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I took a job with Atlassian out there and got my citizenship. Best 5 years of my life. I'm back in the US now temporarily, but there's zero doubt in my mind I
by jjcm 1y ago
I took a job with Atlassian out there and got my citizenship.
Best 5 years of my life. I'm back in the US now temporarily, but there's zero doubt in my mind I will end up back in Aus. I've lived in 8 cities now(1), and Sydney was the highest quality of life I've had out of any of them. Great infrastructure, great work-life balance, great culture, and fantastic weather. Only downsides are the distance and the lack of ozone layer (do not fuck around with the sun in Australia - there's a reason why they have over 10x the global average of melanoma). Happy to answer any questions about it or the process for getting citizenship.
(1) Cities lived for comparison: San Diego, LA, Honolulu, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Sydney
- SoftTalker 1y agoWhat about the spiders?
- somanyphotons 1y agoIf a bad spider bite happens, government-provided health care has your back
- viraptor 1y agoI've seen more spiders in my house when I lived by the river in the UK than for years in Australia.
- obroc 1y agoNot sure if this is a joke or not, but this is much like saying “don’t all Americans carry guns?” Almost none do, it’s more common in rural areas, you will see it in an urban area once or twice in your life. Same for super deadly animals in Australia. But no one in Australia has died from a spider bite since anti venom was invented.
- obroc 1y agoI’ll add Texas, UK, and the Netherlands to that list as places I’ve lived that Sydney far surpasses. But I’ll add to the downside that housing prices are actually laughable here. How anyone affords to buy a house here is beyond me.
- jjcm 1y ago100% true regarding the housing costs, but renting is actually fairly affordable in Sydney. I had a penthouse on the beach for $3900 USD/mo. Here's the view from it: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/f6llsc/im_not_much_of_an_rgb_fan_im_more_of_a_natural/ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/f6llsc/im_n... Despite the buying costs of Sydney being equivalent to something like SF, 4k/mo goes much further in Sydney for renting.
- fekunde 1y agoCurious how you'd rank the 8 cities
- jjcm 1y agoOoo that's a fun one. Sydney is an easy "all around" winner, but it really depends what stage of life you're in and how important career is. If you're career-oriented, then the list is: Seattle > San Francisco > San Diego > Sydney > San Jose > LA > Honolulu > Portland For your average person though who's prioritizing overall quality of life, the list would be: Sydney > San Diego > Portland > Honolulu > Seattle > San Francisco > San Jose > LA Each city has something distinct to offer, but I will say that LA was among my least favorite cities to live in. It's just a worse version of San Diego.
- senordevnyc 1y agoWhat about the real estate cost? I loved Sydney when I visited earlier this year, but real estate seems more expensive than my home city of NYC, and that's really saying something.
- senectus1 1y agoJust you wait till you get to Perth :-D