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All companies started in Hungary, even if they later become US entities, chose to keep their engineering in Budapest, because talent is available, and for much

by Maro 15y ago

All companies started in Hungary, even if they later become US entities, chose to keep their engineering in Budapest, because talent is available, and for much less than in SV. Also, it's less saturated. E.g. I had a chat with a VP of a chech-US startup and they were inquiring about the possibility of expanding in Hungary, because they satured their chech sources, but SV is too expensive / also saturated. Also, companies like Morgan Stanley, SAP or Microsoft are not starting new offices or expanding in SV, but they are over here. So, talent is available. In fact, this is so obvious that companies like Morgan Stanley et.al. showed up here, giving good salaries, making my job as a startup guy trying to hire much more difficult. To be fair though, specific talent like "has worked with Hadoop for a year" or "has worked at Google on the core search engine" is not present here. Also, people are much more likely to prefer to work at a BigCo than in a small startup, compared to SV.

andorjakab 15y ago
You will not experience the problems I pictured in the post, when you don't have to compete in Hungary. In other words, of course it makes sense to hire excellent Hungarian engineers, and sell the product elsewhere. Problem is, when you have to compete with companies, who do not pay their taxes, who do not pay social security after their employees etc, and their prices are HALF of your costs. And of course they have excellent contacts, and they will sue you with obviously false claims, and then you go to court, and loose. Then you will understand depression.
- Maro 15y ago
  Szia! I understand what you're saying, and it's true, in fact I've worked at small companies and been subject to it. My post was specifically meant to refute the parent's point that: "I would expect there to be very few engineers in Hungary that match that [top-notch] description".
  - andorjakab 15y ago
    :) Thanks mate.

by Maro 15y ago

andorjakab 15y ago

You will not experience the problems I pictured in the post, when you don't have to compete in Hungary. In other words, of course it makes sense to hire excellent Hungarian engineers, and sell the product elsewhere. Problem is, when you have to compete with companies, who do not pay their taxes, who do not pay social security after their employees etc, and their prices are HALF of your costs. And of course they have excellent contacts, and they will sue you with obviously false claims, and then you go to court, and loose. Then you will understand depression.

Maro 15y ago
Szia! I understand what you're saying, and it's true, in fact I've worked at small companies and been subject to it. My post was specifically meant to refute the parent's point that: "I would expect there to be very few engineers in Hungary that match that [top-notch] description".
- andorjakab 15y ago
  :) Thanks mate.