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Ask HN: New Zealand?

19 points by pluies ↗ HN
Hello!

I am reaching out for the kiwis hanging out here.

As a recent graduate in CS looking for a job abroad to see more of the world and discover new cultures, I am very interested by New Zealand — English speaking, high standard of living, immigration-friendly, and unbelievable landscapes and hiking trails.

As a lot of HN readers, I'd much rather work for a small company creating interesting stuff than for a corporate behemoth, so I wanted to know: What's the start-up scene like in New Zealand? And the programming job market in general?

Any information (from tips about NZ in general to names of hiring startups) would be greatly appreciated.

10 comments

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[dead] kaffiene
There's a reasonable IT market in Auckland and Wellington. You won't earn as much in NZ as in the US and there are probably less start-ups per capita, but that said, I've worked for quite a few startups - they certainly exist.

The biggest difference I think is that in NZ, VC is harder to get and there's less of it.

Re: NZ - most of the beautiful bits and good trails are in the South Island whereas most of the IT work is in the North Island, so you probably need to be prepared for a little bit of flying (though, it's 1 1/2 hour flight from the northern most big city to the southern most one)

CyberFonic
Hi ! I'm a Kiwi currently living in Sydney - on "West Island" as we joke in NZ. There are some world class companies based in NZ, e.g. http://www.wetafx.co.nz/. Of course, you won't find a startup scene like Silicon Valley - but the commutes and cost of living are also far more manageable. Also consider that many emerging markets are located in Asia and NZ is better aligned to those time zones.

I'm not up to date on job opportunities, but would suggest that it's a great place to launch a bootstrapped startup from. The World is indeed Flat - the internet has abolished the tyranny of distance if your business model doesn't require shipping goods or face-time with people from all over the world. Good Luck !

GeniusNet
We have a lot of ex-pats working in NZ (including my fellow co-founders at iWantMyName).

http://iwantmyname.com

You need to make a trip down here and get involved in the tech and business networking scene and meet some people. The start-up scene is smaller and more fragmented than in the Valley. You just have to get out and network.

I would also recommend reaching out to established companies to begin with. Most "start-ups" here are not venture funded, whereas larger firms are more likely to be seeking talent.

UP is an excellent tech community that runs some cool networking events. Also, sign up for the New Zealand StartupDigest.

http://up.org.nz/ http://startupdigest.com/

jgamman
Akl based here. not a dev so take some salt - CS has a different vibe to other industries. it's a small country with all the pros and cons that go along with that. don't expect to land with a good idea and find a VC who'll chuck you $100k based on your 3 min pitch. most people i know doing their own thing do contracting gigs to pay the bills and do their own thing on the side ie, get paid 4 days/week and do your own thing 1 day/week - slide the 4 down to 0 as and when you can. the other thing mostly lacking in NZ is the big company/industry that supports the 'small provider ecosystem' - the big two in NZ are Fonterra (milk powder/farming) and tourism - neither of which (unfortunately) do a lot to support smart people developing widgets and websites. if you wanted to come over (and don't get me wrong - so long as your expectations are well calibrated, i think NZ is one of the best places in the world to be) i'd suggest a reasonable LSD trip (look, see and decide) say, 2-3 weeks min. and then if you still like what you see, make sure you have a couple months of your own cash to draw on - nothing beats the crap out of your creative zen than wondering where your next batch of 2-minute noodles is coming from (== ramen equiv.). have fun: if you make it here, drop me a note and i'll shout you a flat white and take you to piha for lunch - you haven't lived till you've walked a west coast black sand beach ;-)
wmboy
Fish n' chips or mince pies? ;-)
ayers
I am a Kiwi currently working in the UK. I only moved over to the UK a few months ago so I still have a fair idea of what is going on in NZ. You are more than welcome to contact me with any questions you have about NZ and the development scene.
akat
Not to take over OP's thread but since relevant people would be reading and responding here, how is the startup scene in Oz? Compared to NZ and US?
CyberFonic
Oz has more startups, even Google have an engineering team located in Sydney. As for VCs, there are quite a few, but compared to the Silicon Valley VCs they don't have the same appetite for risk. Compared to NZ, there are more ops, etc. Cost of living in Oz is somewhat higher than for NZ, but not by much. You have to remember that Oz is about the same size geographically as the US, but with less than 1/10th the population. If you want to ski a lot, the NZ south island is heaven. If you want to surf and enjoy a beach culture, then northern NSW and Queensland are terrific.