

Does Google see UK developers as unimportant? - Al_Sutton
http://blog.alsutton.com/2011/09/01/does-google-see-uk-developers-as-unimportant/

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ig1
I imagine it's the same that caused Yahoo to move it's developer day away from
London, London is horrendously expensive if you want to hold a large tech
event. We're talking in the million dollar range (to get conference
facilities, get internet line, insurance, get food & drink), not to mention
it's expensive for attendees to travel and stay there.

I stayed in a 4 star hotel in Berlin last year for €30/night, for a similar
hotel in London you'd be paying 5-10x that price.

If you're living in London traveling to Berlin isn't a big deal, travelling to
London from anywhere else is a much bigger deal.

~~~
Maxious
Cities or towns that want to host conferences work really hard to make them
attractive to conferences. (See the work done by local authorities/venues @
<http://wiki.linux.org.au/Ctte/LCA_Bid_Guidelines>) Maybe the value
proposition just isn't there for London with everything else they've got going
on?

edit: I remembered Yahoo had to hold a London hack day in some kind of stadium
(to get enough capacity); the roof was struck by lighting and opened letting
water in. Video of the incident <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acUEvkMu2xM>

~~~
djhworld
The problem is the accomodation for the attendees, Google/whoever might get a
good deal on the facilities but if none of your attendees can afford to go
then what's the point?

For the cheapest "chain" hotel in London (Travelodge) you're still looking at
between £75-£110 a night

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jedc
There are a bunch of Developer Advocates that are based in Google's London
office. They do fairly regular office hours at London's TechHub space, work
with UK teams, and in general are active in the city/country.

So while there might not be big formal events this year in London, there's a
lot more day-to-day availability and involvement.

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EwanToo
I'm not sure I agree at all, there's about 6 or 7 UK based Google developer
advocates, around a quarter of all the EMEA based Google developer advocates.

<http://code.google.com/team/>

So while we don't get the big Google conferences here, we do get the ability
to meet with these guys reguarly if we want to.

For example, Paul Kinlan works a couple of days a week in an co-working space
in Liverpool, if you want to speak to him, you can just arrange to drop by.
I'm sure there's people in other countries who'd kill for that kind of access.

[http://doesliverpool.com/press-releases/does-liverpool-
provi...](http://doesliverpool.com/press-releases/does-liverpool-provides-
first-outpost-as-google-developer-outreach-looks-beyond-london/)

------
bugsy
Compared to London, Berlin is less expensive, better food, has more fun stuff
to do, better weather, better accessibility, vastly more attractive women, and
less of a police state. I'm sorry they are so offended but London just isn't
all that much fun to visit.

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tcarnell
I think Berlin is a great choice - better than London. Berlin is developing
and changing quickly and seems to be setting the scene for a perfect startup
hub: lots of bright young people and cheap offices (cheap everything relative
to the rest of europe) meanwhile London is primarily a financial district, not
engineering.

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gargs
Immigration laws could be a reason. There are plenty of expat developers
spread around Europe, for whom, it's much easier to travel to any city in
Germany than apply for a UK visa. Arguably, this process is about as
complicated as obtaining a US visa.

~~~
ashconnor
Are Schengen visas really easier to obtain?

~~~
gargs
Yes, but for people already working in any Schengen country, they don't need
another visa to travel to Germany.

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danmaz74
I wonder if the negative attitude of so many Britons towards Europe might play
a role (for bigger, non-local events).

Anyway, at a practical level:

\- No Euro, and higher prices

\- No Schengen

\- An island at one extremity of Europe

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atomicdog
Do Google even have any offices in the UK? It seems some tech companies have
just forsaken the UK altogether.

~~~
arethuza
<http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/jobs/uk/>

[Edit: Guess how I found that!]

~~~
dalore
With duckduckgo.com ?

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vacri
The guy spends a _lot_ of time comparing populations. The US has five times
the population the UK does of English-speaking monoglots - perhaps they want
stronger ties with polyglot developers?

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nknight
Addressing one of the specific points in the post, I have to wonder, how much
of a language barrier is there really for an anglophone in Berlin?

As a silly little English-only American, I spent a good chunk of the last year
in Taipei, and didn't do too bad. When you really needed someone who spoke
reasonable English, they were usually around. I'd think it'd be a lot better
in Berlin, especially if you're just hanging around hotels and nearby
businesses used to dealing with international clients.

~~~
nodata
IT people in Berlin speak very good English. Most of the "mistakes" they make
are common German-to-English mistakes that you will automatically correct in
your head after hearing them a few times.

The question is whether the work language is English or not. If people find it
easier to discuss problems in their native tongue, then that is where you will
miss out. And these discussions may be some of the harder conversations to
follow.

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shithead
_I’d be interested to hear what people think is the reason for Google holding
events in Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona, and nothing in the UK_

Tired of poms whinging?

~~~
shithead
"The Nile ain't just a river in Egypt."

Hey, weren't there some poms looking for the sources of the Nile a couple of
centuries ago? Any luck with that?

