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What should third world dev do in this economy?

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What should third world dev do in this economy?

#1

Post by wvsr5 »

I'm from Bangladesh. If you know, the political situation here is pretty unstable. And everything feels even worse with the trade war, AI taking over, and all that.

I call this country the graveyard of dreams. People who are a little privileged eventually move to the EU or USA. But lower middle-class folks like us don’t really have a way to leave the country for undergrad.

There was a time when remote jobs were a wave. Skilled people used to earn a decent amount of money. But that trend seems to be fading. Nobody’s hiring. And for someone with little experience, getting a job feels like a dream.

The freelance market is also down. There’s barely any work on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. I used to earn a bit by doing small tasks on Fiverr, but my account’s been in abeyance for months.

In an economy where experienced devs in the USA are struggling to find work, what are we even supposed to do just to survive? I’m 19, and I’ve never seen chaos like this. I honestly don’t know what I should do from here.

Re: What should third world dev do in this economy?

#3

Post by threeseed »

The easiest way for me would be to find a product with an App Store e.g. Shopify, Confluence and build apps for it. Potentially find niches that would be useful just to Bangladesh and work from there. Or look for features that are popular in competitor products and add them.

This at least won't cost you anything except your time.

Re: What should third world dev do in this economy?

#4

Post by nchmy »

Undergrad is wholly unnecessary for most people. I don't have a particular solution for you, but where there's tremendous issues, there's tremendous opportunity. So, I'd encourage you to focus on trying to address the needs of your community and broader country, in one way or another - perhaps digitally, perhaps not. Look at what Grameen did for some inspiration.

Re: What should third world dev do in this economy?

#5

Post by tasuki »

I'm afraid I can't help.

Also, I'm not sure HN is the right place to ask: it's full of people from the US with a strange view of what poverty means ("only having one car in the family").

The US poor are fat. The third-world poor are starving. It's a different universe.

Re: What should third world dev do in this economy?

#6

Post by heraldgeezer »

>I’m 19, and I’ve never seen chaos like this.

Okay, so now I know where all the doom posting is coming from.

Of course, you are 19. A kid.

Sorry, just your lot right now. Unlucky I guess.

I graduated in 2008 in the middle of the financial meltdown, :) It's not a competition, but I am winning.

Also, I am European, so I am winning in that even if our salary is massively lower than a USA one.

Re: What should third world dev do in this economy?

#8

Post by jbothma »

I don't have a lot of answers, but to echo what you're seeing, it seems a lot harder to get a foot in the door than 15 years ago when I was getting my first freelance jobs. This is compared to people I know searching now. It feels like for those basic starter jobs, there's a sea of agencies and individuals bidding less. I know it's a worrying time.

I'd suggest you at least get very familiar with AI tools like copilot and cursor. Get good at using them and leveraging them for efficiency. Also get a feel for their limitations. Within those, there may be opportunities. Beyond that I think as always, participate in professional networks - meet people in tech, contribute to open source - connections help you stand out when there's a whole globe of competition.

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