From: Tim Bray <Tim.Bray@...>
Date: 2007-07-29T15:22:25+09:00
Subject: Re: [Very OT] Australia or Canada, which one is the best country for a geek?!?

On Jul 26, 2007, at 5:21 PM, Houman Dunnil wrote:

> 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...

I'm Canadian, lived in several places there, have friends & relatives  
in Oz, spent lots of time there.  Currently I live in Vancouver but  
have been considering relocating to Melbourne for quite a while now.   
Vancouver & Melbourne regularly both place in top-5 best places to  
live in the world lists, so it's not a slam dunk.  As regards Canada,  
it depends what kind of high-tech.  If it's telecom, Ottawa.  If it's  
finance, Toronto.  If it's Web2.0 stuff, Vancouver.  If being in  
California's timezone is important, Vancouver.  If it's fun & good  
food you're after, Montreal or Vancouver.  I wish Vancouver had more  
winter sun but I just can't take 5 months of snow on the ground, so I  
don't really have a choice.  These days, get a high-tech job offer  
and you can get into the country, no prob.

Any big Australian city is going to be a lot warmer, but then there  
are the spikes to 40�C and the high winds and the awful, horrible,  
bugs.  On the other hand, the people are awfully nice and the wine is  
better.  My impression is that the Aussie IT scene really does suffer  
from being an 8+-hour flight to anywhere, and a 15+-hour flight to  
any other tech center.  But these days, you can find a Ruby tribe  
wherever you are.

  -T