As someone who lived and moved around Europe for the past 2 years, I think that Europe can do tech but the problem is that they are not very well placed in terms of marketing. They don't have influence over the global media like US companies do. Maybe that explains why the Blockchain sector is thriving in Europe... It bypasses the typical media funnel that companies nornally have to go through to acquire users.
Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
71–80 of 121 posts
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
>state funded safety nets Ding ding ding: this is the answer: those safety nets are also a cage. Disclaimer: have started many businesses around the world, including the US and Europe. Europeans don't proceed to the glory and glamor of US startups because they have to deal with government bureaucracy, and alas such bureaucracy is contagious. The moment you wade into the grant-getting territory, you become a grant-get…
You're not really defining the safety nets. It isn't as if the USA has exactly none either. Example [1] If you're referring to the safety net that you get government money after you get unemployed, that's to ensure that you don't become homeless or get lured into crime. It has reinforcement to get you back to work ASAP. [1] https://www.ssa.gov/disability/
It also means you don't work as hard to succeed.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
This way of thinking is so obnoxiously stupid. Yes some states failed in providing for their citizens. Greece was never a perfect system, the government was always corrupt, overly bureaucratic and nepotistic. That doesn't mean having and devloping trust in your government is always a bad thing. Especially if you live in Germany or Scandinavia. Treating the government as your enemy when it is actively trying to help y…
Good intentions of government programs do not mean good outcomes. Rent control is a classic example. Also i really wish we would stop calling out other opinions and ideas as "dumb" and "stupid".
Good intentions do result in success. Good policies result in success. If you give up and say "government" will never work, then no. Of course it will never work.
Pointing to failed scenarios and saying x failed therefore y will fail is "stupid". You must examine why x failed and make sure you don't include this element when trying to do y. It is an iterative process.
One thing is for sure. If government employees don't have good intentions, the government will be ineffective. Therefore trust in government and willingness to see government as a force for good, willingness to work in a system that does good for its citizens, is imperative to having a good system.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because most Europeans are happy with a good work/life balance That is the common trope but the truth is there is no other option. There are whole countries which are destined to end up as tourist destinations.
You mean like Croatia? They've had 1000 years of servitude and have only begun their 1000 years long dream of being their own masters. They will have to learn how to do that and it will take them a long time, but they are already on the top in the weapons, pharmaceuticals and auto industries ("HS Produkt", "Belupo", "Pliva" and "Rimac") and might someday become a ship building power once again. They won't be just a t…
Greece
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
>state funded safety nets Ding ding ding: this is the answer: those safety nets are also a cage. Disclaimer: have started many businesses around the world, including the US and Europe. Europeans don't proceed to the glory and glamor of US startups because they have to deal with government bureaucracy, and alas such bureaucracy is contagious. The moment you wade into the grant-getting territory, you become a grant-get…
Can you give a flavor of that extra government bureaucracy you had to deal in Europe vis-a-vis the US? And in which European countries was that?
Germany, and Austria. Getting a grant in Austria essentially guarantees that the hunger you need to survive in the tech world today will be quenched by that sweet, sweet, government handout.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
>state funded safety nets Ding ding ding: this is the answer: those safety nets are also a cage. Disclaimer: have started many businesses around the world, including the US and Europe. Europeans don't proceed to the glory and glamor of US startups because they have to deal with government bureaucracy, and alas such bureaucracy is contagious. The moment you wade into the grant-getting territory, you become a grant-get…
I honestly don't know why you got down-voted for this: I can confirm from first hand experience that everything you wrote is a fact. This place often makes no sense whatsoever in what is considered good or bad.
I'm probably being downvoted by folks whose survival depends on that sweet, sweet, government handout.
Its okay with me - the point has been made.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#77As someone who lived and moved around Europe for the past 2 years, I think that Europe can do tech but the problem is that they are not very well placed in terms of marketing. They don't have influence over the global media like US companies do. Maybe that explains why the Blockchain sector is thriving in Europe... It bypasses the typical media funnel that companies nornally have to go through to acquire users.
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Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> obsess about pipe dreams that come through for one in a million people? Speaking as someone from Europe... I don't have any first hand experience, but when browsing HN or Reddit, developer salaries above $150k seem to be the norm [1], not the "one in a million people" exception. As you may know, such salaries are unheard in Europe. It seems to me that becoming financially independent in the US is a matter of years…
> salaries are unheard in Europe This income exists in the UK for contractors. $150k/year is a day-rate of approximately £500/day if you take four weeks off per year. This is slightly higher than the median but reasonably achievable (more so in London). https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/Contract-IT-Job-Market
Contracting on these rates requires a lot more experience than you think and a highly sought out specialization often FoTM.
Getting yearly fixed term contracts on £500 a day is also not easy even with the former.
You also lose your pension contribution which in the UK can be upto 25% of your salary (I’m on 24), ISA, insurance protection against dismissal with no cause and many other things that employers provide.
Contracting isn’t a solution it’s worse than at will employment and the OP is right outside of a few cases the salary in Europe is pitiful and the safety net does not cover anything really it only ensures that there is almost no social mobility upwards.
Europe despite having the world’s largest social redistribution event aka WW2 is still the mother of all old money and isn’t changing because outside those who in the US would become billionaires it’s nearly impossible to become financially independent in Europe as a salaried employee and even as a sole trader.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I very much doubt 150k is what most Americans earn. But yeah be rich in America if you can, be poor in Europe if you can't. Although there is more in life than money, when you leave your Silicon Valley gated community you have to look at the rest of the country.
Nobody in Europe is truly poor like they are in America. Most places in the States, one is lucky if one earns $40 to $55 k per year, and that's barely enough to make ends meet (been there, done that, got the T-shirt), especially for young people starting out like I was decades prior. Had to watch every dollar on that kind of a salary with home and car mortgages (like most Americans). If I had $200 - $300 left at the…
Go out of the city in the UK, France, Germany not to mention Eastern Europe and you’ll see the same poverty.
Re: Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
#80Maybe because most Europeans are happy with a good work/life balance, and don't constantly obsess about pipe dreams that come through for one in a million people? Obviously such obsessives exist, but I bet they are a lot less common than in countries with a, let's say, get big or go home attitude. Also, state funded safety nets means it's less urgent to have $lots saved up to survive the next crisis.
>state funded safety nets Ding ding ding: this is the answer: those safety nets are also a cage. Disclaimer: have started many businesses around the world, including the US and Europe. Europeans don't proceed to the glory and glamor of US startups because they have to deal with government bureaucracy, and alas such bureaucracy is contagious. The moment you wade into the grant-getting territory, you become a grant-get…
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