...there's light years differences between Romania and the rest of the world, US in this case, in terms of blogging and the technology understanding in general lets say, when you read this Romanian piece of coverage from one of the most important opinion makers (a Ro newspaper that is) about what blogging means and the reaction to it (with the lame excuse that you have to write so that "the target understands you" instead of calling things on their name) and what's happening in the real world with the real problems of the real business. Or the real industry in the making.
Sometimes I am just wondering if all the effort is worth - obviously (most of) Romanians are so low on the learning curve on understanding and adopting to the cool stuff rapidly. Technology wise in this particular case and historically speaking in general. I am so trying not to get discouraged too easily sometimes.
It's obvious that the average Romanian is far less technologically savy than the average American, let's say, but I think the EVZ picture is too demeaning. I've seen Americans that don't know much about blogs, but the newspapers don't even bother target them. Don't get discouraged. There should be a way of exploiting this technological ignorance of the populus. The only way people will learn to start paying attention to what happens around them and become more willing to change is by example. I don't know this, but it feels like the Dot-com never happened in Europe. Maybe it will start somewhere in Eastern Europe, who knows.
At least for helping you not getting discouraged, check Rob Patterson's Going Home - Our Reformation excellent post. It's a little bit long but I hope you will enjoy every bit - I've quoted a part that impressed me more in my post Are We Finally Going Home
I think it's easy to forget how much larger the population and economy of the US is. The vast majority of people in the states do not know what a blog is, or care...and of those who have a computer, the vast majority have no idea how to use it effectively or maintain it. 70% or so households have computers, which is something like 83 million households. For 83 million x 2.5 people, the number of active blogs in the US is actually pretty low, wouldn't you think? If 10% of the US population with a access to a computer at home had a blog too, that would be 22 million blogs...equivalent to the entire population of Romania! I find it remarkable that there are so many active Romanian blogs (and moreover, in English!), that there are so many radio stations with streaming, and that I could get DSL and cell service in almost the entire country (still not possible in the vast majority of the US). While obviously not a techutopia It appears to us from the outside that Romania and places like Poland and Hungary are coming up to speed incredibly fast. Perhaps you could help us out with Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama when you are done? :) Oh and, among engineers I work with here in the states, eastern European software engineers are highly respected. So the impression of your country's technical abilities from the outside may be quite different than you realize.
Of course if i am choosing the reasoning at least by having some statistical evidence in mind (such as Randy presents) perhaps I may get to some psychological comfort. Ya know, it's not that bad. But I hate this atitude, actually I have become quite unreasonable lately due to the fact that the Romanians seem to have a big ego (which is quite preponderent in all fields -- we're this and that, we know that and the other, l'ombellico del mondo, etc) and this should be substantiated by some facts and results after all. Which I can't see as of yet.
I am not sure if that's some sort of a national gene (though it looks like history as described by others may indicate us in this light) or it's just something related to the period of communism but being lazy to do homeworks, or not being specific and doing the bla bla is something that's very likely to find when talking to a Romanian. Or doing business. Besides being superficial and having the "know it all atitude". With the plus side definitely the mind sharpness and strong cultural background, combined with the oportunistical approach.
And yes Dragos, you're right, there should be smart people around left in Romania speculating this gap. But the more I get involved in the day-to-day Romanian business ecosystem the less I see the signs of that. The young smart lads still prefer to go to an already prepared ecosystem and work their butt off even though societal they may have a competitive disadvantage coming from the foriegner status - basically most have to work twice as hard as the local peers and that's why Randy says Eastern European engineers are highly respected in the US or I would add even anywhere abroad. Which is definitely accurate, but hey, you work hard and you get rewarded.
The Romanian ecosystem presents a different set of challenges and seems not to be very facile for performance and results but rather towards the above-mentioned superficialness and know-it-all atitude. Copying others and being very oportunistic is more likely to happen rather that being oriented towards value creation per se. Moreover I have the sensation that in general the individualistic atitude is rather of a comparison oneself with the peers - I am not doing worse off than my friend/neighbour/high school dudes therefore I am on the right track. And this is NOT the right benchmark for a healthy value creation process in a healthy society.
And what really pissed me off and actually started this post was not the superficialness of the quoted article from the Romanian newspaper. It's the afterwards atitude of its author, when in front of facts that would have made a better article, facts which could have come up as a result of a better research process, well - the answer was: err, I knew them of course (coz Romanians know everything, remember?) but the target would not have understood clear cut facts. And I just want them to have more time to understand them. How about that for the right atitude?
Er, I think this is just a simple sign of mediocrity after all, and that's just a lukewarm feeling. And nobody likes to be told that he/she is mediocre, especially us Romanians, right? And remember, performance is for the best of breed not for mediocre, it's a very simple fact.
It's true that relativism is a shoddy way of justifiying one's performance but that wasn't really the point of my comment. I was trying to point out that internally it's often quite hard to see the forest for the trees when you are in the thick of it, and from my perspective I found some amusing parallels with what you said about some of your countrymen and what I have said (on the same day!) about many of mine. This may not have come across because it's not completely relevant to the article as I'm gathering, and unfortunately I can't read the article (yet) so my comments exist in RTFA blackhole land... But I have heard your exact comments echoed by other Romanians abroad, which is why I flt compelled to inject some optimism. I wouldn't worry so much. Ego is actually an advantage so long as it is accompanied by a touch of inner "am I sure?"...without it entrepeneurs would never take risks. Free markets are phenomenal teachers...just try and take your ego to the market and see what is left. :) Externally, I see Romanians rapidly adopting technologies and pushing for a better way of doing things. As the market punishes and rewards, the situation will improve rapidly. If corruption and cronyism pervades, then it will retard this process, both on the macro and micro scales. Point is...don't be afraid of your citizens boldness and naivite, to me that is an excellent leading indicator. It is, after all, what the US is based on.