7 ms·
Tech Job Scotland
- cones688 13y agoShame about the timing with all the uncertainty around Scotland's commitment to United Kingdom.
- Torn 13y agoI don't see how that's related
- tomelders 13y agoThey don't know what kind of money they'll be able to use if they do vote for independence. It's perhaps more than reasonable to suggest Scotland's future is uncertain. Also, take the "Scottish" out of "Scottish Nationalism" and you're left with "Nationalism". There's no way I'm moving to a country that thinks "Nationalism" is a good thing.
- arethuza 13y agoScottish Nationalism is usually described as "civic nationalism": "Civic nationalism is a kind of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in a non-xenophobic form of nationalism compatible with values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_nationalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_nationalism It is notable that UKIP, which really does have the xenophobic kind of nationalism, has almost no support in Scotland.
- tomelders 13y agoA rose by any other name would smell as sweet. No one in the history of the world has ever conceded that their version of a bad thing is the same as another version of the bad thing.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- lifebeyondfife 13y agoAs jeffbr states, look at the policies of the SNP before unfairly categorising them. Scotland just voted in equal marriage for same-sex couples with the First Minister of Scotland, and leader of the SNP, strongly in favour. It really isn't a prejudiced or authoritarian nationalist party and has a record to back that up.
- tomelders 13y agoI don't agree. I think the Scottish Nationlist's are racist towards the English, and they're happy to incite hatred in the electorate by raising the spectre of the Evil English raping and pillaging it's way through Scotland. They asked for a referendum to be held on the anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. To what end? Perhaps Jingoism is a better term than Nationalism.
- tomelders 13y agoAnd for what it's worth, I don't begrudge Scotland it's independence. Good for Scotland I say. But I'm calling it as I see it.
- jeffbr13 13y agoOh come on, Scottish Nationalism ≠ Nazi-ism/EDL-ism Scotland's "Nationalism" is about gaining independence and actually becoming a nation, not about violent and misguided idealism. In fact, Alex Salmond (leader of the Scottish National Party, the majority party in Scottish Parliament) has come out for more liberal immigration policies, to encourage positive economic immigration[0]. Compared to the UK government's increasingly tough stance on immigration[1], and the rise of right-wing parties such as UKIP and the BNP, I'd much rather live in a small, liberal nation like Scotland. [0]: http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/scottish-independence-salmond-s-immigration-vow-1-3198028 http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/scottish-i... [1]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/10699069/Britons-would-need-passport-to-visit-an-independent-Scotland.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence...
- collyw 13y agoFor me its about being represented slightly more than we currently are, with the London centric politics of Great Britain. One arse in charge of 6 million is 10x more democratic than one arse in charge of 60 million.
- jeffbr13 13y agoExactly, Scotland (and most other parts of the UK) won't ever get as much attention in Westminster as the South-East of England, and our parliamentary representatives are that much further away from us. You could say that your vote's power is inversely-proportional to the size of the democracy, but if you look at how the complexity of communication scales, then surely smaller democracies are able to function much more effectively than larger ones (cf. small vs. large [software] teams). I'm voting yes because, although I plan to travel after I get my degree from Edinburgh, independence would give me more (and potentially better) options for living in the EU in future.
- leoc 13y agoIt's not a huge deal. First, the referendum seems strongly probable to fail, though not by a huge margin. Second, it's unlikely that independence would have any dramatic effect on many people's software jobs in Scotland, certainly in the short term. The most likely problem would be exchange-rate issues.
- imurray 13y agothe referendum seems strongly probable to fail To quantify: Betfair's current probability is ~17.5% of a "Yes" vote, although that's not based on enormous volumes: http://uk.sportsiteexweb.betfair.com/betting/LoadRunnerInfoChartAction.do?marketId=110033387&selectionId=5334892&logarithmic=true http://uk.sportsiteexweb.betfair.com/betting/LoadRunnerInfoC...
- andrewcooke 13y agoIf you're English, be prepared for some weird attitudes (you're sometimes treated as "an enemy" just because you're English). It's nothing terrible (certainly not as bad as racism towards racial minorities (I'm searching for the correct way of saying this, not having lived in the UK for many years, but I guess that's better than "people of colour")), but it gets tedious after a while. [English; lived in Scotland for 3 or 4 years] [Edit: Interesting reading the comments. Maybe things have changed (though I would have thought the debate over devolution - which seems like a good idea to me - would have exacerbated feelings). This was ~15 years ago and many Scots explained it to me as resentment over Thatcher, poll tax etc (in fact, one reason we went to Scotland was in search of a more left-wing environment). It wasn't good natured ribbing and it was pretty widely acknowledged as being "a thing" (had many conversations with Scottish friends about it - one memorably said that it was considered normal in middle class conversation over dinner to trash the English in a way no one would dream of doing to any "racial" goup). And I could certainly understand the motivation (the "historical context"), even if it was occasionally unpleasant. It also got considerably worse when I moved from academia to "real" work. It wasn't trivial (any once incident, sure, but the steady drip over time...), it certainly wasn't isolated pockets, and it's something I would take into consideration in future. In short: I was glad to leave.]
- arethuza 13y agoIn the words of Groundskeeper Willie: "Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!"
- jlees 13y agoCan't say I ever found it particularly bad, just mild poking fun - my Scottish friend at uni in England with me had it a lot worse. Kind of like being Canadian in America, I suppose.
- izolate 13y agoI can imagine it's tedious because it's just so trite. How about we do away with trivial affairs like the location of one's birthplace, and instead work on using technology to make the world a better place?
