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Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

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Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#421

Post by antaviana »

siquick wrote: post #90

Barcelona - one of the best all-around cities in the world (climate/culture/architecture/world proximity/quality of living/beach/mountains) and a growing tech scene. Very easy to pick up development work here for a local company, you won't be required to know Spanish/Catalan for a job. The only downsides are that the pay is relatively low (€43k average for SE) and it can be quite difficult to find a place to live wit…

One clarification: Gross salaries in Spain are not as gross as in other countries.

For example, a salary advertised as EUR 45K in Spain does not include taxes and benefits (mostly unemployment insurance and medical) paid by the company.

So a SE with a gross salary of EUR45K directly costs the company employing here some EUR60K (i.e. some USD70).

The employee full cost to the company is never konwn to the employee (some 30% is somewhat hidden), unlike in other countries such as France. I guess it helps government to appear they do more with less taxes seen by their voters.

There are other indirect benefits, such as layoff benefits. If a Spanish company fires you without cause, it is liable to pay you 33 days per year worked.

I'm mentioning because comparing gross salaries in different countries, is a bit like comparing apples to samsungs.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#422

Post by C1sc0cat »

spdionis wrote: post #391
C1sc0cat wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure you will get sv salary in dollars working in Portugal :-) having said that I got pitched a 100K (euros) Job in Portugal a couple of months ago so it looks like tech skills are in short supply

The GP is talking about remote work.

I did realise that the GP wanted to have their cake and eat it -but why would anyone pay full SV rates for a contractor in a different country.

If they are cool with remote working why not hire much cheaper remote workers at eastern European rates.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#423

Post by madeofpalk »

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

> There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon.

Because the tax payers are paying €110m for it? http://www.thejournal.ie/lisbon-web-summit-new-ten-year-deal...

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#424

Post by pshirali »

anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

Bangalorean here. I'd +1 what's said above. (both pros and cons)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#425

Post by adamcharnock »

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

Glad to see this as the first comment I read. Im currently sat in Portugal on 4ha of land I have brought over near Fundão. It is more out of the way, but still has excellent access to cities. Plus it is absolutely beautiful.

I’m a freelance software developer and can happily work out here even on a plot of land which has no power/net connection. The 3G/4G is great, and everything easily runs of a single solar panel.

This isn’t my long term plan, but does me well when I come out here for a few weeks at a time. Long term there’ll be a house etc.

If there was a coworking space in Covilha / Castelo Branco I’d be very keen.

Otherwise I may start a little coders retreat or some such :-)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#426

Post by galfarragem »

siberianbear wrote: post #340
ur-whale wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the income tax situation in Portugal?

If you're not already a tax resident of Portugal and you decide to legally move there, you can apply for a special tax rate as a "non-habitual resident" that gives you a lower tax rate for ten years. https://www.livinginportugal.com/en/moving-to-portugal/tax-r...

Interesting. I wasn't aware that it was already valid or so lax (20% vs 48%!). This measure was sold by government as a way of bringing back our emmigrants.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#427

Post by thenaturalist »

michaelt wrote: post #319
thenaturalist wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says somebody apparently... living in Berlin? Calling Berlin "marginally" cheaper than the Valley is something I'd be highly sceptical of. Rents aside I've not been to many other places where food, shopping and leisure has been as cheap. Also, OP did not mention he wants to optimise his income?

Calling Berlin "marginally" cheaper than the Valley is something I'd be highly sceptical of. Presumably sneak means "Costs of living are lower, but if you salary goes from $150,000 to €50,000 it's not clear you'll be left with higher discretionary income."

Your salary will just not decrease so disproportionately in relative terms. € 50,000 was a starting salary I was offered for a business position straight out of university. Any software engineer, much more so people with experience will earn considerably more. As other's have pointed out, senior positions rather range from 70k - 90k depending on the position and experience.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#428

Post by pshirali »

quanto wrote: post #303
anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

How does a non-Indian English speaker go about hunting for an apartment lease in Bangalore? Especially short-term leases. This is the biggest bottleneck for me.

Leases are typically 11 months long (apartments). If you need options shorter than that, you should either find a cheap hotels, or Airbnb before settle on a longer-term option.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#429

Post by raverbashing »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #395
enjoyitasus wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree. Montreal has relatively good infrastructure and also good housing options for families and singles alike. It’s small compared to these tier 1 cities in Western Europe but it’s great, people are nice and are bilingual. The winters are extremely cold but if you don’t mind that it’s fine. Not sure about the salaries but I hear they are lower but so is the cost of living.

"It’s small compared to these tier 1 cities in Western Europe" Only London and Paris are much bigger. Mtl is about 4 million people, it's almost the same size as Madrid or Berlin or Barca. A little smaller than Amsterdam but really bigger than most else. But it's tier 2 size in North America, but a strong tier 2. It's really weird how people in NA don't know about Montreal. It kills most places for culture.

I agree with GP's assessment of Mtl, just wanting to make a point on the size.

Montreal metro is 4 million. But Montreal has a special dynamic, by fact of being an island. It's not as well connected as Manhattam.

So there are two "bumps", one north and one south (Montreal has its own definition of North/South, btw)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#430

Post by mFixman »

flavor8 wrote: post #65
msadowski wrote: post #22

If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities there (PK and AGH for technical schools, UJ for humanities, medicine and some tech too and UE for economics). The tech scene seems to be constantly growing, with lots of international companies having their offices there. As a senior dev in Poland you can earn…

You'd have to be quite apolitical to consider a move to Poland right now.

Is that true in all of Poland though? Many people find Trump repulsive, and they will agree with most of their peers if they move to a big city in a blue state.
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