How is the startup scene in NZ at present?

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MichaelNZ

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#223582 6-Oct-2017 20:52

Sorry if it sounds like a broad question but I am open to all feedback. I am a Linux Systems Admin, presently in the Philippines and thinking of heading back to New Zealand. What's the jobs like in the startup and SME scene?

Jessenikol

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#1882097 11-Oct-2017 21:47

People will tell from their own experience but basically, NZ has a vibrant and supportive startup community even though there are quite a few in it. There are many businesses are growing demand in New Zealand. So the competition would be so fierce.

Regarding the main regions:

Wellington has a vibrant scene (with all the gov't related IT and related service firms focusing their energies there) - NZ's largest open source software and cloud firm (Catalyst IT - disclosure, they acquired my company, Egressive in 2012) has its HQ (150+ developers) there.

Auckland seems very vague and disorganized from a software perspective. There's a relative dearth of open source where - the city's spread out nature and traffic mean there're lots of little-disconnected pockets of people. A lot of multinational software companies have their NZ toeholds there, which doesn't interest me in the slightest.

In the South Island, Christchurch and Dunedin have thriving little IT industries. There're plenty of start-ups. Both cities have strong universities who feed talented people into the local market.

There're very few large companies in NZ, particularly in the software space - only a few more than, say, 50 people. Most software firms are under 10 people. Lots of web development, and hardware integration companies. If you want to work as a software dev in NZ, *come here* and look around.

It's a great place to live and raise a family.

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MichaelNZ

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#1882154 11-Oct-2017 22:20

Thanks so much @Jessenikol for the response.

Sorry if my post wasn't clear. I am a New Zealander who wishes to come back to NZ with my Filipino wife and we will start a family there. We are both in our 30's. Our fallback option is Singapore. Basically somewhere else but here. I am eligible for a work permit in the Philippines but it's not a country where a foreigner can readily get work and it wouldn't pay much anyway. In any case there is no hope for IT here while the local telcos continue to behave like Telecom (and worse) in the bad old days.

My preference is Auckland, as this is where I have spent most of my life. Followed by smaller cities like Hamilton and Nelson and possibly others. I'm not of a fan of Wellington or Christchurch.

My area is more Systems Admin, rather then software dev, though I can code e-commerce and other bits and pieces in PHP. I think I have the most to offer along these lines.

oakland

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#1888872 24-Oct-2017 18:09

Linux experience is quite valuable in NZ.

I think you will have a better chance if you have could experience. I have seen a lot of jobs from cloud service providers.

MichaelNZ

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#1888873 24-Oct-2017 18:12

oakland:

Linux experience is quite valuable in NZ.

I think you will have a better chance if you have could experience. I have seen a lot of jobs from cloud service providers.

Pretty much every job advert I have seen for Linux lumps it in with wanting considerable Windows experience as well as being a jack of all trades.

oakland

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#1890905 26-Oct-2017 18:01

MichaelNZ:

oakland:

Linux experience is quite valuable in NZ.

I think you will have a better chance if you have could experience. I have seen a lot of jobs from cloud service providers.

Pretty much every job advert I have seen for Linux lumps it in with wanting considerable Windows experience as well as being a jack of all trades.

I thought Linux people are at advantage as most cloud technologies are based on Linux. Requiring mixed skills happen a lot in NZ. I have been rejected many times in recent months due to lacking experience in one thing or another out of the list of criteria.