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Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

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Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#61

Post by markyc »

simias wrote: post #38

Come 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…

yep, from the title i thought he lives in Ukraine or in some war-torn country

You may want to emulate Balsamiq's Peldi, or at least shoot him an email and get some perspective from him

Start your own projects and take the initiative, or like others have pointed, just switch countries

gl!

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#62

Post by jmngomes »

I'm in Portugal and understand how you feel, as it's basically the same thing here.

I've also got some experience under my belt that proves to me that, if you want to do something meaningful, you have to start it yourself, otherwise there's a strong poossibility that you'll get trapped in one of the "drone" jobs you mentioned.

But you have another option, that's been mentioned here. There's more world outside of the US. You can start applying to great companies doing cool stuff in the EU (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Paypal, etc) and you can even get a job now that allows you to build the skills you need to work on one of these companies in a year, if you don't have them already.

The only thing that seems to stand in your way, apparently, is your anxiety about an eventual lack of options, which is understandable.

But you do have options. Actually, being "in computers", you have more options than 90% of the workforce, as there's demand for your skills.

So, just trust yourself, give it a (serious) try.

Start working on getting out, or starting something of your own. Otherwise, I agree that you risk wasting a lot of time and emotional health on a dead end job.

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#63

Post by weddpros »

eps wrote: post #10
weddpros wrote: post #4

Alternatives : - send your resumé to uk/ireland/switzerland to get a good paying job where you can sharpen your skills (it's easy to relocate inside Europe) - start your own business if you're living at your parents AND if you feel like you can be an entrepreneur... focus on international users (so you can host your company somewhere else easily later). It's only risky to start a business if you have something to los…

Probably not Switzerland as it's not in EU.

Switzerland is now part of the Schengen Area, which allows free circulation of people

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#64

Post by davidw »

markyc wrote: post #61
simias wrote: post #38

Come 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…

yep, from the title i thought he lives in Ukraine or in some war-torn country You may want to emulate Balsamiq's Peldi, or at least shoot him an email and get some perspective from him Start your own projects and take the initiative, or like others have pointed, just switch countries gl!

Peldi actually lived in the US for a while, where he built up some savings prior to launching. He also incorporated Balsamiq as an LLC before doing the Italian equivalent (which is way more expensive and bureaucratic).

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#65

Post by filpen »

Fellow Italian here, started working in Germany 5 years ago right after my B.Sc. in CS, will be moving to Paris in March. I have not been working for a startup, but if you love programming there are plenty of cool things to do.

I know what it means to feel isolated, but as you noticed you are only isolated "locally", online you can find plenty of like-minded people. Keep applying in the US if you wish, but you should know we have a lot of opportunities here in Europe as well.

I have no concrete lead for you, my professional network in Germany is limited and the companies I know require some knowledge of German, but feel free to contact me on twitter, would love to have a chat (username is the same as here).

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#66

Post by _kulte »

markyc wrote: post #61
simias wrote: post #38

Come 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…

yep, from the title i thought he lives in Ukraine or in some war-torn country You may want to emulate Balsamiq's Peldi, or at least shoot him an email and get some perspective from him Start your own projects and take the initiative, or like others have pointed, just switch countries gl!

Might want to shoot Salvatore Sanfilippo an email as well.

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#69

Post by dariot »

krumiro79 wrote: post #27

I'm Italian and moved to London 3 years ago. I had a nice 10-min commute permanent job and a mortgage but I was feeling pretty much like you. I decided to escape and spent all my savings (not much really) to move a abroad and experience something different. I did it for me, for my job, for my family and my future. And I'm doing good (I'm a software dev in a financial company) and I really feel all these efforts were…

> I only live once, I can't afford to fix Italy.

I'm not happy to say this, but this has become my point of view since the last few years, too.

Re: Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here

#70

Post by gorbachev »

CalRobert wrote: post #9

Presumably you're an EU citizen. Move to Berlin, London, Dublin, Warsaw, and pick up from there. If your English needs work, work on it. Build your own projects. I moved from California to Dublin and the startup scene is really good here. You have options.

I'm considering making the same move (US to Dublin). I'm an EU citizen, so no visa issues.

What resources would you recommend for job hunting / networking?

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