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As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

nytimes.com

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Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#421

Post by grappler »

For me there is an undeniable appeal to “voting with your feet” after the result of the voting at the ballot box turned out so poorly.

I personally likely won't be impacted too badly by Trump and his supporters. I may have economic options here that are as good as or better than my options anywhere else. But I feel a need to put some distance between this country and myself now. It doesn't represent me anymore. I don't belong to it anymore. I'm not ok with the decision it made. I've even felt that it ceased to be a place worth caring about.

There are just a couple things that pull me back from this line of thinking: A broader view of history and a broader view of alternative places in the world.

History: The last election may be the biggest step backward my country has taken since I was born, but I don't get to pretend that it was so wonderful before that. Yes, we all know this. But I just relearned it even more forcefully in a piece I read a couple weeks ago: http://www.mtv.com/news/2998426/fascism-has-already-come-to-...

Places in the world: If I'm going to leave for the reasons above, I need good reasons why another place is better. But every place has its downsides. There probably is a good case to be made in favor of a number of places, but if I'm going to be honest about this, I need to research it and not move reflexively without knowing a lot about the place I'm moving to. And if I do move somewhere, I should do it with some degree of commitment to put some effort into making that place better. Otherwise any anti-immigration sentiments that exist there will probably be right about me.

Being able to chose your home, rather than having to stay where you were born, is a valuable thing. But at some point it is good to choose a home and invest in it.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#422

Post by mistermann »

doubleunplussed wrote: post #302
RantyDave wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. We also have large numbers of Chinese coming over and buying houses because it's a safe store of value... something the Chinese government can't just take one day.

Oh wow. This is happening in Australia, but with no capital gains tax it must be worse in NZ. I'm so sick of it. Houses should be for living in, goddamn it. Not for storing your cash out of reach of a corrupt government, as necessary a thing as that is.

Does the government in Australia also insist that it is only a tiny portion of sales, while refusing to actually gather data showing what the reality is?

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#423

Post by Arizhel »

self-diversity wrote: post #202
sampo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this applies to American Silicon Valley programmers, too?

Sure. Many of us don't have any need to leave America at all.

Yeah, and you don't need to even leave your city, or do anything besides go home, go to work, and go to the grocery store and a few other places like the doctor.

Doesn't sound like much of a life to me. What's the point of making 6 figures in a hard profession if you're going to live like a miser?

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#424

Post by EdwardDiego »

dvtv75 wrote: post #291
EdwardDiego wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the rebuild is very slow, which frustrates the locals no end, but it's happening. CBD (aka "downtown") area aside, we've never stopped being like Auckland or Wellington - we have overpriced houses and congested motorways too!

My understanding was also that Christchurch is the most dangerous city in the country, but I've no figures to back that up. My ex lives up there, and when I stayed with her family they had me lock the car door when we were driving through the central city, something that I found very odd, and not at all reassuring.

That's not at all correct. South Auckland would be far more dangerous and as for locking your door to drive through the CBD? That's very weird. Were they South African migrants at all? They tend to be a tad more paranoid.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#425

Post by EdwardDiego »

NickNameNick wrote: post #300
EdwardDiego wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also - no capital gains tax means that most domestic investment is poured into housing as opposed to something productive like investing in business.

Also, cost of construction is very high, which makes driving up the price of an existing house much more desireable than building a new one.

Thanks in large part to our of love of duopolies here.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#426

Post by peterashford »

RantyDave wrote: post #216
humanrebar wrote: post #3

> For all sorts of reasons, New Zealand suddenly makes sense. The cost of living is less than in San Francisco. Commuting is less wearying. And American politics, “Brexit” and the Islamic State are on the other side of the world. For the most part, this is all true in, say, Tulsa. Especially if you stay off Facebook. You especially don't have to go to New Zealand to find a cheaper, commuter-friendly place to work. No…

Houses in New Zealand are mad expensive. Auckland (for instance) now has an average house price over $1M, about $700k US. It is, I believe, the fourth least affordable housing market in the world after Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver.

That's Auckland. Wellington is cheaper and has every bit as vibrant a tech sector as Auckland. Dunedin - where I live - is downright cheap (avg house price around 300k NZD( but admittedly less IT jobs than in the bigger cities. Thing is - NZ is tiny - it's an hour flight to Auckland from Dunedin (northern city centre to southern city centre) so it's not like it's hard to move if push comes to shove.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#427

Post by mkl »

0xADEADBEE wrote: post #417
mkl wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh there are good views in lots of places in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, etc. I was specifically referring to mountains, as in the "landscape of the Lord of the Rings" the GP referred to. Besides, Sumner doesn't seem very safe, earthquake-wise, which will be contributing to the price.

Apologies for misconstruing your comment. I had no idea about Sumner being more prone to Earthquakes; I'm genuinely glad you replied because i was flirting with a move there in a few months.

Not so much more prone to quakes, but there is more chance of slips and liquefaction. If you're moving to Chch, I'd say keep to the western half, where everything's been basically fine.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#428

Post by cookiecaper »

dasil003 wrote: post #402
cookiecaper wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice, this isn't likely to happen outside of California. Most companies are not going to sue you unless it's worth their while; that is, unless your side project is making a lot of money. In California, if your side project is making a lot of money, you should probably expect to get hit with a lawsuit for misappropriation of trade secrets, etc., because that's what people do when money is on the table. It is o…

I believe you, but I'm curious what knowledge or experience you have or have witnessed that might be informative to these points.

I don't have any interesting experiences that are directly applicable. I did work with one person who was sued for violating a non-compete in not-CA, but he was non-technical VP level and founded a company that competed directly with our former employer. The non-compete was more of an add-on to trade secret violations, etc.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#429

Post by geofftnz »

lj3 wrote: post #86
TheAlchemist wrote: post #13

That's interesting ! I'm intending to make a move with my family in near future, and we actually went to visit the northern island for 15 days last month. The country is really beautiful, and there are not a lot of people around, so you can't help but feel blessed by the surrounding nature. The people are great, probably the nicest I've ever seen (as a whole). I've noted some cons though (not blocking for us thankful…

> We were pretty much shocked because we naively thought that in such a beautiful and clean country everybody is running / biking all the time. Surprisingly, NZ is not a good place for cycling. A guy and his wife[0] did a world cycling tour a while back and Wellington is the only place where he had serious issues with the locals[1]. [0]: http://www.pathlesspedaled.com/ [1]: https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2012/01/12/…

I live in Wellington and bike to work every morning (8km). Sure Wellington is not well set up for cycling - the streets are narrow, bike lanes are few (although my route is OK). However if you're not an arsehole on the road and keep an eye out for hazards, it's not too bad. NZ drivers in general have a very low opinion/respect/tolerance for cyclists, although Wellington drivers seem to be a lot more polite than elsewhere.

Re: As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

#430

Post by geofftnz »

NickNameNick wrote: post #300
EdwardDiego wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also - no capital gains tax means that most domestic investment is poured into housing as opposed to something productive like investing in business.

Also, cost of construction is very high, which makes driving up the price of an existing house much more desireable than building a new one.

Compliance costs increased in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes. Local councils also like to derive a fat revenue stream from subdivision consents.
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