Ask HN: If you could live and work somewhere, where would it be?
If you could pick one place or city in the world where you'd live and work (software dev) for the next 10 years. Where would it be? And why would you pick that place?
Alas, my parents weren't Swiss, but they were from a reasonably liberal (in the sense of 'liberty') country which has a quite a bunch of the elements Switzerland has so I could've roll'ed it far less fortunate.
Only downside for Switzerland is the weather, but its a double edged sword. Sure, its generally cold. If you just work out regularly its not that bad. The air however is crystal clear which is an advantage for me given I'm a former smoker and have COPD and asthma in my close family.
... its eye-popping cost of living.
In a supermarket, t-bone steaks are $60-80/kg, free range chicken is $20-25/kg, organic chicken is from $30/kg, etc. The quality of food is outstanding though.
The same goes for eating out - $40 for a simple lunch in a non-fancy place without wine/beer is fairly normal. A good bowl of ramen (which you still need to find first) is from $20, more close to $25-30 with all the trimmings. There is McDonald's, from about $20 per meal.
The weather is very much secondary to this. Just 2c.
Obviously if you're already very frugal and disciplined it's another story. But IMO high living standards are more important to me than cheap prices, otherwise I'd go to SE Asia or something like that.
Quite frankly I wouldn't mind not having much money to live on. My living standard doesn't evolve around e.g. eating out. I want my own apartment (for two), a cheap car, a good laptop, a reasonable good smartphone, and some interior stuff (the usual plus some expensive kitchen equipment as outlier). That's pretty much it. You don't need a high income for all of that. The only expensive one is the car and that's something you save up for (long term investment).
Health is the most important to me; from which everything sprouts. I've been in Switzerland a couple of times. The air in Switzerland is night and day compared to where I live (NL), and I don't even live in a big city.
If enough IT people move to Switzerland (I know some known figures who have) something nice can brew there. For example, Google has a lab there.
Even if you can't get an IT job there's non IT jobs available, including low wage / low education. Perhaps Norway is a better country in that regard. Postal service delivery, for example, earns a lot compared to NL. The weather is Scandinavian, but due to the Mexican Gulf temperature near coast is higher than Sweden and Finland (this also keeps fishing trade alive in winter). Relatively clean air, and they're also neutral (tho less than Switzerland).
Obviously it'd be a backup plan. I don't think you can get a visa for that anyway. Another option could be remote work.
A high income is also good for saving, so you can bootstrap your own ventures in life instead of being beholden to a govt' retirement program or a specific employer.
[1] http://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/product/output/climate-data/...
[2] https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=valais
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/11/travel/52-plac...
With the coming of VR I expect we're going to see more commonly people who barely if ever go on vacation but go on vacation via VR. You can see the Eiffel Tower on pictures right now. What if you could experience it with VR? Although even that I CBA with.
If you want to live in a city with a good night life there's tons of options available, I got quite some good experiences here and there (Berlin, for example, I found far more amazing and friendlier than Amsterdam while I'm in Amsterdam in 30 min) it just depends on your personal interests tho.
I'm not saying that the best thing about Vienna is the highway that get away from it (LOL), but as a foreigner it's the perfect "beach head" to explore the continent (and Eastern EU is crazy fun, people are more can-do than can't-do. There are a billion other reasons such as history, culture, cuisine, outdoor & sports ... Taxes are high (like everywhere in EU) but you get decent healthcare. Also salaries in IT are good especially if you are freelancing pretty identical to Germany. (avg > €60,-/hrs).
Another one of my fav is Berlin. Salaries not as high but fantastic software / start-up ecosystem. City is very affordable compared to other parts of Europe so lower salary is not huge issue.
disclosure: I'm Austrian (though have lived outside Austria the past 20+ years)
EDIT: typos
Basically everywhere in the German speaking world it's considered kinda weird to talk to strangers and people are quite...Shy, I guess? It's always the thing I appreciate most on visits to Canada, the US or the UK, just how talkative and nice people are.
This applies more to Austrians than to (north) Germans, and the Viennese are additionaly also grumpy and complain about everything, despite living in one of the cities with fewest things to complain about.
Also personally felt a lot less accepting of foreigners than Berlin. I far more often felt like a curious attraction and "obviously" you're not really Austrian if you're not ethnically Austrian, even if you speak German and have lived in Vienna your whole life.
Once you master the Austrian 'Schmäh' everything is good :)
Ouch. That's pretty bad, especially for... you know... Austria.
this is good: http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21712044-ci... (always wondered what is the reason so many great minds have put their thoughts to paper (all during roughly the same time) in Vienna. The place was a breeding ground for both the most crazy and the most genius ideas.
