Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

helsinkibusinesshub.fi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

541–550 of 632 posts

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#541

Post by cambalache »

tarruda wrote: post #39
cambalache wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No catch, they only want to "capture" SV engineers. So if you work for Google in San Francisco and you convince your bosses you can work 3 months from Helsinki legally and hopefully for Finland form a company there or meet a Finn and bring them back to the US with you.

> meet a Finn and bring them back to the US with you Can you elaborate on this part?

Mr Johnny Boy, a Google engineer with 10 years of experience goes to Helsinki with this program, he loves the place but 3 months later he returns to San Francisco, 6 months later he quits Google and founds a start-up. He remembers about Linus, a young Finn who he met there and who is a OS wizard. He hires Linus as a his # 1 employee.2 years later the company is doing great so they open their European branch in... Helsinki.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#542

Post by enriquto »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #106
siavosh wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish humanity didn't need a military but saying the world's largest military doesn't give anything back is a bit misleading. Some would argue the world's largest military enable the post WW2 order and with it the free trade that most of the world depends on. So in a very concrete way, the American tax payer subsidizes much of the world's economy. Now in a post cold war with the growing isolationist tendencies of Am…

I think the point is that you can choose to go live somewhere that is not the USA and you continue reap the benefits you describe, all the while paying a different countries taxes and personally benefitting much much more. If I was an American, I wouldn't want to be footing the bill for Global Security either.

> footing the bill for Global Security either.

It is way too generous towards the USA to describe its military as "Global Security". The U.S. military main job overseas consists in defending north-american economic interests by military means. If this implies overthrowing democratic governments or supporting dictatorships, or the inverse, so be it. It is more a like a mafia (that protects the economic interests of the people who support them) than a police force (that is supposed to protect everybody).

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#543

Post by refurb »

sellyme wrote: post #537
refurb wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to see intellectually lazy comments like this on HN. It could have been phrased in a much more engaging tone rather than an attempt to "score points".

I'm Australian, I have no interest in scoring points for Finland. It's an honest representation of the differences in how those two countries are seen by an international audience.

It came across as very lazy and cynical.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#544

Post by enriquto »

dharma1 wrote: post #382
eru wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have lower taxes (than in America) and excellent public services in Singapore. Eat your cake and have it, too. Very startup friendly as well and excellent food. The tropical weather takes a bit of getting used to, though. I much prefer gloomy European skies.

I think Singapore is one of my other favourite cities in addition to Helsinki! In many ways it's very different though - while the taxes are lower, its generally much more expensive, especially if you have kids. Singapore is a very dense, packed, hot city - you get a bit of island fever and are not so close to nature. Helsinki is literally the opposite. Singapore and Helsinki are both very, very safe, but I find Sing…

> I think Singapore is one of my other favourite cities in addition to Helsinki!

You have a really open mind if two such different cities are your favourites! In my view, Helsinky is a really nice place, but Singapore is a scary, hellish dystopia.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#545

Post by refurb »

jnurmine wrote: post #520
refurb wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that Finland was in a crappy position during WW2. Aligning with the Nazi's was a matter of realpolitik. And I agree that their involvement in the Siege of Leningrad amounted to a blocking force, but mother of god, that blocking force contributed to an absolutely horrific existence for the civilians inside the city. One could maybe argue that if the Finns didn't help the Nazi's the Nazi's would have been enable…

I agree that the Leningrad siege was a terrible suffering for everyone inside the city, no question about it. I'm not sure though what Finland could have done otherwise; if they had not been where they were, Leningrad would have received shelling from all sides, and like you say, the city would have been under siege anyway - possibly with worse consequences, since the Lake Ladoga route would've likely been cut then a…

I mean, I'd argue Finland should have no been there. Sure, the Nazi's would have probably taken their place, but it's better than having your country associated with such a horrendous siege.

