Denver, Colorado.
Last I looked at Denver-Boulder (maybe 10 years ago), the software jobs there were almost exclusively on the Microsoft stack. Has that changed?
Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
61–70 of 99 posts
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
For your bank I recommend N26; it’s one of the tech startups here, an online-only bank, and they talked me through the setup process over my phone in about 10 minutes, in English. 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 recommend N26
> an online-only bank
It's a direct bank as any other, quick internet search will reveal more options in Germany. Their "innovations" in comparison with personal banking even in neighbouring Czechia (e.g. Fio), or Poland (e.g. mBank, Inteligo) are laughable.
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The tech scene in Dublin has definitely expanded in the last few years but the renting market is very bad. You would be looking at paying prices similar to London houseshares for less pay. That being said the housing market looks to be at it's peak here so it's likely to drop in the next couple of years again. Ireland will likely take some form of impact from Brexit, especially if tariffs are brought in on trade of g…
> That being said the housing market looks to be at it's peak here so it's likely to drop in the next couple of years again.
The property market of renting and buying is in an expensive deadlock (relatively to local earnings) everywhere from Lisbon to Krakow, from Reykjavik to Barcelona. I wouldn't expect it to just "drop" by itself anywhere as too many significant entities are betting on it.
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
For your bank I recommend N26; it’s one of the tech startups here, an online-only bank, and they talked me through the setup process over my phone in about 10 minutes, in English. 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 recommend N26 > an online-only bank It's a direct bank as any other, quick internet search will reveal more options in Germany. Their "innovations" in comparison with personal banking even in neighbouring Czechia (e.g. Fio), or Poland (e.g. mBank, Inteligo) are laughable.
What do you mean by “direct”?
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I recommend N26 > an online-only bank It's a direct bank as any other, quick internet search will reveal more options in Germany. Their "innovations" in comparison with personal banking even in neighbouring Czechia (e.g. Fio), or Poland (e.g. mBank, Inteligo) are laughable.
What do you mean by “direct”?
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#66I did a year in Berlin and tend to agree with Peter Thiels assessment - “I always thought Berlin would be a great place for innovation, but now I think it’s a place people in their 20s move to when they want to retire”
Personally I had a lot of good times in Berlin, but it didn't feel like it had the drive of the valley.
Recently moved to Toronto, and loving it here so far. Great scene, smart & friendly people and lots of growth.
Not trying to badmouth Berlin, it's a super cool city. Just didn't hit the mark for me.
https://business.financialpost.com/technology/torontos-tech-...
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#67[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#68I did a year in Berlin and tend to agree with Peter Thiels assessment - “I always thought Berlin would be a great place for innovation, but now I think it’s a place people in their 20s move to when they want to retire” Personally I had a lot of good times in Berlin, but it didn't feel like it had the drive of the valley. Recently moved to Toronto, and loving it here so far. Great scene, smart & friendly people and lo…
To put it simply, in a "work and life balance" Berlin is inevitably more about life than about work. And if your personal growth depends on the people you are surrounded by, it might not always be the best place to live in.
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#69Is being part of tech scene a requirement? Chicago is pretty nice, affordable and cosmopolitan.
Tech Scene for me personally provides a type of insurance. Here in the Bay Area you just have 1000s of companies bit and small contributing to this insane ecosystem that feels so that you could get a new job if necessary relatively easily. In other cities it seems like you have a single or a few employers and if it didn’t work out with them you’d need to uproot your life and move areas again. Having an ecosystem like…
Never been interested in being at the “director” level, but most major metropolitan cities have your standard corporate IT jobs in development, project management, etc.
For instance in Atlanta, you may not make $300K a year, but you can buy a 2500 square foot house for $400K - $600K in one of the most affluent areas in the country (measured by median household income) - John’s Creek. If you go a little further up north to Forsyth - one of the most affluent counties in the US, you can get a 3000 square foot house, brand new build with all of the niceties for less than $350K.
Also the “tech scene” is not all it’s cracked up to be during a recession when non profitable companies are dependent on VC funding. There were plenty of tech jobs in profitable corporate companies during both the 2000 dot com bust and the 2008 recession.
Edit: personal anecdote:
I had just been working three years when the dotcom bust happened. The company I worked for didn’t blink. They gave almost everyone $10K raises that year and 20% bonuses because the local market was still thriving.
2008 was slightly harder, developers could find contract work but a lot of companies weren’t hiring permanent employees. Middle management and project managers were hit hard.
Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech Scene for me personally provides a type of insurance. Here in the Bay Area you just have 1000s of companies bit and small contributing to this insane ecosystem that feels so that you could get a new job if necessary relatively easily. In other cities it seems like you have a single or a few employers and if it didn’t work out with them you’d need to uproot your life and move areas again. Having an ecosystem like…
You don't need to be at a tech company to work as a programmer.
For you to have to spell that out is evidence of how large the HN SV bubble is.....