You can see they are quite similar, but it's also obvious that Soviet Block happened to one of them.
If you like urban life, as long as you can pay your bills it's the best and most interesting city in the world.
It also helps with a good view :) http://000fff.org/uploads/PH6.jpg
- Real estate. Of course, this is the root of all evil. - Driving is a bitch. My wife once asked me to go walk in a Central Park with a kid. I was looking for a parking space for one and a half hours. Literally. I drove back home. Because of the real estate, parking garage prices are ridiculous.
- Restaurants. Overpacked with tables. Because of the real estate, owners pack their restaurants with as much tables as possible, so they could fit more people and be able to pay out rent/etc. Anniversary dinner? You'll have it with your wife, a gay couple and several business partners.
- Subway. Don't get me started here. People pee in the subway. Trains are delayed all the time.
- Medicine. I have a top-notch insurance. Every single doctor is scared of everything he/she is saying. It seems like all of them think that my next appointment is with a lawyer. Doctors are very "limited" in what they do. In my case, I compare with doctors from from my native country. They are more like engineers there, – never prescribe you anything, until the actual defect is determined.
- Emergency Rooms are terrible. Best hospitals of NY. My kid was at 104F+. We came in at 12:30AM. Doctor saw us at 4AM. Same thing was with my pregnant wife. We ended up leaving the ER at 5AM because their system was offline and they couldn't get us anything.
These are just a very few things. There are much more. I'm still looking for a place to raise my kids.
P.S. New York is amazing for doing business.
edit: formatting
Sunday you park for free in Manhattan and should have no problem finding a spot up around Central park. Was there yesterday myself.
Restaurants are something you need to kind of learn how to deal with. I can honestly say that I am now mostly never having issues finding a right restaurant for any kind of need. Read eater.com and use opentable plus become a regular at a couple of restaurants and you should soon get access to easier dining.
I take the subway everyday to work switching from L to R. Takes me max 30 minutes normally. Sure there are delays but it's not that bad IMO.
Healthcare here is very different than europe (i am from denmark) it's a long discussion. I know what you are saying but there are drawback to european style healthcare too.
Agree.
I Think New York is amazing for raising kids. They will get a perspective on life that's hard to get anywhere else. But it's not for everyone :)
The subway will ruin you if you rely on it to commute daily at peak times. Even if on it just for two stops. It's absolutely a mess. Nose in strangers armpit after waiting for three trains to pass you because they're at capacity is a very real thing - now just imagine the train is held even ten minutes in a delay ... a panic attack in that situation is highly possible.
The restaurants and food scene is incredibly overhyped, overpriced, and I routinely get sick after eating at good restaurants. Yeah maybe there's some three Michelin star places but I never go, and cannot afford or get a reservation anyhow.
The people are great though and I'll miss them. Random locals I chat with when walking the dog, or the merchants and shopkeepers in my neighborhood. Good, interesting people. But they're usually the ones who've been here decades, not the transplants
I don't think it's great for doing business. The pace can feel good at times, but drain you all the others. And the city is not what I'd categorize as a "small business city," it's very corporate in opportunities and mentality.
We are going to Melbourne Australia to raise our kids. It is so much better for kids and yet still offers what NYC has but on a smaller more reasonable scale. It is not perfect, truthfully every major city around the world right now is facing issues, but better suited to manage them than NYC. It's far, but you should consider it. I am friends with a Bulgarian couple with a small child who love it and the kid is very happy too. If you are in tech you may be able to do independent skilled migration where you are given permanent residency even without a job sponsorship. Happy to help if you're interested, we can exchange contact info.
But New York although expensive is surprisingly child friendly and have experienced a surge in the number of people with kids (think like 30% in the last 5 years.)
Once they hit Kindergarten there is plenty of good schools for free. I am hoping to be able to stay here for many years and have my boys be real New Yorkers.
That's great to hear! I'm really hoping the trend back toward the cities (and away from the suburbs) continues in America. I think walkable cities are much better than driving everywhere.
Also I work at the same building as square HQ in SF, haha.
I'm in Williamsburg on the waterfront too :)
I am a design lead at Square, plus I sell a fairly successful app on the side.
[1] World Happiness Report http://worldhappiness.report/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016... (pp 13)
Also a little bit boring and if you are not a "german" speaking person you will always feel unwelcome.
Compared to other EU countries it is relatively cheap, but still has a pretty good quality of life. I'd say if you are earning a western salary, as long as you like winter, you can have a better quality of life than living somewhere like the UK (where I'm from).
