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Comment by dachworker | Hacker News Reader

NYC is a much more attractive location than Warsaw, not just because of the salary, so I fully expect the open roles in NYC to be filled very quickly.

I always wondered why American companies have offices in such unattractive locations. Last time I saw a company whose only European office was in Belgrade. Who are you going to convince to move to Belgrade to work for your company, lol? This is not like the US were all states speak English and have broadly shared cultures.

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On a below-average US salary living in Belgrade your quality of life would be equal to a 7-digit salary living in the US. Not to mention that you would be in one of the safest cities in the World for women and children and generally would live better than Seinfeld on Park Ave :)

and of course everyone speaks english…

As I said in the other comment, I just don't think it would be a good experience when one is a foreigner. Maybe if you consider it as just an adventure. I personally think I would get bored and lonely very fast.

oh man, honestly this can’t be further from the truth, regardless of your age, marital status… belgrade in particular and europe in general would be anything but boring for US folk!

This comment brought to you by the Belgrade Board of Tourism!

I'll say this: I once had to talk with a team in Belgrade. I was honestly not looking forward to it due to language barrier and such, but I didn't know anything about Serbia.

I was pleasantly surprised that that team spoke better English than most folks in the US. Every one of them.

If that's any indication of how most of the city speaks, I don't think any English speaker would have a bit of trouble communicating.

As polish immigrant who moved to NYC as a kid and grew up here there's no place I love more than NYC but you're wrong about Warsaw. I've been to most major cities in the US and Europe and the standard of living in Warsaw is better than 95% of them.

I know that Warsaw is a great city, but I don't want to be a foreigner in Poland. I think there's a host of aspects that would impact the standard of living, when one is a foreigner in another country, that you aren't fully considering. NYC is great because it's a city of foreigners. Warsaw isn't.

That’s the point why they are opening offices in Warsaw, they don’t want you to relocate there, they want to hire local engineers willing to work for like quarter of the US salary, and there’s no shortage of people like that there.

I went to Belgrade a few years back over Christmas by myself and had quite a good time.

In particular, the Nikola Tesla Museum, free walking city tour, massages, and some cool bars.

Everything was really inexpensive compared to say Germany, and the women over there... they are stunning!

Of course it'd be different to live over there, but it really wouldn't be the worst place to end up if you were earning a decent salary.

Only obvious downside for me was smoking in restaurants (I can't remember but probably bars as well). Not sure if it's still the same now.

> Last time I saw a company whose only European office was in Belgrade

Obviously this is done to hire local workers. In general, and especially in Europe, most people are not interested in moving away from their home country if they can avoid it, even if it means a vastly reduced earning and career advancement potential. Serbia in particular has lots of engineers with a phenomenal quality to cost ratio.

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