- highlander 13y agoVideo with nice footage of Edinburgh and the tech companies who are based here. Includes a brief shot of Amazon's roof garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH2CfrnsWG4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH2CfrnsWG4
- TamDenholm 13y agoScottish guy here, running my biz from Edinburgh (Local guys, get in touch and say hello). If i was a prospective job applicant, in Scotland, why do i have to go to a London meetup to work for companies in Scotland?
- highlander 13y agoThere was a Tech Jobs Scotland event in Edinburgh back in August 2013: http://turingfestival.com/tech-jobs-scotland http://turingfestival.com/tech-jobs-scotland.
- nicholassmith 13y agoI think they're running it to show London talent that there's a life outside the big city, and see how many they can poach.
- jeffbr13 13y agoReplied to a node above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7415728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7415728), but you can usually find out who's hiring by just turning up to the monthly Tech Meetup[0] - it's pretty active here in Edinburgh. [0]: http://techmeetup.co.uk/ http://techmeetup.co.uk/
- pjc50 13y agoIf you're in Scotland, you already know it exists and would automatically be looking locally. I see the London meetup as "poaching" people to come to Scotland. I'm moving to work in Scotland myself very soon. I've got a weird range of reactions from people here in the south of England; people are sort of suprised to learn that Scotland has electricity let alone a tech industry. The most effective recruiting strategy would be to ask people what they're currently paying to live in London and how tiny a flat it is, then show them the corresponding 3 bedroom house / Georgian townhouse they could get for the same money.
- brianmcc 13y agoSome interesting looking companies there. Might be merit in running a more local session, e.g. for folks in Scotland's own main cities that might not be aware of their options? I speak as someone working in Glasgow who's heard of only a few of those sponsors.
- jeffbr13 13y agoYou'll find a lot of the tech scene (in Edinburgh at least) go to Tech Meetup[0] every 2nd Wednesday of the month, and you'll soon hear who's hiring in the introduction go-around. Hell, it's a rare occasion when neither Skyscanner or Amazon aren't hiring more developers. [0]: http://techmeetup.co.uk/ http://techmeetup.co.uk/
- lifebeyondfife 13y agoWas there last week. Barely room to move and plenty of tech companies hiring.
- zootm 13y agoI'm led to believe the Glasgow TMU is pretty lively as well, although I've never been.
- brianmcc 13y agoThanks; my resolution for 2014 is get involved in the local tech community a bit more.
- jarofgreen 13y agoI go semi regularly, would recommend. Plug: check out my site http://opentechcalendar.co.uk/ http://opentechcalendar.co.uk/ for more :-P
- jarofgreen 13y agoI think Skyscanner and Amazon are always hiring new developers. If they don't say it, they probably just forget to plug it for a moment. Just go and ask them anyway. Also http://www.tmvse.com/Recruitment/ http://www.tmvse.com/Recruitment/ (Disclaimer: Toshiba kindly sponsor my site http://opentechcalendar.co.uk/ http://opentechcalendar.co.uk/ :-)
- untothebreach 13y agoI have always wanted to live in Scotland, does anyone know how common it is for companies to provide sponsorships for work visas?
- brianmcc 13y agoBoth Edinburgh and Glasgow (the only cities I've worked in) have very diverse populations - European, American, Asian, Indian, Australian. As a "local", no first hand experience of applying but I'd infer it's pretty common, sure.
- jarofgreen 13y agoNo idea, but I'd recommend you just straight up ask them, some ppl up here are pretty desperate to hire at the moment ....
- adaml_623 13y agoThat website is appalling. I think the attendees logos could easily be links to their sites. I'd like to know who's actually organising it. The only contact information is for someone who works for Edinburgh city council? My 2p worth is that Scotland (Glasgow at least) is a nice place to live. The weather isn't too bad and not having London's relentless rent's and property market hanging over your head is a nice change.
- brianmcc 13y agoThe weather isn't too bad in Glasgow?! I'll agree it's rarely actively lethal, but come on...! :-) Seriously though, Scotland has a lot to offer in terms of reasonable property prices, shorter commutes (vs London), quieter roads (main Edinburgh/Glasgow route, the M8, aside) and the developer job market is buoyant.
- rgallagher27 13y agoI'll have you know I seen the Sun today in Glasgow Also it seems to me most of the jobs coming up in Scotland are in Edinburgh rather than Glasgow but that might just be me
- brianmcc 13y agoCue the "strange yellow object seen in sky" headlines tomorrow :-) Edinburgh seems to be doing really well for startups this past few years, beyond the retail banks and life/pensions players, which is great to see. Glasgow has some big financials that seem to disproportionately dominate the job market - not a bad thing, lots of interesting and (in places) deep technical work to be had, but obviously it's not to everyone's taste culturally.
- collyw 13y agoThe best way to deal with the weather is to take up a sport that is best with lots of rain. To be fair I can only think of whitewater kayaking but it is probably the best sport ever.
- 13y ago
- leoc 13y agoDeep-fried pizza.
- lotsofmangos 13y agoIn batter. And the beer had better be Tennants.
- drsim 13y agoBatter your Mars bar and deep fry that too
- jeffbr13 13y agoCan't beat the local delicacy of salt'n'sauce on your chips here in Edinburgh!
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- cmalpeli 13y agoshameless plug (I run a SaaS job board platform - www.JobBoard.io), but you should consider adding a job board to this. We've got several "meetup" type communities that are making some decent income by simply adding a job board to their website...
- beth123 13y agoIn terms of the technology sector, Scotland and especially Edinburgh is an exciting place to work. Edinburgh does have the traditional banking industry, but also great companies such as Amazon and Skyscanner, with a collegiate/academic environment. There are also many career and techie opportunities within the many start ups. I found it's a city with good worklife balance. I have made the most of the techie meet ups and I have really enjoyed my time here with the Hip bars and restaurants and affordable accomodation! I have not had an issue with being English in this cosmopolitan city.