There are direct flights to most European capitals, so if you want to work semi-remote that's an option too. There are lots of lakes and it's not too warm (max 35c for a few days a year), so it's nice to chill out here in the summer.
Vancouver is truly a beautiful city, with a fairly low crime rate considering it's the 3rd largest Canadian city. A good place to work, a great place to raise a family.
The only drawback if you are working in an international firm is that we are one of the last time zones to conduct business in. Be prepared for 5am or 6am teleconferences with Europe, and 10pm calls with Asia.
Additionally, the excellent public transportation meant that spending time walking outdoors (to the subway, etc) was much more likely than in a city where you are just walking from your office to your car. Just my 2¢.
Other than that, I agree. Well, and also the giant, flying cockroaches. They're pretty bad too.
Or Tainan. Tainan was awesome too.
The road signage and markings are identical to my home country of Canada. People drive on the right. The electrical plugs are the same. Almost all of the road signs and public transportation signs are in English as well as Mandarin.
The one notable exception are the Taipei city buses. Those are Mandarin-only. I guess they don't expect too many foreigners to be taking those!
Spectacularly beautiful area; small (40,000 city/100,000 Albemarle County which is huge in terms of land area); University of Virginia (20,000 students) anchors a wonderful college town vibe; very high-end options (Wegman's/Whole Foods/Apple Store 1 hour away, etc.); 2-hour drive/2.5 hours train from Washington D.C.; growing tech hub reputation/community (little Austin); airport with lots of flights is 20 minutes from anywhere in town with ZERO security lines; cost of living trivial compared to Washington/NYC/LA/SF; no traffic jams ever; nice people.
I grew up in Milwaukee, then lived age 18-35 in LA with a year in Tokyo, moved here at age 35 in 1983: I wouldn't dream of living anywhere else.
I do work on the West End of Richmond now but I still live in Cville.
I am a software developer like you and I work from home for a company based on Seattle.
Anyway I am not here to convince you to move to this city in particular but please consider low populated areas with green spaces.
This move has changed the life of my two kids, they went from being all day in their rooms playing with ipad, videogames etc to play outside, riding bikes, climbing trees, etc. Each one have like 10 friends they see every day. I feel they have more self-confidence since they can go outside alone for hours.
It has affected me as well, everything seems to be faster in an small town. There isn't queues when you go buy something, the services are better. Example the car wash in this town will pick up my car, wash it and bring it home. If I ask for a pediatrician home visit, the doctor will be in my front door 30 minutes after I call, compared to 4 hours. There are less places for food than in the big city, but it is more handmade and better.
The people is friendlier and there is honesty and trust among the neighbors. First time I went to buy something I ran out of cash and they didn't have debit/credit, the owner say "no problem, pay me tomorrow" even if I insisted to cancel the operation.
It took me a while to found a good internet service, I tried 3. Right now I have a 20M connection.
Anyway I think it has been the best decision I made in 2016. I am very happy to live here.
One question, do you honestly ever feel like you're "missing out" or feel a sense of isolation by being so far away from a denser place? While I think cities are over-rated, I do feel that there is a variety to my immediate environment that I'd be missing if I moved to a small town and had a family. I strongly suspect this could be a false perception though.
I tweeted few weeks ago that I moved here and found another guy in IT few kms away. Also the first week I invited two neighbours to a bbq (asado!) and turns out one of the guys worked for HP. Not enough for a meetup yet but I am considering havig some beers with them.
My wife didn't want to move out few years ago, two weeks after living here she told me that she was very happy to live here and she suffer every time she had to go to the city.
My 11 daughter has done more friends here in two months than in her entire life living in the city and my son 4yo son is about to learn to ride a bike.
My advice will be at least to try it out, it will change your life for ever.
Downsides: Expensive, I can't speak Dutch.
For Americans who are tempted: check out the DAFT program (Dutch-American Friendship Treaty), which gives entrepreneurs a two-year visa, renewable for another two years. It was relatively painless.
As for the Dutch speaking — it's not necessary in Amsterdam, as everybody speaks English. But I am indeed making an effort to learn the language. In fact, it's a bit frustrating to practice, as everybody just speaks English to me. This is a common problem with non-Dutch-speaking expats here.
There is a wee cafe on the Singel which does BLTs which are so good, that it the only food that i care about, everything else is mere mass. These BLTs though...
Yes, I'd move for the BLT alone!
PS: Food-wide, there are many local shops of high quality depending on your preferences. I can highly recommend Maoz falafel although there are also less well known shops selling good falafel. The salad bar has unlimited refills. Although the stores are so crowded/popular I never end up going to refill more than once.
