As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
1–10 of 431 posts
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#2Has anyone here made the move? It would be interesting to hear some real life stories, and post honeymoon-phase pros/cons evaluation of NZ.
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#3> For all sorts of reasons, New Zealand suddenly makes sense. The cost of living is less than in San Francisco. Commuting is less wearying. And American politics, “Brexit” and the Islamic State are on the other side of the world.
For the most part, this is all true in, say, Tulsa. Especially if you stay off Facebook.
You especially don't have to go to New Zealand to find a cheaper, commuter-friendly place to work.
Nothing against New Zealand. I'm sure it's a great place to live. The writing in the article is just sloppy.
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#4What are the internet throughput and latencies for typical setups in residential locations in New Zealand? What about more expensive commercial setups?
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#5> For all sorts of reasons, New Zealand suddenly makes sense. The cost of living is less than in San Francisco. Commuting is less wearying. And American politics, “Brexit” and the Islamic State are on the other side of the world. For the most part, this is all true in, say, Tulsa. Especially if you stay off Facebook. You especially don't have to go to New Zealand to find a cheaper, commuter-friendly place to work. No…
But, like Tulsa, I'd be worried about what happens when that tech company, which I moved myself and my family halfway around the world for, goes under and I'm out of work. I'm sure there is more than one tech company in Auckland, but how many? And how many of those will want to hire me? And out of those how many will I want to work for? And out of those, how many will pay enough where it makes sense for me to stay? Those questions have to be raised outside of tech hubs.
I used to live in a very low cost of living area in Florida. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but guess what, there was literally one company within a 100 mile (probably 200 mile) radius hiring software people like me. That's too damn risky.
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#6> For all sorts of reasons, New Zealand suddenly makes sense. The cost of living is less than in San Francisco. Commuting is less wearying. And American politics, “Brexit” and the Islamic State are on the other side of the world. For the most part, this is all true in, say, Tulsa. Especially if you stay off Facebook. You especially don't have to go to New Zealand to find a cheaper, commuter-friendly place to work. No…
It's more liberal and has better social services and you get health care in NZ. Plus amazing outdoor activities.
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#7Great for the Kiwis. I wish them well.
But regrettably, I lack the patience to read past an intro sort of equating the ramifications of Brexit with those of Islamic State.
Could journalism please step outside for a minute and perform a reality check?
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#8> For all sorts of reasons, New Zealand suddenly makes sense. The cost of living is less than in San Francisco. Commuting is less wearying. And American politics, “Brexit” and the Islamic State are on the other side of the world. For the most part, this is all true in, say, Tulsa. Especially if you stay off Facebook. You especially don't have to go to New Zealand to find a cheaper, commuter-friendly place to work. No…
Agreed. This feels a lot like a submarine article. For people in the US, it would be way easier to just relocate from SV to middle America. Or even just to other parts of California.
New Zealand does look absolutely stunning, though.
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#9I'm in that looksee contest the article says got works wide interest but when I look at the online dashboard it says only 556 people are registered and in the running....
Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw
#10Has anyone here made the move? It would be interesting to hear some real life stories, and post honeymoon-phase pros/cons evaluation of NZ.
Not recently, but I made the move in 2000, and ended up returning to the USA in 2004.
I'm sure the country has changed in the last decade, but one thing's for sure: saying that the cost of living is cheaper than San Francisco is like saying that Ferrari is cheaper than Pagani.
Also, in addition to the relatively high cost of living (housing in particular is terrible, especially in Auckland), the level of bureaucratic nonsense is very high. My parents owned a restaurant and grocery that targeted American expats, and the red tape they had to go through was much higher than just about anywhere in the USA.
The tech scene was very young when I lived there, with very little community. I'm curious if that's changed.