As someone who grew up in Kiev and lived there most of his life before moving across the ocean I find this article surprisingly precise in details and having rather deep insight into the city's spirit. Of course, there is a bit of idealization which is normal for any foreigner moving to a new place, but many things are very true. Kiev is a very old city that has lived through many epochs. It's seen the Mongol-Tatar invasion, dealt with Osman rulers, fought the Russians with the Polish, the Polish with the Turks, and the Turks with the Russians (historians, don't be nitpicky here). It survived the Russian empire, both the world wars and the USSR. Having that rich history Kiev is very eclectic, artsy and vibrant. And yes, it's a city of extremities. You can see poor and rich, old and new, run down and prospering, past and future all mixed up. But that's the spirit of the city. If you have never been to this part of the world I highly recommend visiting it -- even if it's currently may not be in its best shape as Ukraine is going through hard times. Staying there for longer might require some survival skills most of which are required to deal with extremely inefficient post-Soviet government system. The main skill to get is networking, because it's the only way to deal with the corrupt and bureaucratic government machine.
From a practical perspective, Ukraine is a good source of decent software developers and designers. My project probably won't happen if I didn't have our R&D team in Ukraine which allowed me to reduce development costs at least twice. Sending payments to Ukraine would require going through a bit of hassle with paperwork, but it's doable and Ukrainian developers usually know how to deal with it. Feel free to drop me a line at <hn name> (a) easymorph.com if you need some advice on it.
From a practical perspective, Ukraine is a good source of decent software developers and designers. My project probably won't happen if I didn't have our R&D team in Ukraine which allowed me to reduce development costs at least twice. Sending payments to Ukraine would require going through a bit of hassle with paperwork, but it's doable and Ukrainian developers usually know how to deal with it. Feel free to drop me a line at <hn name> (a) easymorph.com if you need some advice on it.