Appsterdam: A Haven for Indie App Makers?

Post by breck » Mon, Jun 27, 2011, 3:53 PM UTC

DeusExMachina wrote: post #26

breck wrote: post #18

> "The conclusion I came to was that Amsterdam was the most livable city in the world." Before publicly stating that idea I would have waited until I had lived in the place for a few years. I've been to Amsterdam and about 50 or so other cities in 30 countries(sorry for the humble brag here). I would never come to that conclusion for one reason: the winter weather. I personally love the Northern California climate an…

He was here this winter and I can tell you it was pretty cold, so he already experienced it. From my personal point of view I can tell you that it's bearable. I biked all winter long and I can bear it. That's not the only way to move of course, and a lot of people take public transport during the winter, even though a good percentage still bikes. Moreover I like much more changing seasons and I'm not really a fan of…

Post by saghul » Mon, Jun 27, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

vegasbrianc wrote: post #23

bxc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, NL is pretty expensive to live in if you're earning USD; the tax burden is high if you're used to the US (though there's some offset because that tax includes what would be private medical insurance in the US); and people are forever grumbling about how hard it is to find places to live in Amsterdam. So maybe there's a reason for that. The meeting on 6th July in their event planner is labelled as 'weekly' thoug…

I lived in The Netherlands (right outside Amsterdam) for 6 years. It is a nice country with a lot to do and see when it wasn't raining. But the Dutch tax the heck out of you on everything. On the flip side you get an 8% holiday bonus mandatory by the government but most companies already compensate this into your salary already. If you are an entrepreneur I would recommend never to hire a fulltime employee and only h…

Post by bxc » Mon, Jun 27, 2011, 4:55 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #24

sunchild wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, to the point that learning Dutch on the fly is hard because nobody will try to speak it with you when they are so good with English.

If you approach someone in Dutch speaking with a (non-middle eastern) accent, people will switch to English without asking. It's horribly annoying really, learning the language (and thus really picking up the oh so important subtleties in professional and private life) is made really difficult this way. People often explain it as kindness, but it's really just plain rude laziness: for many Dutch people, speaking slow…

Post by richcollins » Mon, Jun 27, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

bxc wrote: post #11

tomh- wrote: post #4

Instead of promoting Appsterdam with vague stories about how awesome Amsterdam is, I like to see more concrete and specific information. I understand that its just starting up, but this would be nice to have in the (near) future. Like: - Average cost of living is X - Developers can earn X-Z salary - Tax burden for companies is X - You can find apartments in the range of X-Y at site Z - X companies joined this initiat…

well, NL is pretty expensive to live in if you're earning USD; the tax burden is high if you're used to the US (though there's some offset because that tax includes what would be private medical insurance in the US); and people are forever grumbling about how hard it is to find places to live in Amsterdam. So maybe there's a reason for that. The meeting on 6th July in their event planner is labelled as 'weekly' thoug…

Post by DeusExMachina » Mon, Jun 27, 2011, 5:17 PM UTC

rickmb wrote: post #19

vesto wrote: post #5

What about the language barrier? Is English prominent enough in Amsterdam to easily get through everyday interactions or would you need to learn an entirely new language in order to truly enjoy the city?

The only barrier you will encounter if you actually want to settle there is dealing with paperwork. Companies and official authorities will gladly help you in English, but the paperwork is in Dutch. People often seem to forget the implications of that tiny detail when they move here.