Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

Emigrating from Belarus to Poland is easy. Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. Polish governament is working on new law to make it even easier and available more broadly. Given Poland borders before World War II were covering huge part of today Belarus a lot of people can take of the advantage.<p>Regular work permit for IT proffesional is also rubber stamp. Nothing compared to cruel H1B.<p>I guess same as after Ukraine revolution, a lot of Belarusians will end up in Poland.

“There’s no borders at all for IT engineers. They can find a job anywhere.”<p>Uhm yeah, but they also have parents, siblings, girlfriends. Probably they might have some properties bought already. So as it may seem really advantageous to be in IT, one might not be able to move to another country just like that...

&gt;Despite the authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s tech companies have prospered.<p>The common argument I hear is they prospered because of authoritarian rule. Belarus never had to deal with oligarchs created by a power vacuum like in Ukraine or other EE countries. As a result a large portion of outsourcing labor for other EE countries is technically done through Belarussian companies(EPAM).

I used to contract for a firm which made heavy use of Belarusian software dev teams, hopefully all is cool with the guys I used to work with :S

For those that hit a paywall&#x2F; no-script block, here are some alternative links to what I presume to be pretty much the same article<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;uk.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;us-belarus-election-tech-idUKKBN25M1MO" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;uk.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;us-belarus-election-tech-idUK...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.republicworld.com&#x2F;world-news&#x2F;europe&#x2F;belarus-it-workers-move-abroad-as-lukashenkos-forces-crackdown-on-mas.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.republicworld.com&#x2F;world-news&#x2F;europe&#x2F;belarus-it-w...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;icotalknews.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;tech-workers-flee-belarus-as-it-haven-takes-authoritarian-turn&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;icotalknews.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;tech-workers-flee-belarus-a...</a><p>P.P.S This was one of things I used to use the now defunct &#x27;Web&#x27; button for <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=23762479" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=23762479</a>

It was already authorization- its the &quot;last dictatorship in europe&quot; - what did they think it was before?

There&#x27;s a Spanish proverb, “Cria cuervos y te sacarán los ojos”, “Raise crows and they will poke your eyes out.”<p>How many entrepreneurs and companies fell for the &quot;law and order&quot; discourse every authoritarian uses to gain power?

It is a very smart turn of the Polish side to support the political crysis is Belarus. When the country is turned into chaos it will be beneficial for the Polish economy when many Belarussian workers go to Poland.<p>&quot;IT haven takes authoritarian turn&quot;. Really? Isn&#x27;t the so called IT haven exists under the exactly same government? What changed?<p>What changed is the situation of foreign instigated chaos intended to weaken a key Russian ally with the additional benefit that when many Belarussian workers leave the country they will serv someone&#x27;s else economy. The competition of Belarussian IT industry will also be eliminated.

Fleeing from Belarus to Russia, from one lifetime president and authoritarian regime to another is a strange choice.

One of my favourite cameras, the Agat 18k, is Belarussian. These guys are smart!

I have a theory that when news orgs nurture soft authoritarians (Bush&#x2F;Patriot Act, Obama&#x2F;espionage charges for whistleblowers) their weakened journalistic instincts leave a vacuum that&#x27;s easy for harder line authoritarians to fill.<p>That&#x27;s what I believed happened in the US. I wonder if a similar process happened in Belarus.

There is at least a degree of cowardice in those who leave their home country when things get difficult.

This is a harbinger for the western world too. Can any of us in the tech industry claim that silicon valley &quot;authoritarianism&quot; is not an issue?<p>Working in tech now is fraught with peril, especially if one says anything outside of the overton window. I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised if this starts happening in America as well in a few years.

They felt fine with Lukashenko for the last four years, they&#x27;ll be fine with Lukashenko for the next four years. Actually, I don&#x27;t think Daddy will hold up for the whole term, Russia will play smart and integrate Belarus , one way or another. Not as part of Russia, but I&#x27;d expect closer ties in finances and planning; and, possibly, heavy industry