Unfortunately I'm not alone in loving it so real estate is crazy expensive (even more so than NYC/SF).
Hopefully the boom will end at some point making it affordable again, but I don't hold out much hope for that.
That being said, HKers have done a better job of adjusting to this by making (tiny) apartments available whereas in SF you're forced to pay more for a bigger space.
[0] http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-expensive-cities...
If "close to family" wasn't a factor then: San Francisco, Seattle, Lyon (France), Barcelona, and London (for a little while).
It's hard to beat the benefits of the massive tech ecosystem in SF. It would be nice if some of that ecosystem moved to the South. Chattanooga and Nashville are nice cities that I wouldn't mind living in either.
The South's peculiar mix of dominionism and right-wing fervor makes strange bedfellows of fundamentalists and rapacious capitalists. Low taxes starve infrastructure and the social safety net, and those are what drives stability. Without stability, entrepreneurialism cannot happen. Without entrepreneurialism, the closest you get are places like Austin and RTP: big, established companies moving people for tax reasons that does nothing to foster innovation.
Atlanta really should be the next big tech hub, but it won't be so long as the regressive politics and systemic racism of the south remain unaddressed. Charlotte would be great except that things like HB2 make the prospect of moving to NC a complete nonstarter for many in the already-marginalized LGBTQ population. The list goes on.
Pros: Most livable city in the world. Great startup scene. Phenomenal transportation options. Great universities. Fantastic street art everywhere. Amazing food. USD vs. AUD is quite good for USD right now so it is pretty affordable.
Cons: Internet not blazing fast. Beaches elsewhere in Australia are much better (it is on a bay = no waves).
I feel the need to add...
Melbourne does have great surf beaches within about 1-2 hours’ drive: Bells Beach (which hosts an annual World Surf League tournament [1] and was depicted - falsely - in the 1991 Patrick Swayze & Keanu Reeves movie Point Break [2]), Jan Juc and Fairhaven on the west coast; Gunnamatta, Point Leo, Cape Woolamai to the east.
These beaches can offer world-class surfing for serious surfers.
However, the weather is quite cold in winter and it's not a tropical climate, so they're not very pretty beaches and not much fun for ordinary leisure beachgoers, except for the warmer months of December to March.
The beaches in Sydney and further up the East Coast to Far North Queensland are much more pretty, and for much more of the year, as are those in Perth and up the Western Australian coast.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Curl_Pro
[2] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
(As an Indian) Cons: India usually loses/struggles in boxing day tests.
Melbourne has got to be one of the best cities in the world if you enjoy sports.
In the city, I love cycling up and down the bayside trail. Sure you can't surf there, but to be able to the water and smell the salt on a bike path that can take you to the CBD, that's good enough to relax me. Lots of activities like kitesurfing, free beachside powered BBQs, etc make it a fun place when the weather is good enough. St Kilda beach is a happening place in summer with a lively boardwalk. Go further south on the path and check out Elwood for a quieter scenic environment. Continue on to Brighton Beach and check out the beach boxes. Keep going further and once you get to the Sandringham area the beaches become more rugged and ocean-like. On a clear sunny day it's really beautiful, water very blue and nice sand. Bonus: you face the sunset on Melbourne's bay beaches, which can be really nice, whereas the rest of the east coast of Australia only gets sunrises on the beaches.
Regarding internet - if you're in an area with cable, you can get cable internet which is 60mbit and fine. NBN is rolling out slowly which is 100mbit+ but mostly in newer developments for now. I could never do DSL. Mobile is good in the cities with Telstra usually ahead of US carriers in speed.
Unfortunately the climate outside of summer is kind of crap, relative to the rest of Australia, but the city is vibrant enough to offer other things to do in winter (which is not that cold, but the homes aren't built for winter and heating, and the sky gets gloomy a lot). On the plus side, you can take your vacations in the winter when it's summer in the northern hemisphere, or explore SE Asia where its warm year-round, or stay in Australia and check out Queensland or WA which are nice in winter.
Cons: no landscape to speak of.
True. They aren't in Melbourne though.
By 'no landscape' I mean 'flat as a pancake'. I like a city with hills, views, and especially views over water with an interesting coastline. Wellington and San Francisco are good examples of cities that I like the shape of. Valparaiso and (less so) Santiago as well.
Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed being in Melbourne. It's an easy place to live with great people and a lot going on.
* Booming tech scene, with a healthy startup/VC ecosystem.
* Best weather + location (benefits of sun + proximity to the ocean are well-documented, e.g. http://www.livescience.com/37819-health-benefits-living-near...).
