Do you have a google set or something similar where you can share your analysis? What about quality of education , safety and health care access ?

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#553

Post by stephenr » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:14 AM UTC

dwd wrote: post #538

stephenr wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd been considering Portland actually, and maybe it'd still get a look-in, but it may be too small. Definitely will not miss the humidity/heat. I'll miss the weather being fairly constant though. Also, no to Qld. We want to move back to Australia, not move back to the 1920s.

Haha - you'll find half of Queensland is just ex-pat Victorians. Just don't wear Victorian plates on your car - first day there after driving up from Victoria I got abused by some Maroochydore bogans. Portland is nice, but Port Fairy is possibly the best little town along the West coast. I grew up in Warrnambool, but spent a few months house sitting an old whalers cottage there.

You just proved my point about Qld.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#554

Post by qiguai » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:18 AM UTC

eric_khun wrote: post #399

Taipei, Taiwan The most underrated city/country in Asia : - Chill and relax - Awesome people, polite and clean - Best place in the world to work from cafes. Many cafes shops welcome people who works for long hours. They also care about cafe ;) I actually prefer to work from cafes than co-working here - Surrounded by nature, mountain, sea, river are within 45minutes reach. Hundred of trails around Taipei. - Metro / Bu…

Yes. In Taiwan for 2 years now from SF and it's amazing. I like to visit around Asia but this is most livable by far. Plus it's really underated so it's a bit under the radar which I think is a good kpi for remote centric work.

Agreed on cons, it's so good it softens you which is an overindulgence if efficiency problem.

Agreed startup scene is hurting. Ironically amazing for hiring and even in high tech. Taida is a serious school and companies like TSMC are here so serious engineering gets done. Ifni was in hardware I'd look to here as a black sheep vs shenzen.

Say hi if in Taipei!

Not to mention zero new local cases a month now! Enjoying restaurants and life daily :). Shhh don't share about Taiwan

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#555

Post by rblatz » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:18 AM UTC

habosa wrote: post #185

Philadelphia It's one of the five biggest cities in the US but most people routinely look past it. First of all it's fairly cheap, less than half as expensive as SF even in the nicest parts. It's got the best restaurant scene of any city I've spent time in (and almost all are free BYO). It's got a great art scene including a ton of amazing live music. 4 sports teams with passionate fan bases. It's racially diverse (n…

It’s actually the 6th largest city, Phoenix beats it out for the number 5 spot.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#556

Post by ryannevius » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:19 AM UTC

jimhi wrote: post #534

antigirl wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I've been in Bangkok for the past year and the air quality has been really bad. Not as fatal as china but almost there. other factors -Food is cheap but novelty wears off eventually and you will want to cook. Apartments are mostly expensive and small [in BKK] so kitchen is small. Western style groceries are expensive. -Its too hot. Traffic is really bad. Public transport is air conditioned but walking to skytra…

All of these points are easily resolved by not living in the biggest city in your country. Bangkok is the New York City of Thailand. You could have all the same delicious food, but great air, no traffic, and more if you went to say Chiang Mai

Nope. I moved from Chiang Mai. It has some of the worst air quality in the world for a quarter of the year, and almost consistently worse than in Bangkok.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#557

Post by crimsonalucard1 » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:23 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #366

Mehdi2277 wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're aware around 90 percent of the bay area considers to homelessness to be a serious problem. Citation: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/08/when-it-comes-to-the-... "89% of residents say homelessness is an extremely or very serious problem — up from 79% the year before"

Considering homelessness to be a serious problem and considering homeless people to be a problem are very different (and to some extent opposed) things. Advocates for homeless people think homelessness is a problem. People that oppose dealing with homelessness tend to portray homeless people as a problem.

>Considering homelessness to be a serious problem and considering homeless people to be a problem are very different (and to some extent opposed) things.

What doesn't solve problems is creating a false BS dichotomy between "homelessness" and "homeless people" as if there are two major groups of people who are actively combatting two different problems. It's ridiculous. If the people who view "homeless people" as a "problem" aren't advocating helping "homeless people" as solving the problem what exactly are they advocating?? How do you solve the "homeless people" problem without helping "homelessness?" Don't be stupid, these things are one and the same problem with the same solutions.

This is a play on words inserting false malice where there was originally and obviously no malice intended.

Instead the origin of the malice is @dragonwriter intending to use a play on words to start a witch hunt.

I think ultimately a lot of the negative stuff I said about San Francisco pissed off some people who love the city. I wasn't trying to paint San Francisco in a bad light. I was trying to shave off some of the excessive and illusory positivity of the initial post because San Francisco as great as it is, is a city with deep issues and deep problems. To solve these issues and to solve these problems one has to first admit that they exist. Acceptance is hard for many, especially those who have lived here all their lives, and I think this attack was just an aspect of that.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#558

Post by valuearb » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:25 AM UTC

jimbob45 wrote: post #114

songzme wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime someone says Portland, this article comes to mind: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big... My friends in Portland are all intentionally dismissive about it and for that reason I'd never suggest Portland to anybody I care about as a place to live.

The traffic is the #1 reason not to move to Portland. It's a six-lane city that only had three lanes planned for. Sure, the drivers may be better than Florida but at least Florida (outside Orlando) wasn't designed with confusing lanes the width of half a car.

Don’t forget taxes!

I moved out of PDX because of both, still return a month a year but man, the traffic is so awful.

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#559

Post by jimhi » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:28 AM UTC

ryannevius wrote: post #556

jimhi wrote: post #534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of these points are easily resolved by not living in the biggest city in your country. Bangkok is the New York City of Thailand. You could have all the same delicious food, but great air, no traffic, and more if you went to say Chiang Mai

Nope. I moved from Chiang Mai. It has some of the worst air quality in the world for a quarter of the year, and almost consistently worse than in Bangkok.

That's a shame, guess I was only there during the good time

Re: Ask HN: If you could work remote where would you live?

#560

Post by rblatz » Mon, May 25, 2020, 6:32 AM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #406

My wife and I moved from Solana Beach California to Sedona Arizona (in the mountains, two hours north of Phoenix) in 1998 and it was a great decision. We did close up our house twice for a while and left town when I worked at Google and Capital One, but Sedona has been our home most of the time. Work wise it has been OK remotely consulting, but that only worked because I usually enjoy whatever someone is paying me to…

Do you live in actual Sedona or do you live next door in Cottonwood or Cornville? I found Sedona beautiful, but a bit too tourist focused, whereas the other cities were actually much better to stay in. Also they have all the wineries :)