And yes, there is plenty of Nazi "taint" to go around that was pretty quickly forgotten/forgiven after WW2. The Russians are definitely the big ones, but also the Finns, the Hungarians, the Romanians, and of course the Italians.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#546

Post by buzer »

throwawayzRUU6f wrote: post #501
exDM69 wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don't necessarily want to use that angle on Finland... the gas tank is pretty large and gas is highly taxed, both figuratively and literally. While the cost of car ownership and general cost of living is high, I'd like to point out that you don't necessarily need a car if you live and work in Helsinki. Or at least you don't need two cars in the household. A bicycle is a perfectly viable option for transport for…

Well, good luck hauling small kids, furniture, gardening or construction materials by bike or public transportation. Most of the adults are not singles in their twenties or early thirties, living in a rented flat. Once you get a family or buy a house, owning a car is basically a must. And the price tag for it in Finland is very high. 1000e a year just for mandatory car tax, mandatory yearly checkup and liability insu…

> Well, good luck hauling small kids, furniture, gardening or construction materials by bike or public transportation.

I see plenty of parents with small kids in public transport, those that are using strollers don't even need a ticket. I even remember one co-worker telling that when he moved to Helsinki, he tried using car once to bring his kids to school & coming to work after. He switched to metro after that one attempt and said it made things much easier.

Furniture, materials etc. are not usually things you are transporting daily (or even monthly). Personally when I needed those, I just either paid for home delivery or rented car for few hours.

I won't claim that there are no need for car (e.g. there are some routes that take a longer with public transport compared to your own car & there are ares which don't have many connections available), but it's not as critical as some people might think.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#547

Post by ashtonkem »

yason wrote: post #416
ashtonkem wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take home alone is a meaningless number if you don't compare it against cost of living. This is a bit like asking "how much to fill up your car" without asking how big of a gas tank it has first.

You don't necessarily want to use that angle on Finland... the gas tank is pretty large and gas is highly taxed, both figuratively and literally. In addition to the relatively small salaries, the cost of living is pretty high in the capital area. If you do move to some of the smaller cities your price-to-value ratio for living will go up way faster than trying to reach the same ratio by instead hunting for a larger s…

> You don't necessarily want to use that angle on Finland

I don’t have an angle other than “compare salaries against CoL, rather than looking at salaries alone.” I find it very interesting how the automatic assumption is that I’m arguing for or against Finland here in some sort of proxy left vs. right fight.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#548

Post by randomfinn543 »

finn_american wrote: post #497
ptero wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do people respond to imperfect Finnish? In the US I (as a non-native speaker) was very pleasantly surprised that accents do not matter and mistakes that do not kill the meaning are universally tolerated. People would still gladly chat with you over beer, etc. But that is not the case in some other countries: optional conversations suffer a lot if you, say miss a few conjugations. Where do Finns stand on this?

They immediately reply in English and have little tolerance for someone speaking their language with even a vague accent. Have seen it many times.

As a Finn, I'd interprete this as trying to be helpful, and less about not tolerating accent. "Oh, they're struggling with Finnish, it's easier for all of us if I switch to English." In my opinion, this is one of the top reasons for difficulties in learning Finnish - it's difficult to get the Finns talk Finnish with you. One has to insist.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#549

Post by biztos »

JacobSuperslav wrote: post #480
0xfaded wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved from SF to the Nordics on a startup visa and feel obligated to temper expectations whenever I see these. - There are good schools and people, but don't expect the density of top people to be anything close to SF. Finding friends to talk shop with requires active engagement. - Every European country is trying to promote itself as startup friendly, and what you are seeing from a distance is being heavily curate…

I agree with everything you said, except that moving away from SF can only be ideological. To me there are some other advantages: 1. some of the cities here are walkable and cyclable. can't say the same about SF. 2. my kid goes to a free kindergarten and it's been fantastic 3. healthcare doesn't revolve around money, and again, great experience with the public sector, including my wife giving birth here. it's a breat…

I lived in SF for 8 years and never once drove a car.

I don’t even ride a bike, but most of my friends do.

Why do you think SF isn’t walkable/bikable?

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#550

Post by [deleted] »

dmix wrote: post #296
deanclatworthy wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding dentisty: Yes, but they can be pricy. I think I had some minor filling work done once and it ended up being around 200-300e. There is absolutely no issue if your issue is acute or serious with the public healthcare. But as mentioned, if your issue is complicated (e.g. i have an undiagnosed hip issue for a year) it takes ages to get scans and such.

In Canada our wait times aren't so bad but the quality of service is much to be desired. A lot of the most talented move to the US for higher pay, which most 'average' people probably dont notice but as someone who takes pathology courses for fun online I've noticed we don't get the 'best'. The major thing beyond that perception though is you get a ton of doctors offices who work like mills, they try to get as many p…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN