Australia or Canada, which one is the best country for a gee

Ruby
41

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:

Hmmm … how about a small group of RoR hackers that just works out of a
well-equipped airliner and lands only to refuel and goof off? :slight_smile:

I was think more of something like this:
http://www.exec-yachtsales.com/10130.htm

And I’m not joking.

– Matt
It’s not what I know that counts.
It’s what I can remember in time to use.

42

Good thought-direction!

I was think more of something like this:
http://www.exec-yachtsales.com/10130.htm

Good size boat/ship.
Great price.
A lot of work to get it tidy.
Floating is a good start though!

MarkT

43

Hi,

can’t speak for Australia, never been there.
As far as Canada goes:
I moved to Waterloo, Ontario six years ago and enjoy it here.
Lot’s of High-Tech industry around (RIM for example), really excellent
University (UW was the only Canadian University visited by Bill Gates on
a campaign to recrute developers for Microsoft in 2006). Lot’s of
startup companies as well. Lot’s of insurance companies (if you like
financial software).

In terms of quality of living. Housing (although not cheap and prices
are rising) is much more affordable than Toronto or Vancouver. At the
same time Kitchener-Waterloo is big enough (>300k) to provide lot’s of
good restaurants, theaters, sport facilities. And if you really need the
big city experience from time to time, Toronto is only a one hour car
ride away. Also there are 3 international airports within a one hour
drive (Kitchener, Toronto, Hamilton).

The downsides:

  • poor public transportation system --> hard to get around without a
    car, unless you are a hard-core cyclist, especially in the winter.
  • winters are cold and long (on the other hand a nice crisp sunny winter
    day can be very enjoyable).
  • summers can be hot and humid, although this year has been pretty good
    so far.

Just my $0.02.

Armin

Houman D. wrote:

Hello folks,

Sorry for this too off topic email, but I think you can help me as I
believe you folks in the Ruby community are the smartest geeks I’ve
ever seen.

I’m planing to immigrate to Australia or Canada, but am not sure which
one is a better place for a hacker (As Paul Graham calls us).

What I’d like to know is, which country can help me to be a better
programmer? user groups, seminars, availability of resources and
things like these…

Thank you all in advance and sorry again for OT message,

  • Houman D.
44

Nathaniel B. wrote:

But, as I glanced over the thread, I did notice a very important
point. With todays technology, you don’t need to be local to benefit
from the world community of Ruby. We are increasingly closer by the
day as technology gets more real and more life like with an amplitude
of simplicity that changes the landscape dramatically when making a
decision like this.

There’s something to be said for hanging out in coffee shop with a group
of like-minded geeks hacking on projects.

There’s even more to be said for hanging out with dislike-minded geeks
who can keep you form getting insulated in some pristine Ruby cocoon
(you avoid the geek version of the Elvis Effect, where no one around you
will tell you how sucky your favorite language or framework is).

My experiences with the post-meeting dinners for Refresh Phoenix and the
Phoenix Ruby group showed me that in-person chatting bandwidth can’t be
beat.

–
James B.

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