clojure in us vs europe

Clojure in US vs Europe A First-hand Experience Report

Presented at Amsterdam Clojure Meetup July 2015 by Paul Lam (@Quantisan)

Paul’s Clojure work history

Boston S.F.

2012 2013 20152014

London

Boston Clojure Meetup

Spokepoint

YC Startup

uSwitch

Incanter

Cascalog

Tour

“This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are”

- Plato

My Airbnb host in The Hague

● Traveled across the world since the 60’s … by ships

● Rigged a rainwater collection system for her garden

London

A London Clojurian You Might Meet

● Java developer from a bank in a prior life

● With a young family living in Barnet

● Kite-surfing in Brighton

● Knows every pub in the city

My life as a Clojurian in London

Likes:● First Londoners I’ve met

were from the Clojure Dojo

● Received lots of support from Clojure people in and out of workplace

● Well connected to the rest of European Clojure groups

Dislikes:● Can’t afford to buy a flat

in London● Work visa sponsorship

rules out working at newer companies or doing a startup

Clojure Shops in London

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/london-clojurianshttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/london-clojurian-jobs

Mastodon C

Cambridge, MA

A Cambridge Clojurian You Might Meet

● Graduated from both MIT and Harvard

● Works on processing genomics data

● Actually uses Common Lisp and Haskell

● Family with kids living in the South Shore

My life as a Clojurian in Cambridge

Likes:● Ran into Richard

Stallman on my first weekend

● Met many people solving hard problems

● Small but close-knit community

● Swimming or bouldering at lunch

Dislikes:● Few Clojure teams● Am not one of the

students in the more than 100 colleges in greater Boston area

Clojure Shops in Greater Boston Area

http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Clojure-Group/

San Francisco

A SF Clojurian You Might Meet

My life as a Clojurian in San Francisco

Likes:● Even my non-tech

clients have heard about Clojure

● #1 startup ecosystem○ mentoring○ funding○ collaborating

● 3-4 Clojure meetups in a month

● No shortage of services catering to SV geeky lifestyle

Dislikes:● Rent of my room is

same as my whole flat in London

● Drinking the startup Kool-Aid

● Insulated from the non-tech world

Clojure shops in San Francisco

http://www.meetup.com/The-Bay-Area-Clojure-User-Group/

More that I don’t know about

Summary

Choose London if you ...

● Prefer European lifestyle● Wants to work for a mid size company● Build a European presence

Choose Boston if you ...

● Want to use Clojure for hard science or education technologies

Choose San Francisco if you ...

● Wants to drink the startup kool-aid● Be part of a massive Clojure community

Other Clojure hotspots?

Amsterdam?

Contact

Paul Lam

● paul@quantisan.com● @Quantisan

Next talk in Berlin on 15 July, Yet Another Startup Built on Clojure(Script)