What you would do if you were me - your opinions appreciated
1 comments
Education : B.s in Software Engineering [With Distinction] MBA [One Year Program]
Job Status : Currently unemployed
My Goal and aim for the rest of my life : Building a profitable business
I want you to imagine the environment and conditions I am in so that you can understand the context so your opinions and ideas will resonate more.
I am now 32 years old , I live in a non-English language , third world country . I am single , living with my family, have nothing in my name currently.
I started programming at age 14 , DOS commands and BASIC language. I was 24 when I enrolled for Bachelor Degree , I was 28 when I finished it , I was among top students with cum laude honor which meant nothing after I wanted to start to get a job.
I started to learn .NET stack with preference to web development. After graduation 2 years passed till I found my first job , working for a software company in Netherlands, a remote job, It lasted for one year till every money transactions has been closed down for this place. You can not have any pay pal, eBay or any money related accounts , not even a credit card.
In my latest job my roles extended to Senior Software Developer, Project Manager and Scrum Master in which I implemented scrum process with customizing Team Foundation Server to our projects needs with salary worth of 500$ per month (1$ worth of 3470X). And this salary is considered nearly the ceiling for this profession here which is ridiculously low compared to life expenses …
Unfortunately we hit a recession and inflation rate of over 120% which was around 30% for every year, the company did not gave a raise which having it after a year is a natural thing after yearly inflations, this made my salary practically useless for my life, I refused and lost the job.
Job market is in very bad condition, people getting laid off , underpaid, age limitations for entries and rules that will make you overqualified.
there are no other advantages when you employed other than your negotiated salary , no 401K , no pension , no retirement plans …
From Technology point of view, Google code and many other useful sites has banned this country IP's. Millions of websites are blocked and filtered here from inside other than those that banned ips themselves.
There are no copyright law here, You can buy MS office , Adobe Systems products and 100 more software on a DVD worth of 1$. This means your software service is worth nothing much.
Technology wise , we are restricted , we still do not have cloud services and I think we would never have by their measure. I have to pay 1000x more to get what you pay 5$/month for a hosting plan.
You can not have your home business , you have to have your office with a legal license , you can not have your online business for some industries , you have to go through a long journey and hurdles , these play as roadblocks for entry … You can not protect your idea or intellectual property , there are no effective laws.
They will close your site down at any time they want with no warning if they think you are working against the law, be it a n ad*lt oriented word or something related to satellites . You can not do anything , no matter you lose how much business …
With above all which I know are not all the details , I have decided to build a business. I can not go out of this place currently as I do not have enough money and I do not know what to do , I do not know the culture or laws.
I have tried to keep my knowledge updated , although I know I am not a superstar developer , I have gathered some E-books on business and business related operations and skills I have to know about.
I am willing to work hard , learn from my mistakes and start over. Nothing is hard for me , I will put my effort in it to make it work. I want to build a business, I have some ideas , most of the people here do not use internet as a day by day basis , online commerce is not that popular here , technology here is very slow … sometimes I think I have chosen the wrong profession , but as long as I remember I wanted to be a good programmer and I loved working with computers.
For the current moment I am not able to get out of here, not enough money , keep in mind that It is very hard to get visa from other countries specially USA, Canada and Germany.
What would you do or decide , if you were me?
I would appreciate your thoughts, workflows and roadmaps if any.
Best Regards.
I want you to imagine the environment and conditions I am in so that you can understand the context so your opinions and ideas will resonate more.
I am now 32 years old , I live in a non-English language , third world country . I am single , living with my family, have nothing in my name currently.
I started programming at age 14 , DOS commands and BASIC language. I was 24 when I enrolled for Bachelor Degree , I was 28 when I finished it , I was among top students with cum laude honor which meant nothing after I wanted to start to get a job.
I started to learn .NET stack with preference to web development. After graduation 2 years passed till I found my first job , working for a software company in Netherlands, a remote job, It lasted for one year till every money transactions has been closed down for this place. You can not have any pay pal, eBay or any money related accounts , not even a credit card.
In my latest job my roles extended to Senior Software Developer, Project Manager and Scrum Master in which I implemented scrum process with customizing Team Foundation Server to our projects needs with salary worth of 500$ per month (1$ worth of 3470X). And this salary is considered nearly the ceiling for this profession here which is ridiculously low compared to life expenses …
Unfortunately we hit a recession and inflation rate of over 120% which was around 30% for every year, the company did not gave a raise which having it after a year is a natural thing after yearly inflations, this made my salary practically useless for my life, I refused and lost the job.
Job market is in very bad condition, people getting laid off , underpaid, age limitations for entries and rules that will make you overqualified.
there are no other advantages when you employed other than your negotiated salary , no 401K , no pension , no retirement plans …
From Technology point of view, Google code and many other useful sites has banned this country IP's. Millions of websites are blocked and filtered here from inside other than those that banned ips themselves.
There are no copyright law here, You can buy MS office , Adobe Systems products and 100 more software on a DVD worth of 1$. This means your software service is worth nothing much.
Technology wise , we are restricted , we still do not have cloud services and I think we would never have by their measure. I have to pay 1000x more to get what you pay 5$/month for a hosting plan.
You can not have your home business , you have to have your office with a legal license , you can not have your online business for some industries , you have to go through a long journey and hurdles , these play as roadblocks for entry … You can not protect your idea or intellectual property , there are no effective laws.
They will close your site down at any time they want with no warning if they think you are working against the law, be it a n ad*lt oriented word or something related to satellites . You can not do anything , no matter you lose how much business …
With above all which I know are not all the details , I have decided to build a business. I can not go out of this place currently as I do not have enough money and I do not know what to do , I do not know the culture or laws.
I have tried to keep my knowledge updated , although I know I am not a superstar developer , I have gathered some E-books on business and business related operations and skills I have to know about.
I am willing to work hard , learn from my mistakes and start over. Nothing is hard for me , I will put my effort in it to make it work. I want to build a business, I have some ideas , most of the people here do not use internet as a day by day basis , online commerce is not that popular here , technology here is very slow … sometimes I think I have chosen the wrong profession , but as long as I remember I wanted to be a good programmer and I loved working with computers.
For the current moment I am not able to get out of here, not enough money , keep in mind that It is very hard to get visa from other countries specially USA, Canada and Germany.
What would you do or decide , if you were me?
I would appreciate your thoughts, workflows and roadmaps if any.
Best Regards.
I would try and get out of that country. Interesting that you didn't say which country it is.
I would get out as fast as possible. Your credentials are good, so get another programming job. If you can't find one in a friendlier country that will let you work on a visa, then just start saving everything you can until you have enough to leave.
I'll say get the hell out ASAP - and for Pete's sake don't focus on western countries or how much money you need to move. Moving to another third work country will do... (e.g Kenya has a vibrant startup/tech industry).
Get out. By the look of it you won't be building a profitable business in this country.
I have been around for a decade , not posted that much, now I am seeking your sincere and pragmatic opinions , I am open to any thought as long as it is practical and in the context.
I appreciate your time and effort.