I would say I'm still very happy with my choice so far. I haven't written much due to being busy.
Some things that happened after the first month that might be worth mentioning:
- By working in the local co-working space (which I did for a month to get some additional contacts outside of my workplace), I've managed to get to meet quite a lot of interesting people. Once, the minister of Digital Innovation came to visit. He talked about his work/future projects, we could ask questions, he seemed pretty knowledgeable about his stuff. In general it seems to be pretty easy to get into contact with anyone if you have some question (be it government-related or startup-related).
- A couple of weeks ago, the Estonian startup community organized a "freedom convoy" to Kyiv (pickup trucks for the army). I participated and since it was organized by Ragnar Sass (co-founder of a local unicorn called Pipedrive), I got the chance to hang out with a "real" entrepreneur. I found it a interesting experience, since I've always wondered if there is something special about successful entrepreneurs. My main observation has been that he did seem to be a very high energy kind of person, I guess that helps with building a successful startup.
- I discovered there's a really sizeable French-speaking community in Tallinn. From most people I've heard the same reasons over and over: stifling bureaucracy and high taxes.
- I'm noticing also lots of Italian people moving here.
Just to give a balanced perspective, I'll try to also mention some downsides:
- Coming from Belgium, I sometimes miss the architecture. Tallinn is mostly modern-looking, except for the old town (which I don't find myself in that often). Some of the new areas are actually quite nice-looking, but I still feel older architecture has more liveliness to it.
- Due to the war/inflation, the prices have been rising noticeably lately. I'm not sure how to feel about this, but I guess this is something that is not just the case for Estonia, but also wider Europe. (Estonia did have the largest inflation numbers at one point though). We'll see how it evolves, at least I have more faith in the Estonian government than my previous Belgian one.
In general, I think the main reason I'm happy to live here: Estonia feels like a country on a positive trajectory. Living in Belgium can be, at times, a bit of a downer: it feels like everyone is just trying to "maintain"; and on some level everyone agrees: the best days are behind us.
Your compensation is on a second-by-second basis: at the end of the day you’ll see that your wallet has been topped up by the exact amount you’ve earned that day
No no no. I want a salary. I want to know how much money I'll be making over a week, a month, even , <gasp>, a year. How else am I supposed to plan expenses? Support a family?
I mean it's not a particularly new idea, it's basically what the gig economy is all about and is very much the norm in low skilled labor with shitty payment.
It's not by-second, but that's a way too small unit of measurement anyway, so that was a non starter to begin with.
I wouldn’t write it off that quickly. The reason we have a two week pay period is a matter of administrative costs. When these drop because they are automated with a computer you can now pay continuously. Why should you work two weeks on credit? On the flip side a payroll company could make decent money off the two week time arbitration.
The two week period is "typical" in US, in the EU countries usually payment for personnel is monthly, JFYI (though in some firms/fields there can be an "advance" around the 2nd week, usually less than half the pay).
If you have no control over the hours you have to work, could be called in at any time, or are not allowed to work for others at your discretion, a paid a base rate for being retained makes sense.
Not to mention, for many jobs, time at work is not a measure of ‘how much work’ you’ve done and such a measure creates an incentive to be inefficient.
It is a stupid idea in the sense that you can see everyone at the top of society financially, socially, influentially, does not have that apply to them or want it to apply to them. From landlords and business owners wanting to be paid for what other people have actually done, to singers and movie makers and authors wanting to be paid for every copy long after what they did, to personal branding wanting to be paid for putting "Michael Jordan" on clothing, to patent holders wanting to be paid for what they thought of, to license holders wanting to be paid for what they permit others to do, to conduits wanting to be paid for what travels through them, to governments wanting to tax what others do, to lobbied politicians wanting to be paid for not getting in someone's way. If the people 'above' you definitely don't want it for themselves, it's quite likely a stupid idea for you to accept them doing it to you.
On the other side, business owners want to pay employees for "what they have actually done" miss the forest for the trees; leading to stories like the developers committing unfinished code, QA finding lots of bugs (for all the basic functionality that was never written), developers fixing those bugs, and hooray the metrics look great for activity but meaningful progress is through the floor and quality is nowhere to be seen. And keys pressed, minutes spent in meetings, reports written, are on the up - easily padded filler and busywork - and difficult to measure things like customer satisfaction, employee morale, creativity, design, planning, are on the down.
Some things that happened after the first month that might be worth mentioning:
- By working in the local co-working space (which I did for a month to get some additional contacts outside of my workplace), I've managed to get to meet quite a lot of interesting people. Once, the minister of Digital Innovation came to visit. He talked about his work/future projects, we could ask questions, he seemed pretty knowledgeable about his stuff. In general it seems to be pretty easy to get into contact with anyone if you have some question (be it government-related or startup-related).
- A couple of weeks ago, the Estonian startup community organized a "freedom convoy" to Kyiv (pickup trucks for the army). I participated and since it was organized by Ragnar Sass (co-founder of a local unicorn called Pipedrive), I got the chance to hang out with a "real" entrepreneur. I found it a interesting experience, since I've always wondered if there is something special about successful entrepreneurs. My main observation has been that he did seem to be a very high energy kind of person, I guess that helps with building a successful startup.
- I discovered there's a really sizeable French-speaking community in Tallinn. From most people I've heard the same reasons over and over: stifling bureaucracy and high taxes.
- I'm noticing also lots of Italian people moving here.
Just to give a balanced perspective, I'll try to also mention some downsides:
- Coming from Belgium, I sometimes miss the architecture. Tallinn is mostly modern-looking, except for the old town (which I don't find myself in that often). Some of the new areas are actually quite nice-looking, but I still feel older architecture has more liveliness to it.
- Due to the war/inflation, the prices have been rising noticeably lately. I'm not sure how to feel about this, but I guess this is something that is not just the case for Estonia, but also wider Europe. (Estonia did have the largest inflation numbers at one point though). We'll see how it evolves, at least I have more faith in the Estonian government than my previous Belgian one.
In general, I think the main reason I'm happy to live here: Estonia feels like a country on a positive trajectory. Living in Belgium can be, at times, a bit of a downer: it feels like everyone is just trying to "maintain"; and on some level everyone agrees: the best days are behind us.