It's no surprise that people from SF and NY are flocking here ;)
Oh there are issues of course, lots of homeless, not bicycle-friendly, etc. But it is definitely on my short-list of cities to consider living in.
I felt like I was stagnating in the US. I wanted to pursue computer programming but I didn't study it in college and didn't quite have the skill set to succeed professionally at that point. My original plan was to buy a van, drive around warm parts of the US, and live cheaply while I studied for a year or so. Then I realized that I would have a lot more runway if I went abroad. Three weeks later (on the day of my 25th birthday) I was in Cambodia... for absolutely no planning whatsoever things have turned out very well. While low cost of living was originally the main reason I chose to live here, now there are many things that would make it hard for me to go anywhere else. I have become a different person here and living a very simple lifestyle (80$ per month apartment in an ultra densely populated neighborhood, no hot water, no AC, no TV, walking everywhere, eating only healthy food, exercising daily, etc.) has fixed most of my numerous neuroses :)
There is a lot more work in Glasgow it seems. We are considering moving and I get the odd email from some Scottish recruiters I spoke too. Thus far I think virtually 100% of the jobs they have sent my way have been based in Glasgow.
It's one of the few cities in the UK that I would be tempted to move to from Bristol.
What are the others, out of interest?
Transportation is cheap, it's very easy to reach other places in Asia and Korean people are very friendly (IMO).
If you like technology and shiny new things, Korea is definitely the place to be.
I am not fluent in Korean (still very far from becoming) but still consider Seoul as one of my favorite cities (if not my favorite) period
Koreans are also a bit racist but if you do not mind it's fine.
I honestly don't care what country, so long as it's at least relatively modern in its conveniences and isn't a dictatorship of some kind.
This is usually synonymous with low bandwidth though.
* Kazan, Russia. A big city with a great architecture, interesting people and a broad mix of cultures. Also, part of family is not too far away.
* Finland, mostly because I am interested in their education system and my child gets into that age… Otherwise it's also a tech hot spot, plenty great people and projects originated there.
* Crete, Greece, great climate, kind people, beaches, mountains (awesome nature), terrific food.
Average low in Jan/Feb: -13 deg. C (~ 8 F)
Record low: -47 deg C (~ -52 F)
Average low in Jan: 7.5 F (~ -13 C)
Record low: -41 F (~ -41 C)
I would go back if there was a decent job waiting for me.
Tourism isn't really a problem because the tourists stick to the resorts. The upside of a flourishing tourist industry is that you can get dirt cheap flights from all over Europe.
I've spent a lot of time in Tenerife. Santa Cruz, in the North, is a lovely city. The weather is pleasant all year round, beaches nearby, the people are friendly and the food is excellent. Accommodation is cheap and readily (and informally) available, prices are generally lower than mainland Spain so for most Westerners the cost of living is low. Most amenities are there - you've got a cinema, large supermarkets, big brand stores and so on. Getting things online may take a bit longer, I missed Amazon Prime.
You will almost certainly need a car if you plan on doing any kind of travel around the islands. Gas is about the same as most of Europe, perhaps a little lower.
The main downside for foreigners is that outside of the resorts fewer people speak English, but Spanish is easy enough to learn. There is a large ex pat community, though they tend to concentrate in the resorts for obvious reasons.
(Also Carnivals are great! Don't listen to the person who said otherwise. They run for a week or two every year, everyone dresses up, gets drunk and pees wherever they can.)
The problem is the massive and often very noisy tourism. Good luck trying to concentrate to make a deadline in Carnaval or in a small apartment in front of the beach. If you choose the zone carefully, neither too isolated nor to close to the hot-turism spots, could work.
Food is cheap, rental vary from very expensive to relatively cheap. Life can be cheap except if you need to exit often from the islands and take a fly, or when need to buy a new car (must be imported and there is only a single guy in the island that can sell you this brand), or need something special.
Working remotely seems the only option I guess
If I had to complain about something it's that I find Israelis to be relatively clique-ish, the postal service sucks, and the light rail isn't finished yet. OK, so there are no utopias.
Tel Aviv is a greatly underpublicized and underrated gem of a city, probably due to politics, which is sad because politics/the conflict has virtually no effect on day-to-day life here, and because it's difficult to get a work visa if you aren't Jewish, but that's slowly changing since the army and academia are only producing about half the amount of qualified/credentialed/experienced labor the tech sector needs every year and it's now impacting the growth of what's now the most important sector of the economy, and both are already relatively huge compared to other Western countries, so it's not like the government could expand the military or academia further in order to get more labor, and it's starting to warm to the idea of allowing more non-Jewish immigration to compensate.
