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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?

#971

Post by wprapido »

taysic wrote: post #919
wprapido wrote: post #786

Osijek, Croatia. University city. Thriving tech hub. Close to 4 major international airports (Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade, Timisoara). Low rents. Low cost of living. Decent food. Very walkable. English is widely spoken. There are many other cities all over Central and Eastern Europe like this. Other options are Novi Sad in Serbia, Szeged in Hungary, Brno in Czech Republic (the major tech hub), Timisoara in Romania (sa…

Croatia sadly does not have a tax treaty with the US so one would be paying extra taxes if they were a US citizen.

Unfortunately, no

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

#972

Post by Kovah »

JepZ wrote: post #493
Kovah wrote: post #168

There are some smaller German cities like Göttingen which have - in my opinion - a high intellectual atmosphere because they are so called university-cities: lot's of students and academics in a rather small city. And, in comparison with big cities like Berlin or Munich, the rents are much cheaper: from what I know you pay 2/3 to half of the price for the same amount of space. Example: a flat with 55-60 qm is about 6…

> [...] no language barrier because so many people here speak English. I wonder how you came up with that one. From my experience (I am German myself), Germans are not good at English. It is not so bad within the large cities but in the countryside, good luck. Just take any of the Scandinavian countries and you will find that they have a higher percentage of people speaking English. Living in Germany without learning…

The "no language barrier" point was only for Berlin. I know that in the countryside almost nobody speaks English, but inside the city you will be able to get everything you need. As far as I know most of the government agency employees are required to speak at least basic English.

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

#973

Post by Kovah »

sneak wrote: post #216
Kovah wrote: post #168

There are some smaller German cities like Göttingen which have - in my opinion - a high intellectual atmosphere because they are so called university-cities: lot's of students and academics in a rather small city. And, in comparison with big cities like Berlin or Munich, the rents are much cheaper: from what I know you pay 2/3 to half of the price for the same amount of space. Example: a flat with 55-60 qm is about 6…

Berlin is nothing like Silicon Valley. It’s a great city but job offers there are 60-80% lower salaries compared to the US, which makes Berlin being marginally cheaper (but with higher taxes) not really worth it.

You can't directly compare the salaries without taking the living cost into account. You get much higher salaries in the US, especially SV, but you also have to pay way more for living. Flats are way more expensive and don't forget stuff like healthcare and so on which is, imo, cheaper in Germany.

10-20% lower salaries is something I would accept but 60-80? Come on.

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

#974

Post by Kovah »

CalRobert wrote: post #275
Kovah wrote: post #168

There are some smaller German cities like Göttingen which have - in my opinion - a high intellectual atmosphere because they are so called university-cities: lot's of students and academics in a rather small city. And, in comparison with big cities like Berlin or Munich, the rents are much cheaper: from what I know you pay 2/3 to half of the price for the same amount of space. Example: a flat with 55-60 qm is about 6…

How would Berlin compare to a town like Leipzig? Seems like Berlin is getting comparatively expensive.

Absolutely. Berlin is one of the more expensive cities in Germany. I can't speak for Leipzig because I don't know about the "intellectual atmosphere" OP is talking about. Just know that Göttingen is a good example because I have a friend that lives there.

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

#975

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #354
fireattack wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you italicize so many words?

I don't think it's a bad style of writing for a forum like this. In natural speech, we communicate a lot by our use of emphasis. Consider three sentences which could carry very different meanings: Polite decline: "No, thank you." Firm decline: " No , thank you." Scolding decline: "No, thank you ." Perhaps not the best examples, but if italics helps reduce ambiguity and preserve more subtlety, I'm for it.

Personally, I only use italicization when I make a digressive sidepoint (for instance, using e.g. or examples given), or offer a different perspective away from the central voice I use. Its a matter of formatting preference though. Italicization helps improve readability of writing if used correctly

I have never really seen anyone in the states use italicization with the "No, thank you" example. Its better to just use emojis instead to get the same message across. Italicization used this way is sometimes treated as sarcasm or passive aggressiveness. Using italicization this way more excessively eventually goes to things like * * or writing actions in written form. Those aren't subtle, but they are really awkward to read.

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

#976

Post by dsiegel2275 »

JOnAgain wrote: post #753
dsiegel2275 wrote: post #655

This 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…

Source for world ranking?

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2018/08/17/heres...

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

#977

Post by YorkshireSeason »

tptacek wrote: post #970
YorkshireSeason wrote: post #960

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whataboutism? Since the shady nature of the Economics prices is widely known, and brand management is a core imperative for modern high-fee universities, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are just as guilty. The problem of false-Nobels is widely known and discussed among economists and physicists. I find it surprising that there is so much resistance to the (widely discussed [1]) false advertising involved in the mislabell…

It may turn out that nobody cares about the distinction you're trying to make. Sorry. I keep telling people Diet Orange Crush tastes like pennies, but they keep making it. Super frustrating! I know how you must feel.

You cared enough to comment ... twice!

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

#978

Post by kiliantics »

stratosmacker wrote: post #869
cbames89 wrote: post #708

I'd highly recommend the triangle area in North Carolina. In Raleigh, there are a large number of tech companies, RHE, Cisco, IBM, Unreal Engine, just to name a few. It has the second highest % of computer science PhDs, and it's home to NC State, Duke University, and UNC. It's also a cultural hotspot for Blues creativity. Many of the best contemporary blues artists are located here in the triangle. The cost of living…

Damn it! I was looking for ideas... I've lived in the Triangle for 15 years now, I would recommend you come after we have a light rail.

My only experience in that area makes me convinced it's not a good choice for exactly this reason. I would hate to be forced to drive everywhere.

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

#980

Post by quickthrower2 »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #954
iends wrote: post #941

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not true at all in my experience. What compensation number do you think is fair for new CS grads? 10 years ago new CS grads were getting 60k/yr and moving up quickly. Now that I often hire for the area, it's closer to 70k in my experience. Yes, you can move to SFO and make 90k, or more? But you have to adjust drastically for cost of living. Perhaps you get better RSUs and free lunch? Once you get more senior…

90k is considered very low today overall. The average new grad gets like ~150ish, give or take 20. If you get a big signing bonus like they do at Facebook it goes up to 225k+ TC for the first year. My friend graduating this year just signed an offer for ~210k first year at a trading company. It’s definutely worth it to chase the money out of undergrad IMHO.

What to grads typically do with all that money. I started on about $30k and it was more than enough. Is it all squirreled away for the future? I'd hope so!
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