Go to Portugal.
Great weather with amazing beaches and country side, low cost of living and lot's of engineers that can speak fluent English. Also the government has subsidies for tech companies, specially in the IT sector.
Spain is ok as well, but I find that people there have a hard time with English and like to party a bit too much.
And the comments about London are true. It is very expensive to live here and the quality of life is appalling. Many people who start out in sexy industries ( games, web, etc... ) gravitate to finance because they can't afford to live an adult life here on the wages of those industries.
The European startup ecosystem arrived
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
"work for" != "full time salaried employee"
i meant that - is that true that in America there are more risky, romantic hackers that would be happy to work for a promising startup for nothing, than in Europe, where too much people want to be full time employees ? without any critics, just wondering.
I suspect most Americans have annoying personal requirements like bills and mortgages to pay same as Europeans.
College students don't have these overheads, but they don't have experience either - so coding for next to nothing is a good exchange for experience and resume padding.
However, if you're an experienced developer and you work for nothing without a huge chunk of equity or ownership in the business then you're a fool. Look up some of the job offers on Craigslist - you'll be very much in demand.
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#33The first comment is correct - this is the UK scene more than the european scene. My real problem with the UK scene is the relative lack of talent available to startups. Where do talented graduates from the UK want to work? Banks, consultancies and accountancies. How much do they want to be paid? About £40k starting, please. With the cost of living being so high in London, why wouldn't they? Unless you can raise enou…
I do get a fair amount of job offers from startups in London, but they are very inflexible about remote working (I'm in Scotland). Want me to move to London ? Sure, double whatever salary you're offering and I might consider it. Otherwise it would be a big drop in my standard of living - nice big apartment up here for cardboard box down there. There is a lot of good talent in the UK, the problem is we have a massivel…
heyhey zeemonkee, drop me a line if you're interested in talking about remote working. g
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do get a fair amount of job offers from startups in London, but they are very inflexible about remote working (I'm in Scotland). Want me to move to London ? Sure, double whatever salary you're offering and I might consider it. Otherwise it would be a big drop in my standard of living - nice big apartment up here for cardboard box down there. There is a lot of good talent in the UK, the problem is we have a massivel…
I've been planning to move from Spain to London for some months. You're scaring me. Is £40.000 not enough for a decent flat and once a month flight back home?
LOL. 40k ~= 29k / year after taxes? That's 2400 / month (I'm not sure what health care coverage you get for that, it's been 10 years since I lived in the UK, but let's assume it is fully covered). A 1 bedroom is what nowadays, 1600 / month if you're not picky? Add public transport fees (100 euro / month?), above-average cost of food (depending on where you go and what you eat, obviously - 250 euro a month for 1 person if you're a bit careful should be doable); utility bills (gas, water, electricity; let's say you're not home much and it all adds up to 150 / month; that leaves 300 for clothes, cell phone, insurances, furnishing your apartment, social life if you want to have one, various local taxes, ... Luckily Ryanair flies for cheap, but the Stansted Express is already another 25 euros ;)
Obviously there are many people living off much less, but don't expect the same standard of living you could buy elsewhere with that money...
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been planning to move from Spain to London for some months. You're scaring me. Is £40.000 not enough for a decent flat and once a month flight back home?
LOL. 40k ~= 29k / year after taxes? That's 2400 / month (I'm not sure what health care coverage you get for that, it's been 10 years since I lived in the UK, but let's assume it is fully covered). A 1 bedroom is what nowadays, 1600 / month if you're not picky? Add public transport fees (100 euro / month?), above-average cost of food (depending on where you go and what you eat, obviously - 250 euro a month for 1 perso…
Sorry, I switched currencies somewhere halfway in my post, I don't quite remember where - but either way, either your net pay will go down or costs go up so the actual situation is worse than what I describe.
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#36The article highlight for me was "Silicon Valley has been around a lot longer than London and is more mature".
Possibly our very European sense of perspective is what's holding us back...
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do get a fair amount of job offers from startups in London, but they are very inflexible about remote working (I'm in Scotland). Want me to move to London ? Sure, double whatever salary you're offering and I might consider it. Otherwise it would be a big drop in my standard of living - nice big apartment up here for cardboard box down there. There is a lot of good talent in the UK, the problem is we have a massivel…
I've been planning to move from Spain to London for some months. You're scaring me. Is £40.000 not enough for a decent flat and once a month flight back home?
40K is around 2450 per month after tax.
If you don't want to share a flat and don't want to spend more than 40 minutes commuting per trip allow around 1000 for a single bedroom flat in zone 2 or 3. Council tax is around 100/150 per month. Water/gas/electricity/internet should be between 150 and 200 per month. Monthly pass for zones 1 to 3 is 120 a month. So fixed costs are around 1500 a month. This leaves you 950 per month for food, clothes, gadgets going out, travelling and for saving some money. Healthcare is free for now.
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been planning to move from Spain to London for some months. You're scaring me. Is £40.000 not enough for a decent flat and once a month flight back home?
LOL. 40k ~= 29k / year after taxes? That's 2400 / month (I'm not sure what health care coverage you get for that, it's been 10 years since I lived in the UK, but let's assume it is fully covered). A 1 bedroom is what nowadays, 1600 / month if you're not picky? Add public transport fees (100 euro / month?), above-average cost of food (depending on where you go and what you eat, obviously - 250 euro a month for 1 perso…
You can get a perfectly decent furnished flat in a normal inner-suburb area of London on little more than half the suggested £1600, and if you plan your flights in advance the cost on a low cost carrier is negligible. £40k per annum isn't going to offer you the same kind of luxury in London you might get in other cities, but it's a perfectly adequate salary to enjoy the city on.
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#39People earn far too much in Germany to be attracted by startup salaries. Still, once I finish my part-time masters, and my wife goes back to work too, I wouldn't mind getting into the scene. Got a few ideas, but would probably rather be a technical co-founder alongside an ideas/business guy.
Still, if anything is happening in Cologne in the mean time, give us a holler.
Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived
#40Go to Portugal. Great weather with amazing beaches and country side, low cost of living and lot's of engineers that can speak fluent English. Also the government has subsidies for tech companies, specially in the IT sector. Spain is ok as well, but I find that people there have a hard time with English and like to party a bit too much. And the comments about London are true. It is very expensive to live here and the…
Come and join us. Read our post about opening our R&D office in Portugal. http://blog.webnographer.com/2010/10/an-rd-office-in-lisbon/
Portugal salaries maybe lower but if you have not lived in Portugal for 10 years you can apply for non-habitual status which means you pay a flat rate of tax of just 20%!
Also you have the sun!