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I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the

I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the same as in the UK, and they would work miracles. I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. I am not surprised for this. At some point Romania was the DataCenter for many large companies in Europe. If only the corruption had gone away, Romania could have been a 'mini European silicon valley'.

cbg0 8y ago
> I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. This is still an unresolved nightmare even today with some fiber hanging on telephone poles and some being dug underground. In the capital city, the underground fiber is handled by one company (Netcity) and there's been a lot of controversy around it because of discriminatory pricing.
noir_lord 8y ago
On average the smartest developers I've worked with from Europe have all come from that neck of the woods, I'm in the UK and our best are the equal of their best but their average is better. They often write better English than English developers as well. I say that as an average developer myself. I think it's a cultural thing combined with rigorous universities and a strong work ethic.
- mirceal 8y ago
  as someone who is from that neck of woods I can tell you that the people you interact with are probably not your typical developers from there. as with everything in life there are people that are really good at what they do and also there are people that are not so good. i personally don't care where you're from when I'm working with you. what you know and what you can do is what I care about.
  - noir_lord 8y ago
    It absolutely could be selection bias. That said I still hold their English was better than the average English person I've worked with generally (not just Developers).
    - dmix 8y ago
      I’ve always found Europeans seem more inclined to generalize by country at the minute level than people in North America. Of course in an endearing sort of way, not to be mean. Talent is talent, it can come from anywhere but tends to congregate in certian places. Usually because talent attracts other talent. Not merely just existing opportunity/attributes of the area.
- rocgf 8y ago
  > They often write better English than English developers as well. I do have a working theory for why that is. In my home country of Romania, as well as throughout most of Eastern Europe, it is part of the culture to actively and condescendingly correct other people's grammar. I'm still not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but some people take it very seriously. As an example, if someone would make a common mistake, such as "your" instead of "you're" in English, chances are that he or she would get corrected or even laughed at. I don't recall ever seeing this sort of behaviour in the UK, though I'm sure it happens.
remoteworkerJ 8y ago
If you are going to stereotype, lemme add on of my own: Ludicrous, most Romanians I worked with were very politically charged and would victimizes themselves easily and be very indifferent to other responsibilities you've in company. Western Europeans performed better at seeing the big picture and acting according to what company needs from you, not merely your role. Also, average IQ of Romania is lower than West Europe. Only thing which makes them apparently better is that Soviet Style universities, where you can cheat and get away with it and you've fancy degrees to show for We joke in Romania, how every one is a lawyer here. Because getting these degree in Romania is lot easier than anywhere else in the world!
- atoav 8y ago
  Eastern europeans and people from the balkans usually have a very negative image about the people they share the nation with — and while this might be rooted in reality I found it most of the time exaggerated in the negative direction. I say that as somebody who grew up with a bosnian neighbour and worked on a few projects in Serbia. You will find the fake-it-till-you-make-it people there, and they are usually easily spotted (because they will spot you first), but I found there are many talented, extremely humble and hard working people their too — you just tend to overlook them because they would never sell themselves.
- HNLurker2 8y ago
  >We joke in Romania, how every one is a lawyer here. Because getting these degree in Romania is lot easier than anywhere else in the world! You actually are right. The problem is that the market doesn't need lawyers. Sometimes even we joke about how Romanian language (hybrid latin) is imprecise to build logical foundation for justice.

cbg0 8y ago

> I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. This is still an unresolved nightmare even today with some fiber hanging on telephone poles and some being dug underground. In the capital city, the underground fiber is handled by one company (Netcity) and there's been a lot of controversy around it because of discriminatory pricing.

noir_lord 8y ago

On average the smartest developers I've worked with from Europe have all come from that neck of the woods, I'm in the UK and our best are the equal of their best but their average is better. They often write better English than English developers as well. I say that as an average developer myself. I think it's a cultural thing combined with rigorous universities and a strong work ethic.

mirceal 8y ago
as someone who is from that neck of woods I can tell you that the people you interact with are probably not your typical developers from there. as with everything in life there are people that are really good at what they do and also there are people that are not so good. i personally don't care where you're from when I'm working with you. what you know and what you can do is what I care about.
- noir_lord 8y ago
  It absolutely could be selection bias. That said I still hold their English was better than the average English person I've worked with generally (not just Developers).
  - dmix 8y ago
    I’ve always found Europeans seem more inclined to generalize by country at the minute level than people in North America. Of course in an endearing sort of way, not to be mean. Talent is talent, it can come from anywhere but tends to congregate in certian places. Usually because talent attracts other talent. Not merely just existing opportunity/attributes of the area.
rocgf 8y ago
> They often write better English than English developers as well. I do have a working theory for why that is. In my home country of Romania, as well as throughout most of Eastern Europe, it is part of the culture to actively and condescendingly correct other people's grammar. I'm still not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but some people take it very seriously. As an example, if someone would make a common mistake, such as "your" instead of "you're" in English, chances are that he or she would get corrected or even laughed at. I don't recall ever seeing this sort of behaviour in the UK, though I'm sure it happens.

remoteworkerJ 8y ago

If you are going to stereotype, lemme add on of my own: Ludicrous, most Romanians I worked with were very politically charged and would victimizes themselves easily and be very indifferent to other responsibilities you've in company. Western Europeans performed better at seeing the big picture and acting according to what company needs from you, not merely your role. Also, average IQ of Romania is lower than West Europe. Only thing which makes them apparently better is that Soviet Style universities, where you can cheat and get away with it and you've fancy degrees to show for We joke in Romania, how every one is a lawyer here. Because getting these degree in Romania is lot easier than anywhere else in the world!

atoav 8y ago
Eastern europeans and people from the balkans usually have a very negative image about the people they share the nation with — and while this might be rooted in reality I found it most of the time exaggerated in the negative direction. I say that as somebody who grew up with a bosnian neighbour and worked on a few projects in Serbia. You will find the fake-it-till-you-make-it people there, and they are usually easily spotted (because they will spot you first), but I found there are many talented, extremely humble and hard working people their too — you just tend to overlook them because they would never sell themselves.
HNLurker2 8y ago
>We joke in Romania, how every one is a lawyer here. Because getting these degree in Romania is lot easier than anywhere else in the world! You actually are right. The problem is that the market doesn't need lawyers. Sometimes even we joke about how Romanian language (hybrid latin) is imprecise to build logical foundation for justice.