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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

#301

Post by lacampbell »

debacle wrote: post #299
lacampbell wrote: post #295

A lot of Americans seem to have an idyllic notion of moving to NZ - often for political or LOTR movie reasons. If you're even toying with the idea, do yourself a favour and check out the following: - Salaries - Housing price - Housing quality - expect to pay top dollar for luxuries like insulation, double-glazed windows, and kitchens built within the last few decades. - The cost of a car, and the size and quality of…

The politics of New Zealand, especially when it comes to land rights + individual freedoms, can be enlightening.

How so?

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

#302

Post by doubleunplussed »

RantyDave wrote: post #234
EdwardDiego wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also - no capital gains tax means that most domestic investment is poured into housing as opposed to something productive like investing in business.

This. We also have large numbers of Chinese coming over and buying houses because it's a safe store of value... something the Chinese government can't just take one day.

Oh wow. This is happening in Australia, but with no capital gains tax it must be worse in NZ.

I'm so sick of it. Houses should be for living in, goddamn it. Not for storing your cash out of reach of a corrupt government, as necessary a thing as that is.

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

#303

Post by lacampbell »

boznz wrote: post #252
Apocryphon wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I think of NZ, I imagine South Pacific beaches, lush forests of emu and kiwi and other exotic animals, and the landscape of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. What natural beauty does Tulsa have?

If you end up in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch you could be just in another big city anywhere in the world, you may be within an hour or twos drive of some of the above descriptors but you wont be looking out of your home or office window at them unless you can drop a million dollars on a house. Get real guys.

If you end up in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch you could be just in another big city anywhere in the world,

Calling Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch "big cities" - I could tell you were a kiwi before I even read the name!

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

#304

Post by lacampbell »

cylinder wrote: post #94

I love how these comments always boil down to salary and cost of living arguments. People, (mostly Americans), you're doing it wrong. What kind of fool moves to a remote island in the middle of nowhere and then expects to somehow still earn as much as in the United States? This is not the right reason to expatriate. Go because you love NZ (or X country) not because you want to leave America. Go because you like the l…

I don't think "being able to afford a comfortable house" should be considered some kind of luxury.

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

#305

Post by gcb0 »

sampo wrote: post #36
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…

> 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? Probably, but doing menial tasks behind where the modern edge progresses in technologies, your skills would become obsolete in 5-10 years. You'd either need to proceed to a general managerial…

you mean, like any fortune 500 company in the US?

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

#306

Post by lacampbell »

geebee wrote: post #158

New Zealand does sound pretty incredible. A massive national park, the size of California, with only 5 million people, and very liveable and appealing cities. Here's the thing. Would New Zealand stay that way if it pursued a policy of large scale immigration, they way the US has? The US takes well over a million new immigrants into the country every year. 10 years of our immigration would triple the size of New Zeala…

A massive national park, the size of California, with only 5 million people

I'm sorry but that's an incredibly ignorant thing to say. NZ is not a massive national park. Take a brief glance at it on google maps. Most of it is light green - farmland.

We have about the same forest area % as Idaho. Or is that a massive national park as well?

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

#307

Post by paulcole »

ryandrake wrote: post #88
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…

Others have also replied but yea: with all due respect to IT helpdesk support staff and Wordpress maintainers and the guy who does the web site for the local nail salon, there's no way any of that compares to a career in software. Living in a low cost of living area is nice but it's not worth that.

>the guy who does the web site for the local nail salon

LOL, hi, nice to meet you. Well technically, I work at a small agency that does this for many local businesses.

Best job I've ever had. Fair pay, work with great people, zero stress, work on whatever I want, Let me rush to trade that in for a "career in software."

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

#308

Post by lazyasciiart »

marssaxman wrote: post #243
RantyDave wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Houses in New Zealand are mad expensive. Auckland (for instance) now has an average house price over $1M, about $700k US. It is, I believe, the fourth least affordable housing market in the world after Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver.

Looks like the Auckland median price is NZ$890K, which is roughly US$623K. Here in Seattle, the median price just hit US$700K... Auckland doesn't sound so bad!

Cities are defined differently in the US and New Zealand. That median in Seattle is for an area of ~80 square miles, whereas the median price for Auckland covers an area of 400 square miles. If you expanded the definition of Seattle to match, I'm pretty sure the median would go down (although it's interesting to consider whether Bellevue/Mercer/Medina would outweigh Renton/Kent/Tacoma there).

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

#309

Post by paulcole »

will_brown wrote: post #297
self-diversity wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you aren't aware, there is abundant outdoor activity including water recreation in the bay area. You seem to think we have to stay in the valley

No doubt, but OP is saying nothing in Fort Lauderdale (our "Salt Life") is on axis with SV, With a fair reading I didn't claim the same. Florida keys and Caribbean are Home to the 3rd and 4th largest reefs in the world, so at minimum we can agree it's on the same axis as SV's quality of water activity.

Florida reefs will be climbing that list soon!

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

#310

Post by lostlogin »

vorg wrote: post #260
lostlogin wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interest rates here are way above inflation. according to the below reserve bank site inflation is 1.3% (stated in text, looks higher in that graph at closer to 2%) and the cash rate is 1.75%. This translates into interest on a mortgage being somewhere between 4.7% - 6% depending on fixed term duration etc. Mortgages here always have very short terms with a maximum of about 5 years. http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics…

The parent commenter said "(real, unadjusted) inflation". The inflation rate published by the Reserve Bank is calculated for everyday items as used by some demographic, but excludes the rising price of assets such as houses themselves, or the health costs of the aged demographic. If you treat the rental and purchase price of houses to be part of the real inflation rate (because they are compulsory costs for people li…

Would it? If we are using that inflation rate then we should compare it to the interest rates you can actually get - around 5-6%. This article puts inflation including housing at around 2.5% late last year (half the 5% interest rate you can get). I know we have had steep housing cost rises lately, but they aren't rising right now. I can't see how that was calculated though and it seems lower than I'd expect.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/311147/call-for-infla...

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