HN user
Why was I downvoted? Everything I said is the truth. Why would someone want to be a programmer in Europe when the pay and respect is so bad, and with what money can a programmer be expected to start a startup when they're only being paid a €3000 a month salary?
Why is there no Silicon Valley of Europe?
Because programmers and other IT professionals are paid laughably low wages and shown even less respect than they are in the US. It's a similar situation in Japan and Australia. Yet whenever politicians talk about the need for startups to compete with Silicon Valley, you never hear them say a word about the insultingly low wages that are the norm in Germany, France, UK, Belgium, and others.
Want to create a Silicon Valley of Europe? Then pay Silicon Valley wages, you cheap bastards!
The Irrlicht guy wrote about this: