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Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
41–50 of 194 posts
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#42My personal theory is that determination whether a place can become a "Silicon Valley" is the population's attitude to drugs. If a developer can smoke a joint after a tough day or explore his or hers consciousness in other ways, without fear of going to jail and having their life ruined, then that attracts creative people. If you have creative people in one place, it all starts to come together.
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if Stockholm is the closest? At least in VC per capita. Also really easy to start a company.
My Swedish friend swears by Norway's job market, but then again Norwegian people may do the opposite.
Better wages in Norway, though a more traditional low tech market focused around resources.
They've been trying to diversify for ages but can't comment on the results of that.
Haven't heard of any Norwegian Spotify, Mojang, Kings or Klarnas though.
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#44Not at all. Yes Switzerland is probably the best country if you want to follow the rules, have a good quality of life and good education for your children. Not much for developers who are looking for interesting challenges. This is due to the mentality of the population and the risk aversion of the investors. From a Swiss person.
I tend to agree. Apparently it's very hard to get funding for novel ideas in Switzerland. And yes, risk aversion is a big part of Swiss culture, an example of which being that Swiss are some of the most over-insured people, and savings rates also regularly top the charts. A fairly egalitarian society with a high standard of living makes for a people that doesn't like or "have to" take risks
And there is a quote: "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
Sometimes I wonder whether one of the factors that makes US the mecca of technology is the lack of safety net there (compared to Europe).
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#45Not at all. Yes Switzerland is probably the best country if you want to follow the rules, have a good quality of life and good education for your children. Not much for developers who are looking for interesting challenges. This is due to the mentality of the population and the risk aversion of the investors. From a Swiss person.
I tend to agree. Apparently it's very hard to get funding for novel ideas in Switzerland. And yes, risk aversion is a big part of Swiss culture, an example of which being that Swiss are some of the most over-insured people, and savings rates also regularly top the charts. A fairly egalitarian society with a high standard of living makes for a people that doesn't like or "have to" take risks
I don't know how egalitarian it is. Having visited Geneva and spoken with many people there about the crazy high cost of living - it seems that most low wage earners survive by living in nearby French towns and commuting in to work. That's an economy maintained by the indentured servitude of non-native people.
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#46I wonder why they don't mention Doodle, which is probably one of the best-known Swiss-made software solutions. Personally I use Tresorit (end-to-end encrypted Dropbox alternative), which is also made in Switzerland. And then there's Protonmail of course.
Tresorit comes from Hungary, they just made a business entity in Switzerland to look better from security/privacy perspective. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tresorit#History
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#47Trust me, there is no such thing as a European Silicon Valley, and there won't be one any time soon.
The French have a shot at this, if there is political will in Paris. Closest thing to SV in France is Toulouse: a major university; defense and related tech industries; lots of competent world class engineers; and an attractive locale.
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#48> In 2019 Switzerland attracted $ 445 million of investments. With twice the population of Silicon Valley this alone points to "no". If you add SF and the rest of the Bay Area, the populations become much closer, but the investment ratio is far worse. Of course the economy here has become rather lopsided over the past 20 years while Switzerland's economy is more diverse. (e.g. I don't think I've drunk local milk sinc…
Off topic, but Strauss brand is fairly local and quality is amazing: https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#49Other places that have been described to me as the "Silicon Valley of Europe": - London - Berlin - Munich - Barcelona - Lisbon - Karlsruhe And these are only the places I have lived (+ I also lived in SF). Trust me it's pretty much true for none of them.
Silicon Valley probably just means highly paid engineering jobs for those journalists
Re: Switzerland – Europe's Silicon Valley for Developers?
#50I’m Swiss, did CS at the University of Geneva and work at AWS in New York. “The lake is not burning” is my favorite way to describe Switzerland when it comes to software and startups. And everything else, in fact.
> The lake is not burning I am non-native, but fluent English speaker. Can you please explain what does this phrase mean?
Not OP, but it could be a literal translation of an expression in french: "Il n'y a pas le feu au lac", meaning "No need to hurry / There is no emergency"