Earlier quoted context omitted.
My numbers are in USD. $45,000 CAD = $33,500 USD
Mine too I did the conversion and Montreal's median salary is $60,000 Canadian not $45,000.
My bad.
Looks like I'm underpaid.
Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
381–390 of 400 posts
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#382Earlier quoted context omitted.
No doubt true, but same stands for about any megalopolis out there. In the end it's up if the place has right chemistry for you, and yes, if you can support the lifestyle to match. There's little point to live in NYC outside of Manhattan ;)
So by your admission, the 6.8 million people living in the outer boroughs are living pointless lives?
No, my point is that it's not worth moving to NYC just to live in Queens. You can live purposeful life even in Aleppo, that isn't what the thread is about.
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#383Ideally, I'd work remotely and move around whenever I wanted.
If I had to pick a city, I'd pick Helsinki or Oslo. Scandinavia is beautiful, socially progressive, has great education and health services, and is conveniently located to the rest of Europe.
You just have to deal with the cold for 9 months out of the year.
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#384Mill Valley (Marin County), California. Because of the Dipsea Trail. (One of the best hike/run trails on the planet.)
I have to agree with you on the Dipsea trail. However, public transit is infrequent and the commute to the city (nevermind the South Bay) looks pretty bad.
The goal would be to not have to commute everyday. But if I did, take the ferry from Larkspur to the SF Ferry Building.
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#385Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, I'm familiar with everything you're saying. You definitely don't need language fluency to know that you're being treated differently...just time, and a bit of social awareness. They aren't particularly subtle about it. But in my experience, this is also true of any place where your foreignness is advertised by your skin color or facial structure or height or whatever -- you're just going to be treated like a str…
Many expats are complaining about this. However, their world consists of: 1) their expat colleagues 2) expat parties Good luck finding natives there. Also, it doesn't hurt to try and speak the language and understand the culture of a country you're living in.
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Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#386Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, I'm familiar with everything you're saying. You definitely don't need language fluency to know that you're being treated differently...just time, and a bit of social awareness. They aren't particularly subtle about it. But in my experience, this is also true of any place where your foreignness is advertised by your skin color or facial structure or height or whatever -- you're just going to be treated like a str…
> but it's just impossible to make native friends. So it's not just Japanese people This is sort of a "bubble" problem. Dutch people that are "settled" already have a loyal circle of friends and are not always looking to make more friends. There's also the problem that expats usually work in demanding jobs with lots of competition and not a lot free time. It's hard to make friends that way, especially if half of your…
"This is sort of a "bubble" problem. Dutch people that are "settled" already have a loyal circle of friends and are not always looking to make more friends."
This is always true, everywhere. Long-time residents of a place have a network of friends/family that newcomers don't have. It's not unique to the Dutch or the Japanese.
This brings up a point I forgot: most expats are young, and have zero experience making friends outside of the social bubble of school. This is hard enough if you're just moving in your own country, but it's worse if you're moving to a place where you don't speak the language well. This is probably a source of a lot of the complaints about cultures being especially closed or unfriendly.
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#387If it were down to "had to work as an employee for companies in the local area", I'd have a house in Woodside or Atherton, CA and work on the Peninsula or SF. I hate the government of California and a lot of other things about being in California, but for 10 years of betting on local companies only, SFBA is the safest bet. Bellevue/Kirkland/Redmond is my second choice, and I like Washington outside of Seattle more th…
Where do you recommend in Washington?
Broadly, eastside -- Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, etc., but also looking at Snohomish County. I nominally live in Redmond now. I don't like Seattle proper, but do like the Seattle area.
(What I'm really looking for is a 5-10 acre property in King or Snohomish County which has gigabit Internet, is not in a city with restrictive building codes, permits shooting (hard in King County), ideally borders a hill or non-buildable land on one or more sides, is on a decent road, ideally isn't too far from SEA or downtown Bellevue and Kirkland, maybe is zoned Ag (I'd be happy to do hobby farm ops on site), and is "affordable". That's possibly overdetermined, though.)
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#388Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, I forgot about tennis. I applied to UMelb and Monash back in 2011 when I was applying to grad school, but was scared off by some attacks on Indian students at the time. My sports watching life would've been so different if that had gone well. I'd put London slightly above Melbourne, it's got Tennis, Football and Cricket among others.
One thing to note is the accessibility and convenience of the events in Melbourne. The MCG and other stadiums/arenas are all in a big complex right in the heart of the city, with easy train, tram, bike, and walking access, and this includes the Australian Open tennis. The Grand Prix is in Albert Park, which is kind of like saying there's Formula 1 in Central Park NYC, kind of nuts. Not sure about London, but in NYC,…
You don't even have go to Albert Park for the Grand Prix, you can hear it from the CBD! ;)
But I concur, I have never seen a city where all the major amenities are all so closely located to the city center, it's fantastic. Etihad Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground, AAMI Park, the Australian Open, Hamer Hall, Sydney Myer Music Bowl, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne Museum, National Gallery, Queen Vic Market, Federation Square, Birrarung Marr, Royal Botanic Gardens, concert venues, theatre district, Chinatown, Greek precinct, Little Italy, Little Saigon, University of Melbourne, RMIT, Docklands, South Melbourne Market, the list goes on and on...
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#389Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, Montreal is pretty lame IMO. Assuming you're in software why don't you make the move? As a Canadian citizen you can easily get TN status at the border.
Lack of a degree makes things more complicated.
You can get it with a "post-secondary certificate" combined with three years experience.
Re: Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
#390Anywhere, anytime. I'm generally based in Stockholm, Sweden; my home town and just generally a lovely place to live. It's certainly not the cheapest, but everything works really well and internet is fiber by default nearly everywhere these days, 4g if wireless. People are friendly and the city is clean and beautiful. Driving sucks, but public transport is great and runs all the time, so not a big deal. I can take a f…
Interesting. How does bandwidth work? For example when you are in Florida do you rent a place just for a few weeks (can't stay more than 3 months) and register with an ISP or do you stay at a hotel? I'd love to have that freedom, I already work remotely, but I can't really be offline for multiple days unless it's on purpose for vacations.
Typically I go to places like coffee shops and such that might have decent wifi. It takes a couple of days of scouting to find a few good spots, but there's always some. I also generally get a prepaid contract or hotspot with whatever local cell provider is the fastest and/or has the best coverage.
I almost exclusively go to places where I know internet isn't going to be an issue, for when I'm working. I do a bit of research beforehand when necessary, but it's generally not.