Great place, with unique quirks :) like periodical bombardments from Gaza strip...
First of all, it's very reasonable. About 40% cost of rent compared to SF or NY and food/entertainment are also much cheaper.
Second, I think it's secretly the best food city (per dollar) in the country. Everything from the $7 cheese steak to a $50 dinner is great and you never wait in lin or fight for a reservation.
Third, easy access to the whole east coast. Amtrak to NYC or DC before lunch.
Fourth, great history and a vibrant culture. The city is also very pro-growth and seems to get better all the time. No NIMBYs.
Sixth, very solid infrastructure. Decent public transportation, great hospitals, world class universities in the city, etc.
Finally, I like the people there. They have a reputation for being tough but it's just a veneer.
I don't yet live without neighbors - I'm in the 3rd or 4th largest city. I occasionally stay in a little primitive (no power/water) in the woods, and we have some plans of moving to a less populated area. We just have to stay within a reasonable commute to the city for work.
The cost of living is very low, and the climate is pretty nice all year. There's a lot of good restaurants and cafes, and lots of variety. You can find some pretty good Mexican, Indian, Italian, Japanese, etc. There's a lot of 24 hour coworking spaces and cafes to work from, and it's always very safe to walk home at 3am. The crime rate is very low. There's also a lot of meetups and things to do. There's a lot of cinemas with movies in English (and Thai subtitles). There's bowling, ice skating, archery, paintball, and lots of parks and hiking trails.
Major downsides are the "burning season" which lasts for a few months every year, when the air is full of smoke. Also, the traffic is pretty dangerous. It's nowhere near as bad as India, Cambodia, or Vietnam, but it's pretty bad. Another downside is the lack of live music, theater, etc. You have to go to Bangkok to see any international bands, and they don't come very often.
If visas and money weren't an issue, I have a big list of places that I would like to explore before moving somewhere long-term. Examples: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Andorra, Austria, Sweden, Estonia, Dunedin (NZ), Arrowtown (NZ), New Haven (CT), San Luis Obispo (CA), Portland (OR), or Denver (CO). Maybe New York.
I'm generally based in Stockholm, Sweden; my home town and just generally a lovely place to live. It's certainly not the cheapest, but everything works really well and internet is fiber by default nearly everywhere these days, 4g if wireless. People are friendly and the city is clean and beautiful. Driving sucks, but public transport is great and runs all the time, so not a big deal. I can take a ferry to get downtown, which is winning in my book. Plenty of flight options out of Stockholm to go anywhere in Europe as well, including a short hop to London, Frankfurt or Helsinki, which will basically take you anywhere.
That said, I'm now currently in Florida, because January almost anywhere in Sweden is cold, wet, and dark. I'll be working from here for a while before heading back, at which point I might just go somewhere in south Europe for a while.
My point is, I absolutely love Stockholm as a base of operations and summer in Sweden is unbeatable in my opinion and I couldn't see myself anywhere else, but I need the freedom to go where I want/need to be. Being tied down to an office building again isn't something I could do and still stay happy – maybe if I start a family of my own, but I have no such interest.
My life is generally more expensive and messy now, but I'm much, much happier.
I'd love to have that freedom, I already work remotely, but I can't really be offline for multiple days unless it's on purpose for vacations.
I almost exclusively go to places where I know internet isn't going to be an issue, for when I'm working. I do a bit of research beforehand when necessary, but it's generally not.
I have no idea what the practicalities of a life in Paris are, but it's still at the top of my list. In maybe half a dozen visits, I've found Parisians to be quite friendly for city dwellers (very much counter to the stereotype). If I approach situations in my severely broken French, people figure out quite quickly that their English is better than my French, and like most everywhere else in Europe, nearly everyone under 40 speaks excellent English.
Maybe it's one of those things that looks better to an outsider than it is, but the pace of life is very attractive to me.
I'm far less surprised that nobody has mentioned Chicago, but it's not bad here. For a large city, it has most everything I want: great art, great restaurants, etc. The cost of living here is obscenely low relative to NYC or SF. For far less (monthly rent vs. mortgage payment) than friends who rent one bedroom apartments in either city, we own a modest, but very nice detached house in a nice neighborhood smack in the middle of the city.
Between the recent dramatic uptick in shootings and the truly shitty weather in the winter (though spring and summer are glorious), it's pretty hard for it to bubble up to the top of anyone's list.
The stereotype incorporates the inherent rudeness of city dwellers (particularly compared to the rest of a country). My belief is that the stereotype also comes from monolingual Americans who start off in English and assume (or appear to assume) that everyone speaks (or should speak) English. If you start in French, it shows some amount of effort and respect for their culture.
