I've worked remotely out of Chiang Mai, Thailand for a short period and it was pretty awesome. There's a lot happening there, specially with the Blockchain events and meetups that I went to. Met some really smart people there.
Co-working spaces are plenty and pretty good.
Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
661–670 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#662If 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…
+1 for Poland. Haven’t been to Krakow but Varsaw is awesome. I think I would prefer moving there compared to Prague. I’ve heard good things about Budapest as well.
I take the chance of being downvoted but I strongly feel
Poland. Xenophobic.
Czech Republic. VERY Xenophobic.
Budapest is much more welcoming.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#663You should consider Maryland, it’s not the cheapest place but definitely cheaper than the Bay Area and it has a bay. There are lots of smart people in many different fields that makes for fun conversation. If your looking to raise a family it has excellent schools too
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#664Depending 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…
I wanted to buy an apartment in Lisbon (I speak Portuguese). Forget it. You don't get anything decent below 500k (speak Golden Visa Program). Big chunk of change for a comparably poor country. "visa issues"? Portgual is Schengen. You need a residence visa if you want to live there. Possibly but far from trivial. On the other hand, if you want to buy real estate anyway and can cough up 500k you can go the golden visa…
You can also get a Golden Visa if you buy property in an urban rehabilitation area (or any property with more than 30 years) for 350k.
If you don't need a golden visa, you can buy a very decent flat in the outskirts (within 30 mins - 1 hour commute) for less than half of that.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#665This is easy. Pittsburgh. Consistently ranked as a top city in the US, and world, to live in, in no small part due to the comparatively cheap cost of home prices, rent, and living in general. For example, there are nice neighborhoods in the city where one can buy a three bedroom, 2000sq foot house for With Carnegie Mellon University here, the 'intellectual' and more specifically the tech scene is thriving. I work for…
Pittsburgh is great. I live in a city you've never heard of and pay $1125/mo for a one bedroom apartment. A good friend of mine lives in Pittsburgh and pays $1200/mo for a 5 bedroom house (rental) in an unpopular but safe and growing neighborhood of Pittsburgh proper. The cost of living is insanely low and Pennsylvania is a low tax state (flat 3.2% person income tax), which compared to California can equal a few hundred dollars a paycheck for the higher incomes.
Keep in mind though that a lot of San Francisco and NYC folks move to Pittsburgh for a year or two then leave because it's not San Francisco or NYC. Public transit sucks. Traffic is really bad during rush hour (not SF bad, but it is one of the worst in the state, probably second only the Schuylkill Expressway going into Philadelphia). Nobody lives downtown because there are no supporting services downtown like grocery stores or anything like that. You 110% need a car to live there.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#666Depending 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…
I can't agree more. I worked in both Chicago and London; Portugal (perhaps Lisbon) seemed like the kind of place I would go to do remote work from if I were to move in Europe.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#667Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spain offers you a mixture of international cities, and technology hubs. There will never be another "Silicon Valley", but as an alternative where you can find stimulating and rewarding work, I'd argue it's better than Portugal.
> I'd argue it's better than Portugal. Why is it better?
None is is better. Both are great.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#668Dundee, Scotland. Very cheap yet charming property (if you avoid the housing schemes). Proximity to several good "Russel Group" universities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Dundee). Thriving games industry- a lot of AAA games you might assume are American are actually made there. Commuting distance to Edinburgh where there is a bit more internet-focused tech, including regional offices for some of the larger tech companies. Lots of culture and scenery.
The locals don’t really speak english though...
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#669Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. There's a ton of research happening in Research Triangle Park, 3 major universities within 20 minutes of each other, and one of the highest concentrations of PhDs per capita of anywhere in the world. The cost of living is low and you can get some space/land if you want it.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#670From what I've seen, Chile is a relatively safe and intellectually free place to live. They aren't as progressive on LGBTQIA tolerance as say the west coast of the US, but they are slowly getting there. It isn't dirt cheap though. A house in a nice part of Santiago will cost you around 300-500k (USD).
How are developer salaries there? For the quick glance I had one time they seemed really low.
Yes, $2-4k/mo on average in Santiago[1], and even lower in the regions. I'd suggest going remote because it's one of the few developed countries where you can get a visa without a local employer. Also, the quality of life is higher outside the capital.
[1]: http://www.lun.com/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?dt=2018-09-25&NewsI...