3 ms·

You sound a bit bitter. Anyone relocating to the south should realize that you are moving into the bible belt. This is not California, and this is not New York

by steverb 14y ago

You sound a bit bitter. Anyone relocating to the south should realize that you are moving into the bible belt. This is not California, and this is not New York. Please don't make the mistake that just because people think that behavior that is socially accepted in other parts of the US/World is reprehensible that they are automatically stupid. Stupid knows no boundaries, it's all over the place. As for being shafted, in my experience, many real estate agents are generally trying to make as quick a buck as they can and will, given half a chance, shaft everyone involved in the transaction. Otherwise, I generally agree with you.

droithomme 14y ago
Why would I be bitter? I enjoyed my time there. I would not want to live there long term. I understand their culture and I also understand that many creative intellectual developers, designers and engineers would like to be given the heads up regarding potential cultural conflicts they may encounter when moving to certain areas they may not be familiar with. I have no regrets about sharing my background, experience and observations about this with younger developers, designers and engineers so they know what they are getting into. I have worked in many places, including quite a few other countries. If a discussion came up advising people to consider tech jobs in Saudi Arabia, I would have much similar advice and cautions as it is not a place that is advisable to walk to blindly. In many ways parts of Saudi Arabia and cities like Chattanooga are quite similar, if you can handle one comfortably as an outsider you can probably handle the other, but both are considerably different and alien to the various well known US tech friendly areas. Whereas someone thinking of going to Germany or Sweden I'd say go for it and feel there is no need to give complex explanations about possible cultural mismatch issues.
- steverb 14y ago
  I don't know why you would be bitter. I said you sound bitter. You began your parent comment with what basically amounts to an ad hominem attack against the people of the area by implying that they are hostile to the open exchange of ideas and insulting their collective intelligence. Your initial comment seems as if you had fallen in to the trap of conflating different with wrong. However, I do agree that working in Chattanooga (and the south in general) will be a bit of culture shock for those used to other, more cosmopolitan, areas of the country. I try not to fall into the trap of conflating different with wrong. And having worked in Germany for several years (many years ago) I have warned people of possible cultural mismatch issues.

by steverb 14y ago

droithomme 14y ago

Why would I be bitter? I enjoyed my time there. I would not want to live there long term. I understand their culture and I also understand that many creative intellectual developers, designers and engineers would like to be given the heads up regarding potential cultural conflicts they may encounter when moving to certain areas they may not be familiar with. I have no regrets about sharing my background, experience and observations about this with younger developers, designers and engineers so they know what they are getting into. I have worked in many places, including quite a few other countries. If a discussion came up advising people to consider tech jobs in Saudi Arabia, I would have much similar advice and cautions as it is not a place that is advisable to walk to blindly. In many ways parts of Saudi Arabia and cities like Chattanooga are quite similar, if you can handle one comfortably as an outsider you can probably handle the other, but both are considerably different and alien to the various well known US tech friendly areas. Whereas someone thinking of going to Germany or Sweden I'd say go for it and feel there is no need to give complex explanations about possible cultural mismatch issues.

steverb 14y ago
I don't know why you would be bitter. I said you sound bitter. You began your parent comment with what basically amounts to an ad hominem attack against the people of the area by implying that they are hostile to the open exchange of ideas and insulting their collective intelligence. Your initial comment seems as if you had fallen in to the trap of conflating different with wrong. However, I do agree that working in Chattanooga (and the south in general) will be a bit of culture shock for those used to other, more cosmopolitan, areas of the country. I try not to fall into the trap of conflating different with wrong. And having worked in Germany for several years (many years ago) I have warned people of possible cultural mismatch issues.