Other than the cold/hot weather, there's nothing more I could want out of chicago. As you said, the cost of living in comparison to other big cities is incredible.
people that arent from chicago think it's a warzone. They're right, but it's only that way for the people unfortunate enough to be living in the small number of areas that are so disproportionately affected by it.
To me, it removes weight from the actual truth (that a proportionally smaller number of people are being horribly affected by the violence) to represent it as something that everyone is facing some comparable likelihood of being shot/hurt.
It is a Chicago problem, not just a south/west side problem, and I think everyone here should feel empathetic and responsible for helping us all get past the issue, but I guess I just don't like it being represented as if well-to-do people face anything even remotely comparable to those in austin or englewood etc.
If you like being outdoors, this is the place. The culture here is exactly that: to be outside all the time skiing, cycling, climbing, hiking, etc.
The only downside is that it's quite expensive :(
Also, what is the tech industry like there and what neighborhoods are up and coming but still super safe?
I would go back to Italy in a heartbeat if I were retiring, or if I were a software developer doing remote work. Great people, great food, great history/culture, etc. I'd probably pick Venezia (Venice), one of the most stunning places in the world. One of the tourist-free areas, of course.
The problem with Italy is when you have to deal with people for work. Terrible. A nightmare. I would never do that again.
I was actually offered an on-site dev job around there once but had to turn it down due to economic reasons and other commitments back home.
I guess the tech scene is decent, but the other factors I mentioned mean a lot more to me. (I would almost prefer it if the area weren't as much of a hotspot, actually...)
Alternatively (And this is something I'm actually going to try for software dev in 2017): winter on the Canary Islands and summer in Sweden.
I'll try to focus on my SaaS and have a nice, steady income to turn my dream true.
[0]: http://www.medicaldaily.com/world-happiness-report-scandinav...
Granite big walls and boulders to climb, powder to ski in winter, microbreweries and relatively cost of living.
Bellevue/Kirkland/Redmond is my second choice, and I like Washington outside of Seattle more than anywhere else in the US. Since I now have my own company, I'm fine with it -- if I had to work for Microsoft, another startup in WA, Google Kirkland, or something like that, I'd probably stay. Best overall blend of startups, sane government, qualify of life, great culture, environment, etc.
If I had the flexibility to leave, I'd be interested in: Beijing. Kharkov. Israel. Berlin. Hong Kong. As it is, I just got back from a trip to Kharkov, and if I had to hire a lot of ops/admin/tech people, it would be really really tempting. I'm also interested in Utah and Tennessee in the long run, and Montreal.
(What I'm really looking for is a 5-10 acre property in King or Snohomish County which has gigabit Internet, is not in a city with restrictive building codes, permits shooting (hard in King County), ideally borders a hill or non-buildable land on one or more sides, is on a decent road, ideally isn't too far from SEA or downtown Bellevue and Kirkland, maybe is zoned Ag (I'd be happy to do hobby farm ops on site), and is "affordable". That's possibly overdetermined, though.)
It's a "big" city in Asia without being massive. (Bangkok, Tokyo, Manila, etc.) Great coffee shop scene, rooftop bars, restaurants, and friendly expat entrepreneurial community/vibe. In fact, Obama came through a few months ago and gave a talk at one of the co-working spots to some of the local entrepreneurs!
Here are some good write-ups on entrepreneurship in Saigon:
https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/the-worlds-best-start-up...
https://www.coworker.com/lab/14-reasons-why-saigon-is-the-ul...
Though the startup scene here is changing very strongly and bigger companies from all over the world open offices here and consider Japan as the 'gateway into the asian market'.
Give it a try! The dream of moving to Japan is really not that difficult, especially if you're doing IT.
I'm here now, have been for six months (on sabbatical; studying Japanese half-time). It's interesting...sometimes I feel isolated (as anyone would when you don't speak or read the language fluently), but folks here have been quite friendly and supportive. I've found it easier to make friends here than in SF (where I've lived for eight years). Inasmuch as you can generalize an entire country, people here are forgiving and curious and friendly...just shy/introverted and overworked.
The foreign people who do best here seem to be the folks who are a) at least a little bit outgoing and well-adjusted, and b) don't have unrealistic prior expectations of what "Japan" is. So many weirdo, socially isolated expats come here expecting one long manga/anime/kawaii/samurai adventure that will fix their broken lives, and they're disappointed to find a country of normal people who work hard, have families and lives, and mostly don't do any of those things.
Love the food and the baths and the transit though. Wish they would adopt insulation. And decent cheese.
