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Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

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Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#101

Post by Ovid »

Ovid wrote: post #92

I'm an American who's lived in five countries and currently lives in Paris, France with my French wife and our French-American daughter (and if you're curious, I have a blog about how you can move abroad, too: http://www.overseas-exile.com/p/start-here.html ). I note that the author says their aren't enough jobs in the US or Europe and I've got an issue with that. Yes, Europe is also struggling with the world economi…

Note to self: don't post replies when you first wake up. Those typos are humiliating :(

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#102

Post by shadowfox »

tptacek wrote: post #64
fractalsea wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I take that for granted along with many other things. It doesn't mean that I have a less enjoyable/more for-filling lifestyle without them.

Where "enjoyable lifestyle" falls somewhere along the diarrhea spectrum from "chronic" to "intractable". It's unfortunate that people here will think I'm being glib with this comment, since diarrhea kills more people in the developing world every year than cancer does in the US.

> glib with this comment

In general I agree with your sentiment. But you do make it sound like people in India are dropping like flies because of diarrhea (which I am not sure is the case)

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#103

Post by tptacek »

shadowfox wrote: post #102
tptacek wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where "enjoyable lifestyle" falls somewhere along the diarrhea spectrum from "chronic" to "intractable". It's unfortunate that people here will think I'm being glib with this comment, since diarrhea kills more people in the developing world every year than cancer does in the US.

> glib with this comment In general I agree with your sentiment. But you do make it sound like people in India are dropping like flies because of diarrhea (which I am not sure is the case)

You should look up the stats.

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#104

Post by fatjokes »

w1ntermute wrote: post #94
tptacek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world would be better off exactly how, if we all shared New Delhi's standard of living?

I think he meant that in a purely normative sense, in terms of Westerners having the birthright to a good life while being absolved of the atrocities committed by their ancestors so that the high living standards enjoyed nowadays in the West could be achieved.

yup. this is exactly what i meant.

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#105

Post by doktrin »

HunterV wrote: post #71
doktrin wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. Really? I truly don't get the hype about that movie. They definitely got the visuals right, but a lot of it felt "off". Quite a few of the cultural stereotypes were awkwardly over-played too. Also, Japan is really a different bird when it comes to integration. Not all countries have the same jarring and visceral division between foreigners and local society.

It feels "off" because it's strange for Americans, who grow up in a culture that is made up of immigrants to understand that cultures with centuries of history aren't very accepting of people who are different. Don't get me wrong, the international community is very accepting, even loving. But when you get to actual nationals, other than a few exceptions, you'll never be truly accepted.

> It feels "off" because it's strange for Americans, who grow up in a culture that is made up of immigrants to understand that cultures with centuries of history aren't very accepting of people who are different.

I lived there for a few years as a teenager, and didn't really have an experience that jived with the general atmosphere depicted in the movie. YMMV, I suppose.

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#106

Post by pfedor »

graeme wrote: post #34
rayiner wrote: post #7

I view with a deep distrust the new class of global capitalist that thinks we must inexorably become "global citizens." The western world didn't come from nowhere. People built it, and their successors should be able to reap the fruits of it, not have to flee to the developing world. I read an article the other day (it was in Forbes or maybe Business Week). Some American was talking about the investment opportunities…

>where the bottom 10% live as well as the top 10% do in developing countries. You clearly have never lived abroad. Money goes further. I once lived in Cuba, for an internship. I had housing and food provided by my employer, they paid the family $800. I had $500 spending money on top of that. I lived like a KING. I've never been that rich in my life. People made my food, cleaning my room, cooked for me, did my laundry…

I couldn't find reliable figures for China, India, Brazil or other countries, but I'm very certain I'd rather be in the top 10% of those countries than the bottom 10% of America.

You'd be right about Brazil.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t...

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#107

Post by doktrin »

barry-cotter wrote: post #85
doktrin wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. Really? I truly don't get the hype about that movie. They definitely got the visuals right, but a lot of it felt "off". Quite a few of the cultural stereotypes were awkwardly over-played too. Also, Japan is really a different bird when it comes to integration. Not all countries have the same jarring and visceral division between foreigners and local society.

Come now, Japan is by some distance the most xenophobic first world country. If you look Asian, learn to speak Japanese very well, adopt a Japanese name and citizenship you can integrate but those are all necessary conditions. On the overplaying the foreignness people on their first sojourn in a really foreign country do the tourist goggling all the time. One needs a lot of foreign travel experience to start treating…

Not sure you really read my post. I never claimed Japan was an easy country in which to integrate (on the contrary).

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#108

Post by doktrin »

tptacek wrote: post #58
doktrin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> In exactly what way am I worse off simply because some rich tool has a private jet or a Bugatti Veyron? Measures of "happiness" and "contentedness" are tightly bound to our environment. Being at the respective top or bottom of a given social order has a meaningful impact on quality of life perceptions. Obviously, some Maslow'esque hierarchy of needs applies here, and no-one in the world is happily starving. > But…

Veblen goods aren't the most effective means of investment for the greater good, but their exorbitant cost funds the salaries of the craftspeople and engineers and technicians who make them, and the designers and writers who market them. I'm not saying that buying a Bugatti is a social good; it clearly isn't. I'm just saying that those purchases aren't a drag on the middle class, except to the extent that they repres…

> Again the point is: simply sitting around being rich isn't intrinsically harmful to the lower and middle classes.

Fair. I've long held the opinion that, within reason, "less" income inequality is better than "more". However, your statement is accurate.

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#109

Post by statictype »

EscKey wrote: post #26
fractalsea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me those images of New Delhi look 10x more exciting to live than http://abcdunlimited.com/ideas/images/suburbia.jpg for example.

Why does it feel Hacker News is completely blind to the rampant corruption, poverty and rape of New Delhi. I often read about how great it is here, unlike any other website. I suppose not being female helps. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/04/20134271442181816... Ignorance is bliss. Let me spell it out for you. THERE IS NOTHING FUN OR EXCITING ABOUT IT.

When that type of terrible thing happens in India (at least these days) it's headline news. Are you seriously suggesting that these things never happen in any developed country?

Ignorance is bliss. Let me spell it out for you. THERE IS NOTHING FUN OR EXCITING ABOUT IT.

As a rule of thumb, when you make hyperbolic statements like this, it becomes very easy to not take you seriously.

Re: Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas

#110

Post by pwim »

resu wrote: post #67
pwim wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a job as a developer in Japan right after I graduated from University. I wrote about my experience here: http://www.tokyodev.com/2011/08/19/finding-a-job-as-a-ruby-d... Having an in demand skillset (like being a developer) opens up a lot of possibilities.

Interesting read, thanks for sharing! I spent two summers in Tokyo in an investment bank, although I was too focused on having as much fun as possible to find what non-finance opportunities were available. Also, the prospect of working actual Japanese hours were not very exciting. How was the work-life balance at Ubit? How is the market in Japan for (foreign) developers? If a recent grad were to follow your footsteps…

Even though I worked at a Japanese company, I didn't work Japanese hours. 10am-7pm were my typical hours.

Good developers are in demand everywhere! If you're a developer who has some side-project / open source contribution you can show off, I think finding a job isn't too tough.

I can't really comment on now vs 2006. I had no network back then, so that job was literally the only interesting looking one I could find. Now, I know of lots of good companies.

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