4 ms·
> Estonia has quite a few disadvantages - a tiny home market, a winter that seems to go on forever (although the weather was lovely for our visit), and poor con
by rhodin 10y ago
> Estonia has quite a few disadvantages - a tiny home market, a winter that seems to go on forever (although the weather was lovely for our visit), and poor connections with the rest of Europe.
The weather? Sweden and Finland both have longer winters and it has not stopped them.
Poor connections? Estonians are everywhere (London, NYC, SF) and their tech companies are all "global first", with investors from around the world and targeting the global market directly.
- uola 10y agoYeah, I think the weather trope is getting old. Winters are fairly mild in the Baltic region and most people would prefer below freezing over rainy and windy anyway. It's not even the winter as such that gets to you, but the darkness. Estonia isn't really comparable to Sweden and Finland though, mostly because of history and size. I want Estonia to become a tech hub, but realistically it's not currently that big of a player.
- sliverstorm 10y agoPerhaps it's a trope because the computer business basically originated in California, which is famed for its good weather.
- Aelinsaar 10y agoI think the disadvantages have more to do with ethnic tensions between Estonians and Russians, I agree that the weather is a silly complaint. Estonia is also pretty impressively modern at least in terms of its information infrastructure. If you're gay, you might want to avoid it though.
- bogomipz 10y agoI understand the history behind that tension but is that tension palpable on the street, and the homophobia is that sentiment palpable as well?
- Aelinsaar 10y agoIt's palpable if you're in the harder regions, and it's palpable if you're attuned to the local politics. The homophobia is a lot more direct and obvious, but in practice you don't see it much, because you don't see many people making targets of themselves. A lot of what is true about Estonia though, is true about the whole region to an extent. I don't want to seem like I'm calling Estonia out in particular.
- bogomipz 10y agoI see, thanks for the distinction.
- Strom 10y agoThere isn't any active witch hunt going on in regards to local Estonian-Russian relations, nor LGBT. If you avoid super drunk people at nights, then the threat of violence due to those reasons is low and most conflicts will be limited to verbal abuse & ostracizing. There's a much more real threat of violence if you look muslim though, as there are some vigilante groups unhappy with the Syrian refugee situation.