ricardobayes

In most places around the world, it wasn't and still isn't an option. I grew up in Eastern Europe where you needed to fight tooth and nail to even return a defective one under warranty - when I learned in certain US retailers you can return anything anytime (Target), that blew my mind.

In my area it is that bad, when the torrential rains come yearly, streets become rivers, with trash cans floating. Is it not like that in your place?

How can you even claim infrastructure is not bad in our country?

There were two fatal train accidents in the UK this year, one of them being a rear-end collision, despite no one even citing them in this thread, and definitely not claiming the UK having low safety culture. Sadly the Spanish "black legend" is still very much in force, portraying Spain as some lower place than it actually is.

What you mention makes me frustrated, as it also signals the infrastructure is so underdeveloped even moderate rain grinds daily life to a halt: kids don't go to school if rain is forecast. We need to elevate our professionalism in Spain and not accept African-level infrastructure in the 21st century. It's really sad within one continent we have countries producing AI and photon computing, and others can't even figure out how to put gutters and rain drains.

Let me provide some context to that. At the highest levels of Spanish earning or net worth brackets people experience a completely different life than most everyday people. With a net worth of $1-2M you can live in a bubble essentially, living in a gated community with 24/7 security, with a helicopter landing pad. As a wealthy expat you can brute-force most of the societal struggles. Having 1-2M in your pocket enables a life that requires 20M+ in the US.

Yes, I do agree with some of that. People in this latitude don't want "private" anything because of the reasons mentioned before. It all boils down to a bad company culture, hiring is not merit-based, companies don't compete in the classical sense. And on Portugal, taken in context, salaries have been even lower in Portugal, but they are improving, and there are many more high-tech jobs going around in Portugal. It might not be a major difference from where you are looking, but they do tend to take their "world of work" more seriously.

I think Spain needs a complete mindset change, to fully come to the 21st century. While there are truly many people who "take their job" seriously, the overall "world of work", and professional standards are very, very low in Spain. Yes, it's a generalization, but anyone living in Spain will tell and complain about bad company practices, no or slow responses, and a general lack of professionalism, in all sectors.

Further than that, almost all problems and tension in Spain would disappear if earnings caught up to at least the European standard.

In short, Spain needs to re-invent its world of professionalism. I'm not saying that it should become like Swizerland overnight but the current mindset is incompatible with the 21st century's complexities. Portugal is currently further along that road.

Contrast that with NVIDIA's princely $2.5M net income per employee.

Anecdotal, but I had an acquaintance try to use the buyout and was point blank told by management "it's not for you".

Is it that you feel it's amazing, because San Francisco never had the European-style, cheap and elegant taxi that gets you chaffeured around in a Mercedes E-class by a shirt-wearing, well-dressed person who helps you with your luggage? You can call them with an app.

For me, Waymos are a downgrade in the same way Uber was, too. I'm not even going to expand the conversation to German/Swiss/Dutch-style clean, fast and cheap public transportation. Waymo is basically good public transportation to places which don't have public transportation and don't want it. I have no doubt this comment won't really land with those who have not experienced the European-style taxis or public transportation.

Not meant as a bad faith response but have you shipped anything? Do you have income from this? Why 10 projects apart from fueling ADHD and "never finishing a project"?

Lol... can't believe this armadillo thing caught on.

In a few years AI-driven pet-to-human translators are going to be all the rage.

This is a great book, not just for competitive programmers. It compiles a few gotchas that apply in general programming, regardless the language.

You have to be optimistic about the future, to have kids. And Germans lately are targeted with propaganda, algorithmic and amplified bad news. Every kind of german-speaking media and social media is full of dread, how the country is in a "freefall", etc. I saw the same in UK pre-brexit.