Do like me, come to Cambridge UK. No visas, lots of jobs and an amazing city. We also have a quite big Italian community.
Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
51–60 of 105 posts
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#52There are lots of options - but it's up to you to make them happen. * Speak to someone. I know you feel like you're alone - but you're not. Find a local tech group and speak to the people there. If you're feeling really down, speak to a mental health professional. It's a great feeling to get something off your chest. * Find a job in London - or any other UK city. You seem to have good written English and you're a Eur…
-1 on start your own consultancy in Italy. Taxes will kill you. It's not worth it.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#53> I tried to look away, apply for a job/internship in the U.S. but the reason is always the same: visas are hell. I would do anything to get my way out.
You did say you're willing to do anything, right?
There are a lot of good suggestions on here and this is far from your best one ... but there are a lot of American women your age in Italy. You get an American girlfriend, marry her, that's an automatic path to US citizenship. Be genuine, obviously, and don't get involved with her just for this, but it would be a nice bonus for you if you did.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#54Well, first of all: i'm excited to see so many italians over here. We are a quiet but strong community :)
As most of the people already said: i feel your pain. There are MANY good advices on here and others have already highlighted most of the options you have. I passed (actually, not yet completely) thru a similar situation. When i was your age, i was completely crushed and just said "fuck you" to everything and left for seeking opportunities and a break abroad. It was a mistake. What really happened was that i was out of control and while i found some opportunities, in the mid-term they were just a waste of time and added very little value to my life in terms of knowledge and new opportunities.
1) Leaving Italy and work abroad can be rewarding BUT you need to do it at the right time. First: you need to be REALLY GOOD and competitive in programming. Master your tools and (IMHO) it is very unlikely that you are at the required level right now.
2) Mastering tools does NOT mean to learn how to use Angular or learn about the latest framework. Languages, frameworks and libraries are an implementation detail. To master your tools, you need to be a lot better than that (or you'll just become a coding monkey). Therefore, stick to your university, focus on patterns and learn real coding best practices.
3) Get out of your room. Start to attend to User Groups in your city. Choose something you like (for example, if you are in Milan, i highly recommend you to join us at the PHP User Group or at the Extreme programming user group). You will meet quite-above-average passionate programmers. You will also have the chance to meet inspiring companies that won't think twice hiring you if you put the right amount of effort and are passionate about programming. University IS important, but if you feel crushed and unrewarded by it, consider taking it "easier" and start looking for the right working opportunity. This is the thing that changed completely my life.
4) Don't be afraid to say "F-ck you". Most of the people out there IS just so mediocre, it is a fact. Avoid them, both on the professional and personal levels. Avoid close-to-slavery jobs proposals. Avoid compromises, understand that every time you waste a minute with any of these mediocre situations, you have a minute less to spend on what you like and with whom you love. They don't deserve it. You are a lot better than that.
5) It is true that you are not alone. The vibrant and exciting community is just hidden. There are AMAZING programmers in Italy, i'll be happy to introduce some to you :)
6) Understand that in this moment of your life (if i correctly intended your call for help), you need to recover balance. Balance is the starting point for building great things.
Those are just few advices, but they are the core that allowed me to revolutionize for the best my life in the last 6 months. My goal is to give you some very practical and achievable advices. I hope that my feedback somehow helped. If you feel like getting in touch, just write me :) Keep up and be amazing! We live life only once, there's no time for this kind of bad feelings.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#55I have a completely different story: I spent 4+ years abroad and I wanted to go back to Italy so badly that I found a remote job. If you look through my history you'll be able to find a blog post that tells the story. I'm more than willing to tell you more if you want and maybe hook you up for an internship.
Do you have a link to you blog post? I'm super curious about your story. I can relate to you wanting to go back to Italy; it may not be the best place to have a startup (bureaucracy, etc) but it can be a fantastic place to live in! (I spend a couple of months in Italy every year, and I always can't wait to come back!)
You could have found it by clicking on my name and going to submissions. However here it is:
http://blog.wolfram.com/2012/05/01/from-the-wolfram-science-...
It's pretty accurate even if it's on the corporate blog, if you want more details I'll be happy to answer them (maybe privately).
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#56Come on, don't be a drama queen, as a european citizen how can you be trapped? You can go work anywhere in Europe without visa. I'm in France and we're not well renowned for our startup scene, but you can still find something interesting if you look hard enough and build your skillset, either through more boring jobs or the open source "scene". And if tomorrow I can't find any appealing job in France I'll just move t…
I really don't want to be harsh on the OP, but his EU citizenship means he can easily move to another European country without problems. You want to talk trapped? Try being born in an Islamic country.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 on London, we have a vibrant startup scene with a lot of support. I know quite a few Italian developers that I could introduce you too that have moved here. Shoot me an email through the link in my profile.
If you're coming to the UK, don't limit yourself to just London, there are equally vibrant tech scenes in other cities like Sheffield (where I live), Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and many more.
Nice one for mentioning the North! I work for a startup in Manchester and it's a great tech scene (if a bit smaller than London, naturally).
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#58Come on, don't be a drama queen, as a european citizen how can you be trapped? You can go work anywhere in Europe without visa. I'm in France and we're not well renowned for our startup scene, but you can still find something interesting if you look hard enough and build your skillset, either through more boring jobs or the open source "scene". And if tomorrow I can't find any appealing job in France I'll just move t…
I really don't want to be harsh on the OP, but his EU citizenship means he can easily move to another European country without problems. You want to talk trapped? Try being born in an Islamic country.
You are all extremely superficial. Being "potentially" able to do something, doesn't mean that you can actually do it or that you'll improve your situation by doing it.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#59There are lots of options - but it's up to you to make them happen. * Speak to someone. I know you feel like you're alone - but you're not. Find a local tech group and speak to the people there. If you're feeling really down, speak to a mental health professional. It's a great feeling to get something off your chest. * Find a job in London - or any other UK city. You seem to have good written English and you're a Eur…
> Finally, don't worry about starting small.
That in Italy might be a problem by itself. There's an incredible unemployment rate. Just pack your stuff, say bye to momma and leave the country.
Oh and remember to inscribe to AIRE before having nasty taxation surprises.
Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here
#60Come on, don't be a drama queen, as a european citizen how can you be trapped? You can go work anywhere in Europe without visa. I'm in France and we're not well renowned for our startup scene, but you can still find something interesting if you look hard enough and build your skillset, either through more boring jobs or the open source "scene". And if tomorrow I can't find any appealing job in France I'll just move t…
I appreciate your comment and yes, maybe, I was too dramatic. But it feels like it. I know I am an EU citizen and so on that's why I asked for advices and I got what I asked for. This community is wonderful, I love HN because there is always someone who can help.