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As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

nytimes.com

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

#41

Post by zumu »

humanrebar wrote: post #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. No…

> For the most part, this is all true in, say,

Woah woah woah, as someone who used to live in Tulsa, don't even joke. It is easily one of the most aggressively conservative and corrupt cities in the US.

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

#42

Post by jly »

bspn wrote: post #28
TheAlchemist wrote: post #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 thankful…

I too am considering a move to NZ for family reasons, and visited Auckland last month. It truly is a spectacular city framed by an amazing harbor, but it's not without some faults. My thoughts on the cons you raise based on conversations I had with a few locals: > 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 us…

My wife is an expat kiwi and we visit NZ every year since most of her family lives there still. We have also been contemplating a move back from the US, but housing prices (especially Auckland, but everywhere that isn't rural farmland is an issue) and lower salaries are the only thing preventing us, still. Auckland is an amazing city but it's so incredibly congested and expensive that unless you are wealthy or in the housing market already, it's very difficult to make a go there.

> Have you looked at Christchurch? Apparently the government is incentivizing companies to build there with the goal of making it the high tech capital of the South Island. I believe Vodafone has some pretty impressive plans for the city.

I was last in Chch a couples years ago, so it may be changing, but my impression was not great. My wife lived there during the earthquake and their recovery has been slow. I think it will improve, especially with increased investment, but it's probably years away from being anywhere like Auckland or Wellington again. Even 2-3 years ago the downtown area was essentially a ghost town from what I remember, and that's still several years post-earthquake.

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

#44

Post by mywittyname »

zimablue wrote: post #20
interfixus wrote: post #7

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...

Not even arguably.

Hell, Brexit is more destructive to Americans than ISIS is.

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

#45

Post by besogno »

mywittyname wrote: post #35
flexie wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't most tech guys be able to support a family working for any of the local web developers, app developers or IT departments of non tech companies that you find all over Florida, New Zealand and most of the Western world? In urban areas of Florida and New Zealand you will find these jobs everywhere within a 5 mile radius. Maybe not always so interesting or well paying as some jobs in IT corporations, but good to…

> $50,000 in Fort Lauderdale is as good as $120,000 in the valley. No, it's really not -- it's actually more like $77,000[1]. With the bulk of the difference being driven by housing prices. And $77,000 is actually above the average salary for a SE in Ft. Lauderdale (according to Glassdoor: $73,000). [1] http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-l...

The average income of a programmer is as relevant as the average income of a musician. It will not tell you anything about how much Lady Gaga makes, or the fact that the richest man in the world is a programmer. This kind of averages could possibly be relevant for bricklayers, but even in that case I doubt it.

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

#46

Post by scalatohaskell »

nandreev wrote: post #2

Has anyone here made the move? It would be interesting to hear some real life stories, and post honeymoon-phase pros/cons evaluation of NZ.

I have, from EU. I've been living in Auckland for 2 years. Scala dev. I left recently though. I think I may have good perspective, shoot me questions if you want.

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

#47

Post by scalatohaskell »

nandreev wrote: post #2

Has anyone here made the move? It would be interesting to hear some real life stories, and post honeymoon-phase pros/cons evaluation of NZ.

I have, from EU. I've been living in Auckland for 2 years. Scala dev. I left recently though. I think I may have good perspective, shoot me questions if you want.

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

#48

Post by scalatohaskell »

nandreev wrote: post #2

Has anyone here made the move? It would be interesting to hear some real life stories, and post honeymoon-phase pros/cons evaluation of NZ.

I have, from EU. I've been living in Auckland for 2 years. Scala dev. I left recently though. I think I may have good perspective, shoot me questions if you want.

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

#49

Post by FungalRaincloud »

flexie wrote: post #22
ryandrake wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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? T…

Wouldn't most tech guys be able to support a family working for any of the local web developers, app developers or IT departments of non tech companies that you find all over Florida, New Zealand and most of the Western world? In urban areas of Florida and New Zealand you will find these jobs everywhere within a 5 mile radius. Maybe not always so interesting or well paying as some jobs in IT corporations, but good to…

I mean, it's plausible that we could make enough to get by doing work that isn't fulfilling. Building websites for local churches, for example, can pay well enough to at least keep the lights on, and there's plenty of that sort of work. Trouble is, it can be career killing to be out of the game for a few months, especially if web dev is not what you want to be doing.

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

#50

Post by gdulli »

humanrebar wrote: post #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. No…

Conflating politics with what shows up in your Facebook feed is how we got into this mess.
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