From: Max Muermann <ruby@...>
Date: 2007-07-29T19:36:27+09:00
Subject: Re: [Very OT] Australia or Canada, which one is the best country for a geek?!?

<snip>

> But these days, you can find a Ruby tribe
> wherever you are.
>

Australia has a great community. True, things tend to be mostly driven
by Rails - but there's plenty of Ruby mixed in.

We recently ran RailsCamp07 in the bush north of Sydney, which was
hands down the best geek experience I've had.

http://toolmantim.com/article/2007/7/17/rails_camp_07_rundown
http://www.flickr.com/groups/rails-camp/pool/

The community is truly outstanding.

Now for the hair in the soup...

The IT industry in Australia is much, much smaller than most other
countries (Australia has a little over 20 million people). It also
seems that Australian companies have over the last few years developed
a regrettable aversion to any sort of risk, which now translates into
a reluctance in businesses to evaluate Ruby and Rails for their
projects.

There is quite a bit of work around for Rails developers, but
Australian rates seem low compared to pretty much anywhere else.

I've been living in Australia for almost eight years now and it is an
amazing country, lots of very friendly people and beautiful landscapes
and beaches.

--max
http://synaphy.com/blog
http://whatsnextapp.com