Another big reason I love it here is how safe it is. After having lived in SF for a few years, there's a lot to be said for that.
Re: being difficult. I would disagree. Moving to Japan and dealing with immigration took me 4 months and multiple lawyers. The bureaucracy is real.
small, international city, everything in arm's reach, looks stupendous, young&sexy vibe, great college town rhythm, close to everything worthwhile in Europe, high-tech job market, top notch culture in Brussels (20min trainride, 4x an hour). Expensive for Belgian standards, but it's a blueprint for aspirational cities of the 21st century: human-scaled, wealthy, georgeous, diverse economy, and centrally located in the global village.
Philadelphia, PA:
best urban core in the US: compact downtown, wonderful residential areas surrounding it (old city, fairmount, society hill), great 19th century grandeur, close to everything worthwhile on Eastcoast, top notch culture. Primarily here because it is affordable and allows you to live a luxurious city life on a normal income.
Lugano, Switzerland:
italian flair in Switzerland. No jobs, but you won't care in a place that looks like the riviera nestled in the Alps. Great for outdoors people, heavenly in all seasons.
This would be as far south as I could go on the planet without being an NSF scientist assigned to McMurdo and still be within US jurisdiction. Technically would count as a very legal tax haven within the US defense umbrella. I wouldn't be paying the IRS but rather the territorial government.
Yep, just need a good working satellite connection since the local broadband isn't that great and I would be good to go.
Great food (lots of multi-cuisine restaurants), warm for more than 9 months in a year, cold otherwise but not freezing cold and a happening tech. scene. The work isn't top-notch yet, but it's improving.
Would need central air conditioning in summer though.
I'm also partial to the Portland, Oregon region, as well as New Orleans. Both of those would be pretty high on my list of potential places to live, if I ever left Chapel Hill.
Live in Oakland and it's hard to imagine living anywhere else.
I'm living in Europe and I'm working in the tech industry. We were in a business trip in Asia with people from different countries and everyone had his own different answer.
My boss, living and working in SF Bay Area, answered: "The Bay Area. I'm already living and working in the best place."
That temperature range means Mediterranean weather, so the list of cities is the following:
Barcelona, Marseille, Cape Town, Adelaide, Perth, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile.
1) Public transport is good, when it works. It often doesn't.
2) Public transport is good, until you have a job that has structured hours- which is most jobs, as evidenced by the INSANE rush hour. 20 minutes in some guys armpit feels like multiple hours.
3) You can't afford to live somewhere nice. I mean, I earned quite a bit more than the average and was spending 50-60% of my take home salary on rent. And I lived in a bad neighbourhood. (because I wanted to live alone).
4) Pubs have the same problem as the transport system, super crowded at rush times.. spills into the streets, especially in the west end/theatreland.
That said, if I had the money to live well in London, it would be a great place to live.
If I had to pick a city, I'd pick Helsinki or Oslo. Scandinavia is beautiful, socially progressive, has great education and health services, and is conveniently located to the rest of Europe.
You just have to deal with the cold for 9 months out of the year.
it is my favorite place to be. The town is friendly. I love all the farms, and there are plenty of outdoor activities to do.
Sure, it rains a lot. (Some houses are on stilts and the only road out of town floods over a few times a year) But IMO, it is worth it.
Now to find an IT job where I can work remote...
I'm not sure I could live there, however. The downtown area is limited and a little run down. It also seems like you have to drive everywhere. The salaries don't reflect the cost of living. The IT market was a little anemic, but remote work could make these last points moot.
It's worth a visit all the same.
The only downside is that in 10-20 years it will probably become overcrowded.
I was there last year and loved it (equally Van was lovely), but the rent looked almost as outrageous as London.
tech + ocean + mountains = ️
With their salaries, I could retire at 30 instead of 65.
As a determined single person chasing FIRE you probably could pull off some arbitrage by renting a room somewhere far, but a more reasonable lifestyle and raising a family, I doubt it.
Warm climate, fantastic food and friendly people. Modern city with developed infrastructure. I lived there between 2011 and 2013 and enjoyed every bit of it. Upon leaving, I knew that I would go back to live there again because I loved it so much. However recent events and overall political direction Turkey is taking is killing that wish within me. I really hope things get better in Turkey.
Great weather. Super supportive people. If you have the drive, you can get it done here. Relatively safer than other parts of India.
Lived there for 6 weeks this summer. Hard to say how it will look in 10 years, but it's an amazing place.
I liked the beach vibe, but the actual beaches in comparison to some are sort of "meh." That said, the BCN mix of options puts it in my top 3 cities in the world easily.