2 A week ago I published my views on why Cluj-Napoca is NOT Silicon Valley — an article that got way more attention that I expected. It seems I struck a cord, which I believe is a great thing — it’s the only way things can move forward.

The article in question prompted some replies on LinkedIn and a couple of Skype calls and emails with people from all over the world. Apparently Cluj is NOT even remotely as well known as we (the regional tech ecosystem) would’ve expected — and that is a good thing!

But this is not only a follow-up, but some sort of expansion of one of the articles I’ve read this morning: ‘Life is pretty good here for IT people’: Where techies earn five times the average salary. Normally I don’t read articles related to the local tech scene since they all seem to reference the same things, but this one was shared by my colleague Tudor, whom is also referenced in the article, so I gave a glance.

You’ll quickly get some facts clarified after reading the article: salaries in the local tech scene are on the rise, quality of life for techies is really good, they are not willing to relocate to other countries since they have it going really well here etc.

Now, if you’re good at reading between the lines you’ll also notice which a LOT of people noticed and shared their comments on both LinkedIn and Facebook: We’re really, REALLY good at EXECUTING. And good at managing (check out the salaries of Project Managers).

But you’ll also notice something else — there’s little to no talk about product managers, marketing specialists, business analysts, CIOs. And these people are few and far between in the realms of Cluj. Or even Romania. My colleague Mihaela even had a talk about the non-technical founder at cluj.pm a little while ago. I’ve blogged on Trubzi about The Other Founder. (by the way, you should really check out Trubzi, a new platform for entrepreneurs that will launch soon; disclaimer: I’m personally involved in Trubzi.)

Enough about the problem, let’s talk about solutions.

Since developers are “made” (formal education & practice), let’s try that with the non-devs as well. Classes are a must, but so is practice.

Second, let’s try and change the perception that non-devs are less important in tech companies. I know several people that feel they are not as appreciated as devs — a little bit reminiscent of QA vs. dev situation.

Third, let’s encourage “thinking and doing” as opposed to “doing then fixing”.

Fourth, and I can’t state this often enough, make it socially acceptable to fail. I’ve seen so many 1st time founders fail then never try again because of social pressure that it pains me. I’ve tried making this OK when I wrote about asiqo and I constantly talk about failure and the fear of it in different occasions. This social acceptance of failure is an issue of the Balkans and particularly Romania — because of the sheer number of techies that are willing to try building a startup.

And fifth, build it then give back. There are a few founders that have seen their share of success — mostly international success, through exits. I know that by the time that check hits your bank account you’re not left with much. Try to set aside a little portion of it and invest it in the dreams of others that remind you of yourself. Or make the time to mentor those that are promising and could greatly benefit from your knowledge.

There is no angel culture in Romania but I expect that to change soon enough.

I do believe that conferences, meetups and all sorts of gatherings play an important role in creating a good, viable tech ecosystem that can be COMPARED to Silicon Valley. And that will probably be the case in a while.

But that can only happen if we all pull in the same direction. And that literally means STARTING.