When I left my job at the end of last year, I wasn’t sure what the tech industry would bring in my future. More and more I am seeing there are about a gazillion opportunities out there, there are so many companies out there doing amazing and awesome things, and tech is still the place to be. Last week, I was invited to be one of 100 participants who attended LookSee Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand. Yup… New Zealand.


What and why?
LookSee Wellington is a campaign to recruit top tech talent from all over the world to come and join Wellington’s booming tech scene. It was marketed as “a career trip of a lifetime,” and the proposal was that if you were a tech professional and wanted to apply for a tech job in Wellington, you would submit your application for a chance to be sent on a career trip to Wellington to interview with prospective companies (with transportation and accommodation costs covered). The program received an overwhelming response of 1.6 million website hits after launch, crashing their site for a good length of time. Of those interested over 48,000 applications were submitted and I was one in a hundred selected to go. I do feel quite fortunate (as did many others) to have had this opportunity… I mean, how cool is it to be invited to New Zealand to interview?! (/endbrag) But in all seriousness, this was a very treasured opportunity to me and I am greatly humbled to have been a part of it. Time will tell what, if any, exciting opportunities will come out of this event. (As a sidebar, I am not writing this post in exchange for anything LookSee-related; these are my reflections and thoughts alone.)

Some thoughts on the program:
It was overall very successful from an attendee’s perspective, and the media attention they received was probably worth it alone for their marketing team. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but one thing I definitely didn’t expect was how much fun I’d have going on this trip by myself. I can only speak wonders of the attendees that went and the caliber of individuals I met (at least in terms of personality). The majority of people there were developers. It’s not often you can put a bunch of developers together in a room where many or most of the people are self-starters, organizers, and leaders. We initialized unofficial Slack and LinkedIn groups, coordinated and planned meetups with one another to go hiking to see glow worms, meet for dinner, talk about job stuff, etc. It wasn’t more than a day into the trip that I realized we were already a team, and that we wanted to hang out with each other every free moment we had. There was not once that I was alone, and there was not a day that I didn’t meet at least a handful of new people. The people I met in the program was my favorite part of the entire program; it was a joy to meet everyone and it was sad to say goodbye in the end. There were also a variety of activities, like mountain biking and a craft beer tour, that helped us get acquainted with what Wellington had to offer, and some unblocked time for us to wander freely.

In my free time I chose to go on hikes to explore the lovely outdoors.


As for interviews, I had the pleasure of speaking to some companies out there that I was very happy to talk to, and none of the interviews were like the soul-crushing ones I’ve had here recently in the Bay Area. (People are really nice!)

Some thoughts on Wellington:

  • Multi-cultural, about 1/3 are migrants from outside of New Zealand.
  • Beautiful, reminds me a bit of San Francisco.
  • Colder and windier than I’d like.
  • Clean, clean, clean. City is clean, water is crystal clear, air feels nicer.
  • Food options are decent considering the island life.
  • Craft beer game is on point.
  • Outdoor adventures are endless, and people are very outdoor focused. Surfing, sailing, hiking, mountain biking, skiing… it’s all there, and within reach.
  • People are friendlier and more trusting than what I’m used to.
  • Prices of things/food are on par with San Francisco, but you don’t pay tip.
  • Home prices are somewhat high, but loads cheaper than San Francisco, as is rent.
  • Peaceful, but has a much more vibrant night scene than I imagined. People were out during the weekday nights at bars and such. Also, some bars are allowed to stay open past 2am.
  • Doesn’t seem to be much crime, and New Zealand recently earned its place as #1 least corrupt country in the world (shared placement with Denmark).
  • Getting residency doesn’t seem too difficult.
  • Universal healthcare.

Edit: Something huge I didn’t mention when I originally posted this: I would guess that about 1/6th of the attendees were women. While not amazing, it was greater than my expectation of 1/10th being women. Also, at least one of the companies I spoke to had women in their leadership group, and made it a point that one of their goals as a company was to bring in diversity in tech and help more women (especially) develop as leaders in tech. Coming from Silicon Valley and the world of “we don’t have the time or budget to figure out the gender gap”, it was very heart-warming to hear this commitment without being prompted for it.

All in all, Wellington and New Zealand in general is a lovely place to move to. If you’re in tech (and I think even healthcare), there are loads of opportunities open to people who would consider moving out to Wellington, and I would highly encourage a look-see. :) From the sounds of it, they may even put on another event like this next year!

I leave with this photo, which only describes the tiniest fraction of beauty and exploration that New Zealand has to offer: