Ask HN: Best country for hackers to work/live in?

Johannesburg or Cape Town, South Africa.<p>English speaking, high demand for skilled programmers, brilliant climate (Johannesburg, especially). Jobs are mostly in the financial sector.<p>Good broadband is expensive, but prices are expected to drop quickly. World class healthcare, if you can afford it (as a programmer, you WILL be able to afford it). Reasonable cost of living.<p>There is a lot of crime, but if you live in an area like Sandton, it shouldn't bother you much if you take basic precautions.<p>The country does run the political risk of being hijacked by populists, but as a foreigner, with little invested in the country, you will be able to leave before things get bad.<p>Starting a business is doable, and, barring political problems discussed above, there is good upside potential.

According to doing bussiness you shouldn't move at all: <a href="http://www.doingbusiness.org/Rankings" rel="nofollow">http://www.doingbusiness.org/Rankings</a><p>Maybe New Zealand but I don't know anything about hackers culture there. I guess Australia might be better choice here (at least I know one Australian hacker while I live in Eastern Europe).<p>You can estimate other proposals by looking at "doing bussiness" list. Estonia (24th in list) most probably is good choice as well but it is really cold there. Here in Lithuania (26th in list) winters are cold sometimes and Estonia is north from us.

I'm not sure about 3) and 5), but Netherlands is not a bad choice — almost everyone speaks good English, climate is moderate and wages are quite decent, if you land a good job. At least in comparison with Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia that some have suggested in this thread (I am Latvian myself). Problem with Baltic States would be a lack of serious hacker/startup communities, lack of English speaking population and, of course, quite cold winters :) Then again, living in NL is much more expensive too.

I think USA is the best place for hackers to live and work! Don't you think so?

I don't know about (3) but Estonia or the Czech Republic I reckon.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

I doubt anyone can really give you a list of places that fit your criteria. Maybe some folks can suggest some websites for looking up each criteria?<p>I use <a href="http://www.bestplaces.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bestplaces.net/</a> for comparing US cities.<p>I currently live in a hot place. I would like to go someplace more temperate and my sons would like to go someplace generally cooler than here. The difference between these two views is that we all agree summers are too hot but, unlike my sons, I don't really want to freeze my arse off in the winter. The reality is that most places which are cooler in the summer will also be colder in the winter. The San Francisco Bay Area has the only Mediterranean climate in the US, which is not so hot in the summer but is also not too cold in the winter. Hawaii is also pleasant year-round in terms of temperature, which is probably why it is hellaciously expensive to live there. (I have other reasons I don't want to live in Hawaii -- and, yes, did look into it/ask around -- but even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford it).<p>Anyway, I personally think you would get better feedback if you asked for links to websites with info on each one (individually) of your criteria -- and I would love to add such links to my stash of place-comparison resources.<p>(I occasionally toy with the idea of doing something like bestplaces.net but with a different set of criteria. It will probably never happen. &#60;shrug&#62;)