Ask HN: Help. I need to go away from here • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by lylejohnson » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:15 PM UTC

kfk wrote: post #26

As Italian myself, I lived almost 5 years ago and I have never looked back. If you want an advise, live. If you can go to US good, otherwise almost any other country would do too. But you are not trapped... You are what? 23? With a EU Visa. At this age you can take 1 year off and go to a place, any place, that you like and start from there. Finally, do you actually have a github? If you are studying 10 hrs a day to b…

He said that he was in his third and final year (of University), and (I believe) lamenting the fact that most of the interesting things he's learned during that time were learned on side projects and not in his coursework.

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

#32

Post by watermel0n » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:16 PM UTC

scotthtaylor wrote: post #20

aragot wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 London +1 Day job that you reduce to 7hrs a day or less. You'll have to be brave, and you'll probably feel alone until 2 years after you settle in any city. Don't overwork. Once you're there, say yes to all social events. Keep overviewing all the new frameworks, Backbone, RequireJS, Play Framework, etc. Your OP was awesome.

+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.

Will do, thank you so much.

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

#33

Post by smoyer » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:16 PM UTC

Take a look at Balsamiq ... a startup in Italy that definitely doesn't suck. And I'm guessing that Peldi can point you to others.

Note: It doesn't mean you have to stay

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

#34

Post by zytek » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:17 PM UTC

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.

Good advice. EU citizens have it easy here.

Berlin and London being the obvious choice, I recommend you Poland if you are adventurous. The 'startup hub' here is Kraków (Cracow). Avoid Warsaw. Feel free to contact me for more tips for Poland.

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

#35

Post by adnam » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:21 PM UTC

How's your Erlang? http://joinupptalk.tumblr.com/post/71969117552/server-core-s...

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

#36

Post by carlob » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:23 PM UTC

I 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.

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

#37

Post by lylejohnson » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:23 PM UTC

ses wrote: post #30

I hear you on the lack of focus on modern technologies in universities - but the same is true here in the UK for the most part. It's understandable with the European economy being the way it is, and some countries really suffering, you would want to find a better life elsewhere. One of the problems is that you will find many of the 'enterprise' jobs that you feel will trap you are commonplace in a lots of countries -…

> One of the problems is that you will find many of the 'enterprise' jobs that you feel will trap you are commonplace in a lots of countries - certainly here in the UK and I'm sure in America also. There are more jobs in startups in the USA but not so many as you might be hoping (even if you could get a VISA). My point is the grass is not always greener on the other side.

Reading sites like Hacker News on a regular basis can give you the impression that everyone in the U.S. lives in a big city and works for a startup. That's definitely not the case! --- although it may be easier to seek out those sorts of jobs here than it is in the EU; I wouldn't know.

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

#38

Post by simias » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:27 PM UTC

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 to Germany, the UK or wherever.

The only thing that's stopping you is your fears, your skills and/or your ambitions.

I wish you the best of luck but please try to get a little perspective, there are millions of people who are trapped right now in countries at war.

And without looking for war-torn countries, us people in the IT crowd have it really easy in the job market compared to... well almost anybody else these days in Europe really, possibly with the exception of traders.

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

#39

Post by lewispollard » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:28 PM UTC

Stubbs wrote: post #28

scotthtaylor wrote: post #20

Earlier 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.

Great to see another Sheffield-based software engineer on HN!

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

#40

Post by Fuxy » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 1:28 PM UTC

scotthtaylor wrote: post #20

aragot wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 London +1 Day job that you reduce to 7hrs a day or less. You'll have to be brave, and you'll probably feel alone until 2 years after you settle in any city. Don't overwork. Once you're there, say yes to all social events. Keep overviewing all the new frameworks, Backbone, RequireJS, Play Framework, etc. Your OP was awesome.

+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.

You could consider joining a hackspace wherever you go to get your sanity back from the constant boring grind of the day job.

Plus there's the usual advantage of meeting new people, talking to like minded people and possibly creating something awesome with the members of the hackspace.