> P.S. Avoid Wellington if possible, it's an earthquake mega-disaster waiting to happen.

What, just like California?

I would highly recommend Wellington if you do software, are entrepreneurial, or you are sociable.

It is the most cosmopolitan city, the friendliest to foreigners, the friendliest to all ages (because so many people move there to work, and it is the only major city in NZ with a city centre based on walking).

Just my opinion as a well travelled NZer. Yes, an earthquake would wreak havoc, but I think the positives well outweigh the risks.

>> P.S. Avoid Wellington if possible, it's an earthquake mega-disaster waiting to happen.

> What, just like California?

I tend to think like the parent, so am curious where our imaginations diverge. Basically, I'd worry about a violent enough earthquake that lots of people/supplies immediately need to be moved in/out, but their movement is impeded by the geography. It seems likely that the two roads out of town would be impassible (isn't one on land that lifted out of the water in a major quake?), and the airport and waterfront are mostly on reclaimed land so will likely need substantial work before boats/planes can operate.

It's a lovely city though - second best in NZ to Dunedin!

Wellington is hosting KiwiCon later this week too: https://www.kiwicon.org/

Wellington is a terrible risk, there's a major fault line running right through the city. But yeah, it's a decent place to live in the meantime.

And there are some simple ways to make sure your earthquake risks are lower than other risks in your life.

1. Don't work in old buildings - especially hipster brick ones. (Maybe if they have added steel structure that looks ridiculously oversized: see Dux Central, what was Twisted Hop in Christchurch).

2. Avoid living on hills with unstable geology.

3. Avoid living in old apartments that are not up to 100% earthquake code.

Liquifaction really isn't as big an issue as you might think.

Anecdote: my parents are on top of the 7.2 Darfield quake, my sister's is very close to the 7.8 Kaikoura epicentre, and I live in Christchurch.

Unfortunately you've described the majority of Wellington's buildings. Wellington is old timber houses on hills, or poorly built apartments on reclaimed land in the harbour, most of which are not up to earthquake code, and aren't required to be for another decade.

> Wellington is old timber houses on hills

These seem to do ok and have been tested on some decent shakes, unlike some of the new code-compliment buildings. Chimneys are a notable exception.

The risk with the housing stock on Wellington's hills isn't that they'll fall over, timber houses on piles are quite safe in earthquakes as they are very flexible. The main risk is landslides.

Although, it should be mentioned that the weather is also terrible. I'll never forget that wind.

And they regularly get cracking good days too. Personally I prefer the Wellington weather to Christchurch (nor-wester, hayfever, overcast, too hot or too cold), or Auckland (I really don't like Auckland's weather).

For me the best places in NZ for weather are Nelson, or North of Kaitaia (the winterless North, although rains).

Nothing beats Wellington on a good day.

The less there is to celebrate the more we celebrate it! Wellington is my favourite city, but I like a good fire so may be biased.

New Zealand's software industry is significantly more mature than it was 2+ decades ago. Multiple firms with several hundred developers building their own products rather than just government consulting.

Getting hired is hard, but not impossible. The unemployment rate is sub 4% these days.

If you're concerned about your employability, perhaps email Xero/Vend/Flux Federation/Catalyst IT/Intergen/Datacom/Trade Me/Weta Digital/... and explain your situation?

If you're willing to work with recruiters, the team at Talent Army are bona fide good.

My main worry is that I'll effectively be a guest labourer. If I loose my job in Auckland, I have a grace period and if I fail to find another job within this period (e.g. because we're in the middle of a global recession cleaning out overinvestment in startups) I can ship my kids back home across half the planet...

Permanent residency is fairly easy to get in New Zealand if you work in tech and have a degree, especially if your job offer is outside Auckland or pays over $100k.

Have a look at the residency points calculator and see how many you get: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-...

Yep but they've toughened it up a bit in recent years (good for NZ to do so, in my humble opinion -- without wanting go into politics, I wish my own native country would do something similar). A few years ago I would have gotten permanent residency immediately. Now apparently it's really necessary, de facto, to have worked there before applying for it.

Thanks, if I get serious I'll look into it.

One of the reasons I moved from Wellington to Melbourne was the earthquake risk. After the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, I realised how vulnerable Wellington is if there's a similar sized, magnitude 7-8 earthquake centred on Wellington (which there is a significant risk of). There's only one highway into Wellington, and if that gets cut off after an earthquake (which is very likely, it was down to one lane after the 2016 quake due to a storm at the same time) then Wellington is only accessible by boat.

The 2016 earthquake also showed that despite efforts to earthquake-strengthen buildings in the city, it's still very vulnerable to earthquake damage.

> it's still very vulnerable to earthquake damage.

And tsunamis.

Wellington has enough hills that tsunamis never had me particularly worried.

It also has some flat areas by the sea - Lyall bay / Kilburnie, Mirimar, Petone. The Tsunami risk to Wellington is, in my opinion, severely underrated.