51–60 of 99 posts
The idea that home ownership guarantees growth is a fallacy. In most cities prices only keep up with inflation. Ergo you are financially better off renting, and investing the money you would have spent on a house.
Only if the returns of your investments minus the rent still beat inflation.
I've heard good things about Dublin. Anyone here on HN able to speak from direct experience? Personally live in Seattle and love it, but I got in before the major boom and it is not nearly as affordable as 5-10 years ago. Still think it is a major upgrade to SF, though.
Also worth mentioning that whatever happens with Brexit will have an affect on Ireland too (probably in a bad way), due to the shared border with the UK.
I'm a former Bay Area startupper (Marketing/Sales early stage and a bit of product, not an engineer) and did a stint in Berlin and am currently in Tallinn (Estonia). I think for quality of life Berlin can't be beat, it's a big city but you can choose the right neighborhood for a reasonable price and get any sort of vibe you want from small town to big city hipster (okay maybe there are a few neighborhoods with the la…
Always wanted to work in Berlin. How did you manage the language barrier? I know that most gigs use English as the first language but how about the daily life like doing groceries or calling the phone company for a bad bill?
Groceries are basically not a problem, even if you don’t speak a single word of German and don’t want to rely on Google Translate on your phone: almost all of the products in packaging have pictures of the food on the outside, the tills show you the total at the same time the cashier tells you, most of the shops accept contactless payment (even discount chains), and half the cashiers probably want to practice their English on you.
On the other hand: at some point in the next month, I need to officially register that I’m living here to get an ID card. I’m not looking forward to that, because I’m told the people in charge of that really insists on speaking German, even in Berlin where about 20% the population is Ausländer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Edit: Sorry, skipped the home ownership part. Berlin's real estate market is currently too hot right now. In Munich it's the same - I know some millionaires who couldn't afford homes (with more m2) for their families there. It's generally better to rent for yourself and buy a home as an investment (you get tax breaks and the tenant basically pays the mortgage). Can vouch for Berlin, too. In Berlin Mitte near Alexande…
How about bureaucracy processes and getting up and running with internet, gas, bank, etc? Doubt that call centers have English speaking guys or forms in other languages
Don’t bother trying it before you actually move though, because the website appears to be geo-locked and the American and UK versions aren’t open yet.
I've heard good things about Dublin. Anyone here on HN able to speak from direct experience? Personally live in Seattle and love it, but I got in before the major boom and it is not nearly as affordable as 5-10 years ago. Still think it is a major upgrade to SF, though.
Compared to other European capitals, when I was there a few years ago, the tech scene in Dublin was relatively small. I think it's grown a bit now, but at the same time I've heard rental prices have gone up quite substantially. Also worth mentioning that whatever happens with Brexit will have an affect on Ireland too (probably in a bad way), due to the shared border with the UK.
Ireland will likely take some form of impact from Brexit, especially if tariffs are brought in on trade of goods with the UK. I would still think that the tech scene shouldn't be too impacted and may see more growth if multinational comapanies move after Brexit.
I've heard good things about Dublin. Anyone here on HN able to speak from direct experience? Personally live in Seattle and love it, but I got in before the major boom and it is not nearly as affordable as 5-10 years ago. Still think it is a major upgrade to SF, though.
Compared to other European capitals, when I was there a few years ago, the tech scene in Dublin was relatively small. I think it's grown a bit now, but at the same time I've heard rental prices have gone up quite substantially. Also worth mentioning that whatever happens with Brexit will have an affect on Ireland too (probably in a bad way), due to the shared border with the UK.
I'm a former Bay Area startupper (Marketing/Sales early stage and a bit of product, not an engineer) and did a stint in Berlin and am currently in Tallinn (Estonia). I think for quality of life Berlin can't be beat, it's a big city but you can choose the right neighborhood for a reasonable price and get any sort of vibe you want from small town to big city hipster (okay maybe there are a few neighborhoods with the la…
Always wanted to work in Berlin. How did you manage the language barrier? I know that most gigs use English as the first language but how about the daily life like doing groceries or calling the phone company for a bad bill?
But if you want to life in Germany for more than a year or two you really should learn the language. Getting to a basic level of German if you're an English speaker is not that hard.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Edit: Sorry, skipped the home ownership part. Berlin's real estate market is currently too hot right now. In Munich it's the same - I know some millionaires who couldn't afford homes (with more m2) for their families there. It's generally better to rent for yourself and buy a home as an investment (you get tax breaks and the tenant basically pays the mortgage). Can vouch for Berlin, too. In Berlin Mitte near Alexande…
How about bureaucracy processes and getting up and running with internet, gas, bank, etc? Doubt that call centers have English speaking guys or forms in other languages
Many internet, phone and other companies employ young people for support tasks who can speak english most of the time, so it shouldn't be a big issue. Especially if you go to offline stores in Berlin to fill out the forms.
I would imagine you have a good network of people in tech so you could probably transition to freelance work and live anywhere. Email me if you want to discuss. Co-work spaces here are anywhere from $100 - $500/mo. Internet is so blazing fast it's ridiculous - 300mbs on ethernet in our apartment. What we had in SF was pathetic.
Condo prices in central Prague are about $4,500usd/m2 - so 500k usd will get you a nice 2 bedroom in a really nice neighborhood. For the same money you can move 20 minutes by train outside the center and get a small house with a yard.
If you are leaning towards Europe the best tech scenes IMO are in Berlin, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Barcelona has really been picking up in the last few years and is probably the cheapest.