41–50 of 60 posts
I worked +10 years in Redmond, WA as a microsoftie and came back to Romania in 2012. Since March 2016 I quit Microsoft and focused 100% on my startup, DBHistory.com. I now rent space and work at a local tech incubator www.techhub.com. I wanted to start with this to to put my opinion in perspective. While the article is bubble-gum and is clear PR, the point it makes is a valid one. Compared even to US, today Romania h…
I worked +10 years in Redmond, WA as a microsoftie and came back to Romania in 2012. Since March 2016 I quit Microsoft and focused 100% on my startup, DBHistory.com. I now rent space and work at a local tech incubator www.techhub.com. I wanted to start with this to to put my opinion in perspective. While the article is bubble-gum and is clear PR, the point it makes is a valid one. Compared even to US, today Romania h…
Hey, you can register your startup with RomanianStartups.com :). It's free.
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Oh, I don't have a dim view of Romania though, I loved my time there, I fell in love with Sibiu - actually, a big chunk of what I said/think comes from a buddy from Cluj who I've known 25 years or so - and I hadn't heard about the anticorruption initiative, that's good news. I had a knife stuck in my back at a cafe and had my camera stolen, and the police officer I found then took my passport and wanted (and got) a b…
Sorry for that :( Romania actually has a lower crime rate than the US, so you were unlucky. The cop part is what they're working on with the whole anti corruption initiative.
For example, corruption is a very serious form of crime. Romania ranks #58 (below Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Croatia, and Greece) on Transparency International's corruption index, compared to the US at #16.
With Romania having such extreme corruption, how can you be certain its crime stats are worth taking seriously? How under-reported is crime - rape, theft, violent crime etc - likely to be in a nation with corruption problems that are that bad? From other countries with even worse corruption (eg Venezuela or Brazil), what we do know is that there tends to be a direct correlation - for extremely obvious reasons - between high levels of corruption and poor crime reporting.
I am from Cluj, Romania and I am a developer for some years now. I really know how things are in the IT sector in Cluj and I really know how my country stacks up against others. The article is not accurate and highlights mostly positive aspects. The programmers are decent and hard working, but nothing spectacular going on. They might not be your first pick when you want innovation. We are mostly self-taught ( thanks…
Andrei Alexandrescu pops into my head and I'm sure I could find a few more if I thought about it.
> And within those that do use it, the vast majority are on Facebook and Youtube
As opposed to the west where everyone is using the Internet for maximizing their productivity.
> There is a lot of impostors in our universities and plagiarism is high. The dean of the Technical University of Cluj plagiarized courses from Berkeley and presents them as his own.
That is true, I've also been at UT, hehe.
Overall I kinda agree with you though. We are poor and the government won't or can't help us increase innovation rate. The talent is here though, anyone looking to create products does have a good opportunity if they choose to start a business here. In the process the native folk might learn a thing or two about what it takes to create a product and sell it.
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> You visited the US and "weren't impressed"? Yes. > Where did you visit exactly? San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle. I plan on visiting New York this year or maybe next year. > Its a very large country with over 200 million people. I think it's over 300 million now :) > What weren't you impressed with? Well... homeless people. The fact that cities don't seem to be very "walkable" (and from what I've read SF is one of…
Ha, yeah that was a typo : ) I think its closer to 330 million these days. The homeless problem in SF is really terrible and particularly glaring. Homelessness in general is a problem in many major cities in US however the intensity of it in SF is not not at all representative of the rest of the US. I'm not impressed by either SF or San Jose either, but I wouldn't say the US doesn't impress me. The North East Corrido…
We started out in outsourcing too but shifted to product in 2008 and managed to build a profitable business selling globally. I'm seeing more and more people interested in making the shift or jumping right into product, however we lack good product managers, marketing and funding. Overall i'm optimistic and i think we have lots to show if we focus our energies in the right direction.
> The labor market research firm Brainspotting reports that Romania, with just 20 million people, ranks in the top 10 globally in number of certified IT specialists What exactly is a "certified IT specialist"?
Presumably someone who has a BS in Computer Science or related field.
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> You visited the US and "weren't impressed"? Yes. > Where did you visit exactly? San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle. I plan on visiting New York this year or maybe next year. > Its a very large country with over 200 million people. I think it's over 300 million now :) > What weren't you impressed with? Well... homeless people. The fact that cities don't seem to be very "walkable" (and from what I've read SF is one of…
Ha, yeah that was a typo : ) I think its closer to 330 million these days. The homeless problem in SF is really terrible and particularly glaring. Homelessness in general is a problem in many major cities in US however the intensity of it in SF is not not at all representative of the rest of the US. I'm not impressed by either SF or San Jose either, but I wouldn't say the US doesn't impress me. The North East Corrido…
Personally, I'd classify the culturally distinct areas as Pacific Coast, Big West, Mormonland, Deep South, Mid-Atlantic, North Mexico, Eastern Megalopolis (Washington DC to Boston), Middle Neutralia, Flori-duh (aka Murica's Glans), and Cajun Country.
Having visited most at least once, and lived in three for at least a year, each are impressive in different ways. It isn't always a positive impression.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ha, yeah that was a typo : ) I think its closer to 330 million these days. The homeless problem in SF is really terrible and particularly glaring. Homelessness in general is a problem in many major cities in US however the intensity of it in SF is not not at all representative of the rest of the US. I'm not impressed by either SF or San Jose either, but I wouldn't say the US doesn't impress me. The North East Corrido…
The US is very much like 5 to 12 different countries pretending to be one. Personally, I'd classify the culturally distinct areas as Pacific Coast, Big West, Mormonland, Deep South, Mid-Atlantic, North Mexico, Eastern Megalopolis (Washington DC to Boston), Middle Neutralia, Flori-duh (aka Murica's Glans), and Cajun Country. Having visited most at least once, and lived in three for at least a year, each are impressive…