It depends. I'm talking more about salary/rent ratio. In Russia I was spending about 30% of my salary for rent (and apartment was big and new and nice). Here I spend about 40%. And apartment is tiny and bad (in comparison). Then, here I pay much more for broadband ($95, and it is much slower), more for a phone. And fuel is muuuch more expensive here.
I'm assuming that what you save in NZ is higher than what you save in Russia though - after feeding, clothing, housing and entertaining yourself.
Back in Russia, in all companies I've worked at (not top-tier companies) the team was great: they knew a lot of stuff, we were discussing JVM internals during lunch breaks, talked about new things in IT etc. I miss that.
That's really interesting. The only thing I really know that came out of Russia is Nginx, I didn't know that in general Russia had such a tech scene. Wonder if that's because English language proficiency isn't high.
The only thing I really know that came out of Russia is Nginx
Russian techies are among the best in the world, and the stuff they work on would surprise you. Companies like Luxoft write in-flight software for Boeing. Outsourcing to Russia and Eastern Europe is massive. If you have a seriously tough problem, get a Russian to fix it. Source: My late wife was Russian, and a software developer. Have worked almost exclusively with Russian developers for the past years. They do amazing stuff, with a fantastic attitude.
I'm assuming that what you save in NZ is higher than what you save in Russia though - after feeding, clothing, housing and entertaining yourself.
Back in Russia, in all companies I've worked at (not top-tier companies) the team was great: they knew a lot of stuff, we were discussing JVM internals during lunch breaks, talked about new things in IT etc. I miss that.
That's really interesting. The only thing I really know that came out of Russia is Nginx, I didn't know that in general Russia had such a tech scene. Wonder if that's because English language proficiency isn't high.