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'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

theguardian.com

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Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#71

Post by te_chris »

ponzored wrote: post #28
madaxe_again wrote: post #9

They have a really odd way to attract tech talent.... I exited my startup in the uk two years ago, successfully, leaving a successful and growing technology business behind. I have several ideas which I am prepared to self-fund up to £0.5M, and want a good environment in which to start a new business. I know coders in NZ, and they’re a talented bunch, we began to hatch a plan. In short, the NZ gov’t don’t want it. Th…

Just sign up for a degree at a degree mill and you'll get a student visa and an easy route to permanent residency. New Zealand (and Australia) don't care about quality migrants, just quantity, to keep up demand for housing (both countries have housing-bubble-based economies) and to add extra consumption to national GDP. The migrants they really want are Indians who can put downwards pressure on wages. Go to Auckland,…

There is no way I would choose living in Poland over NZ. Unless you like breathing coal smoke. I actually quite like Poland too, but it isn't even a choice.

Also 'basically an Asian city' sounds, basically, racist.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#72

Post by ElCapitanMarkla »

oblio wrote: post #63
zinckiwi wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm generally pro-immigration, but with a population of less than 5 million and a housing affordability crisis, 70k a year simply isn't sustainable.

Isn't New Zealand hugely underpopulated? I fear that their real problem is elsewhere... Just checked quickly: * the UK: 65 million people, 242 000 sqkm -> crowded * Romania: 19 million people, 238 000 sqkm -> not that crowded * New Zealand: 4.8 million people, 268 000 sqkm -> it's definitely not overpopulated... Edit: Heh, I also checked the density, it's the 203rd country in the world regarding population density. T…

Land wise yeah theres heaps of room, but infrastructure / housing wise, not so much.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#73

Post by madaxe_again »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #69
phyalow wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>£10M turnover from nothing I dont understand why people quote turnover. It is a useless number.

Perhaps not useless but highly misleading without context. How many customers? How many employees? Any profit? All these would help.

45 employees, net profit of about £4M in the last FY.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#74

Post by toadworrier »

te_chris wrote: post #71
ponzored wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just sign up for a degree at a degree mill and you'll get a student visa and an easy route to permanent residency. New Zealand (and Australia) don't care about quality migrants, just quantity, to keep up demand for housing (both countries have housing-bubble-based economies) and to add extra consumption to national GDP. The migrants they really want are Indians who can put downwards pressure on wages. Go to Auckland,…

There is no way I would choose living in Poland over NZ. Unless you like breathing coal smoke. I actually quite like Poland too, but it isn't even a choice. Also 'basically an Asian city' sounds, basically, racist.

> Also 'basically an Asian city' sounds, basically, racist.

Presumably, ponzored is from Harvard; we mustn't blame him for his upbringing.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#75

Post by DanielBMarkham »

tzfld wrote: post #11

>Two guys in a garage Is this urban legend still taken seriously? I mean, it was a thing 40 years ago, but now there is hardly anyone "with nothing to lose" that can reach anywhere without a good amount of luck.

I've met dozens of people who have made a good living from starting off with nothing. Do they specifically have to be in a garage?

Luck plays a huge role. So does talent, skill, and opportunity. You screw up if you think of it in only one of those terms to the exclusion of the others.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#76

Post by AITechy »

adventured wrote: post #36

> The government believes that 40% of jobs will go [to AI] within the next ten years. I think its going to be a lot faster than that. It's going to be a lot slower than that. Ten years from now AI will barely have made a dent in the existing job market in the developed world. Maybe in 30 years 10-15% of existing jobs will have been replaced by AI. That's an optimistic outcome. The AI jobs predictions are hilariously…

I think they don't count the numbers the way you do, to rig the statistics they seems to count jobs that are done by machines and wil be done in the future by AI to.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#77

Post by Timpy »

oblio wrote: post #63
zinckiwi wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm generally pro-immigration, but with a population of less than 5 million and a housing affordability crisis, 70k a year simply isn't sustainable.

Isn't New Zealand hugely underpopulated? I fear that their real problem is elsewhere... Just checked quickly: * the UK: 65 million people, 242 000 sqkm -> crowded * Romania: 19 million people, 238 000 sqkm -> not that crowded * New Zealand: 4.8 million people, 268 000 sqkm -> it's definitely not overpopulated... Edit: Heh, I also checked the density, it's the 203rd country in the world regarding population density. T…

I don't think people per sqkm is the most relevant metric of overpopulation, it's more like people per available resources.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#78

Post by utdemir »

One and a half years ago I migrated to New Zealand from Turkey.

* It was almost my first time abroad, my English wasn't great, and I was new to the culture. However I was amazed that how welcoming and patient people were. I hear the opposite from my friends living in Europe and US.

* I found a job while in Turkey, and the company sponsored me for the visa; and since they were an accredited employer the visa process was painless.

* Job variety is definitely small. I think it is not that hard to find _a_ job since there's usually demand for IT; however they are all pretty similar to each other(big finance/telco companies). If you have a specific interest (FP/Haskell and smaller companies in my case) it would be hard to find a job you like.

* Rent is expensive. Almost every one of my single friends flatshare, but I was able to find a one bedroom flat to live with my partner. I pay about 40% of my salary to the rent.

* However I do not think living expenses are too much. Our weekly shopping are usually cheaper compared to Turkey relative to the income. And most of the stuff we like to do for fun is usually cheap or free.

* People are nice. The city feels safe. Nature is great, lots of great hikes just an hour drive from the city center.

Overall; I can not compare with Europe or US since I've never been there, but I'm glad I am here now. And moving here was not that hard, so I think it has everything it needs to be a Tech hub, other than momentum.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#79

Post by toomanybeersies »

oblio wrote: post #63
zinckiwi wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm generally pro-immigration, but with a population of less than 5 million and a housing affordability crisis, 70k a year simply isn't sustainable.

Isn't New Zealand hugely underpopulated? I fear that their real problem is elsewhere... Just checked quickly: * the UK: 65 million people, 242 000 sqkm -> crowded * Romania: 19 million people, 238 000 sqkm -> not that crowded * New Zealand: 4.8 million people, 268 000 sqkm -> it's definitely not overpopulated... Edit: Heh, I also checked the density, it's the 203rd country in the world regarding population density. T…

It's not a population density problem but a housing supply problem.

There just simply aren't enough houses in NZ. Simply finding somewhere to live can be a struggle, let alone somewhere affordable.

Re: 'New Zealand wants you': the problem with tech at the edge of the world

#80

Post by aunty_helen »

pixelbash wrote: post #61

I work out of a very small studio in Auckland mostly building ecom (cofounder/dev). The reality is NZ is such a tiny market that is has a really funny quality to it (and some really odd stuff in places like an unspoken pay invoices on the 20th of the month rule). Two degrees of separation is the running joke here because just about anyone you hear about has met someone you know. We are doing an increasing amount of o…

> Two degrees of separation is the running joke

Funny you should say that, the Jrump devs are friends of a friend of mine. To add to your comment, after several years of going to a regional conference I've got to know so many of the crowd from working with them directly that I struggle to make it around the trade stands. One of the consequences of this is you can't burn bridges as word will get around (like in a village).

> 100% markup almost any importer puts on anything

This is a big negative of living here, people actually expect to pay a lot and will be suspicious of cheap things. It's a shame that it's often cheaper to buy something from the US/UK. Often you can get things (including shipping) at 50% the cost from overseas.

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