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As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

nytimes.com

11–20 of 431 posts

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#11
post #9

I'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....

Me too - I stopped participating after they announced a security leak a few weeks ago.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#12

Great 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?

Take care to not blame all of journalism for one author's missteps.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#13
That's interesting !

I'm intending to make a move with my family in near future, and we actually went to visit the northern island for 15 days last month. The country is really beautiful, and there are not a lot of people around, so you can't help but feel blessed by the surrounding nature. The people are great, probably the nicest I've ever seen (as a whole).

I've noted some cons though (not blocking for us thankfully):

- housing prices are extremely high. I don't understand that, there is plenty of space everywhere (maybe except Wellington) and somehow they manage to not use this advantage...

- housing quality is really poor (comparing to Europe)

- prices are generally quite high

- internet connectivity feels like we're 10 years back

- outside of Wellington and Auckland, I didn't feel like there were any interesting opportunities in IT (that's a subjective and based on a very limited evidence from discussions with local / personal observations)

- food quality is good, but eating habits don't seem to follow. Obesity seems to be a huge problem there (we have kids so will need to pay double attention to that). We were pretty much shocked because we naively thought that in such a beautiful and clean country everybody is running / biking all the time.

Would be very happy to hear stories that made the move ! Also very interested to hear about opportunities / work environment there in IT (even better if it's ML related).

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#14
I'm an expat kiwi would would have loved to move back from the US over the past few years, but unfortunately it suffers from a similar problem to the San Fran/SV scene here. Most tech employers are in Auckland, and the housing prices are insane. Remote work isn't embraced even a tenth of what it could or should be. I love it there, but for the kind of environment I'd need (affordable family home + strong job propsects) we've just been priced out in our time away.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#15
post #4

What are the internet throughput and latencies for typical setups in residential locations in New Zealand? What about more expensive commercial setups?

75% of the population will have access to fibre at gigabit speeds by 2019 [1]. Coverage will increase to 84% by 2024. Not sure about latencies off the top of my head, but there are several new international cables under construction [2] which will help which accessing sites hosted overseas.

[1] https://www.crownfibre.govt.nz/ [2] http://www.hawaikicable.co.nz/

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#17
"From the Devonport ferry, passengers can get a view of downtown Auckland."

...IF they would just look up from their phones. Humorous photo. Illustrates something though, which is that the more you "court" people from the USA (presumably on the basis that your country is so different from and far from the USA) the more your country starts to resemble the USA.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#18

> 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. http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

How is that hiding from American politics?

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#19
post #15
post #4

What are the internet throughput and latencies for typical setups in residential locations in New Zealand? What about more expensive commercial setups?

75% of the population will have access to fibre at gigabit speeds by 2019 [1]. Coverage will increase to 84% by 2024. Not sure about latencies off the top of my head, but there are several new international cables under construction [2] which will help which accessing sites hosted overseas. [1] https://www.crownfibre.govt.nz/ [2] http://www.hawaikicable.co.nz/

I get 200ms latency to my Linode server in Dallas, Texas testing from the North Island. Australia and South East Asia are between 40 and 100ms normally.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#20

Great 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?

Brexit is arguably much more destructive to Britain than Isis to the US. In the absence of major casualties economic impact is relevant. It wiped 10% of the pound's value out and there will be more impact before we're done. The day Isis knocks 10% off the dollar...
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