
Ask HN: 32 and lost - elInoubio
Hello,<p>I am 32 yo and started programing since 14. I am a self learner and programing is far from being a passion, it is my life. Through the time, I programed using, QBasic, QuickBasic, Visual Basic, C++, C, HTML, JS, CSS, PHP and Python. Actually I only use the 6 last.<p>I live in democratic republic of the Congo, in the heart of Africa. In my country, developer jobs are quasi-non-existent. My wish is to work remotely. But, many remote Jobs I find online require being USA resident.<p>My Wish is to have an employer accept me working for approval even for 3 months. I learn quickly and I can add new languages to my fingers if required.<p>Thank you.
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Lordarminius
I am a developer from Nigeria who once-upon-a-time was looking for remote work
to augment my income.

Africa is uneven in its (under)development. Your part of Africa is less well
developed than say, Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos etc and yet huge opportunities
exist in these areas. If you are entrepreneurial (and I strongly urge you to
be) there's a goldmine sitting unexplored at your feet right now, and all you
have to do is start digging.

A few suggestions.

In my country a couple of years ago, students who wrote their high school
exams had to go and check their results on a physical board at a designated
site. Someone came up with the idea of having all the results posted online as
well as digitizing the enrollment process. The students pay the equivalent of
$2 to use the service and almost a million enroll every year.

Think about the process of registering a company in the Congo? Could you
migrate it online? What about searching for real estate title documents?
School management software? Sundry government processes? There are many
possibilities. I have no doubt that these same problems and more exist in the
Congo.

I am presently working on an idea similar to those listed above (cant say
anymore at present, many Nigerian developers visit this site! competition!)
and it shows a lot of promise; I can assure you that there are many similar
opportunities waiting to be exploited by skilled people like you.

Look inward. Look downwards. At your feet. For the goldmine.

~~~
gentleteblor
This is good advice.

I remember getting physical results for SSCE and NECO exams and I would gladly
have paid the $2.

I'll also add that the startups in the US/Europe can provide sample
problem/solution combinations for you. You won't be able to just clone ideas,
but you'll be able to evolve them for your local market.

Good luck.

PS. It makes me happy to meet fellow Nigerian engineers. I don't meet many in
my day to day.

~~~
Lordarminius
Hi there! Nice meeting you here too! Bawo ni?

~~~
gentleteblor
Mo wa oh! Kuse.

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ud0
Hey, I'm from Nigeria in West-Africa also self taught and learned about remote
jobs. It's really easy to get one especially in Europe. You just have to know
your stuff, pick a technology and focus on it. It pays to be a T-shaped
individual i.e know a technology very well and a little bit of others. I have
worked successfully as a remote developer for a startup in Stuttgart, Germany
and currently relocating to Berlin to work at a Bigger(IPO'd) company as a
front-end engineer.

There are tons of startups looking for remote devs. Most times to the
employers the pay is really cheap, but when converted to your local currency
you are a millionaire and you can live the good life and pursue bigger
opportunites like I did. Spend the money by investing in yourself. Buy
programming books, pay for courses. Just keep getting better.

Most of Africa is shut-out from the technological advancement happening in the
world but you can be a part of it by taking advantage of the internet, using
your financial resources to learn a lot and fill knowledge gaps in your
skills. You will discover once you start seeking out remote dev opportunities
that there is a lot to learn.

------
hardwaresofton
Check out weworkremotely.com and also wfh.io, I've checked them recently).

I'm also kind of annoyed at the companies that say "we allow remote work, but
you have to be in the USA". Feels like kind of a cop out.

Also, you might want to look at some of the other African nations like Nigeria
which no doubt need programming/web work. Not sure how easy it is to find jobs
there, but maybe that's a job board you could create? You're probably not the
only one with this problem, and might be a win-win-win for you, african
companies, and other developers.

~~~
eps
> Feels like kind of a cop out.

It just means that the company doesn't want to deal with legal and
accounting/taxation overhead of hiring outside of the country.

~~~
elastic_church
and this exact nuance keeps US salaries high compared to tech hubs with free-
er trade agreements like the UK, so if you anybody is looking at all these
"cool startups" like it would solve all your problems, the irony is that those
employees mere presence would [eventually, in mass numbers] help make the
sector less appealing

------
dang
Every month there are "Who wants to be hired" and "Freelancer?" threads, which
you can find at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring).
You might try posting in one of those. If you do, consider including a link to
the current thread, for background.

Comments on submissions only stay open for 2 weeks but these threads show up
on the first weekday of the month, so the January one will be soon.

------
dreistdreist
If there are not a lot of developers in your country, I would assume that a
lot of businesses are running without proper software as well. If they had
software they would have an advantage over their competitors who don't have
it.

Have you tried talking to business owners to see if they have problems that
can be solved with software? Being good with computers and able to program is
a really large advantage if most people around you are not in that position.

~~~
zhte415
To add to this: Something that is in really common need, but not much
addressed.

A friend had much success with a payroll system in China. All done in English,
satisfying the compliance need for international companies which had a small
presence but kept getting fined and in trouble with their home offices because
they weren't in compliance with local law when the law quickly changed: tiny
HR division, etc. China does not lack software engineers, but it does rely on
manual solutions which software solutions quickly solve.

Not saying do payroll. Just saying do something that solves a lot of people's
problems and can start generating some revenue quickly.

------
scotty79
Try finding remote work in one of the European countries. They won't require
citizenship and we'll be in your timezone so you can work notmal hours.

------
hoju
I have worked online for ~8 years as a programmer and most of my clients don't
know where I'm from. It's just not important if I can do the work and
communicate effectively (by email).

Try picking up short term contract freelancing work, and then hopefully some
of those clients will become regulars. I used to bid for dozens of projects a
week on Elance, but now most work comes from a few regulars.

------
chriscool
There are companies hiring people working remotely from all around the world
like GitLab for example. (I am working remotely for GitLab.)

In general you could look at open source projects that have companies hiring
remote people behind them. If you find a good project with a good company
behind, work on the project, and there is a good chance that you will be
hired.

------
guessmyname
I am on the same boat, I constantly browse these websites:

\- [https://github.com/jessicard/remote-
jobs](https://github.com/jessicard/remote-jobs)

\-
[https://whoishiring.io/search/34.198/-18.655/2/?search=c+OR+...](https://whoishiring.io/search/34.198/-18.655/2/?search=c+OR+php+OR+python&remote=true)

\- [https://angel.co/jobs#find/f!%7B%22types%22%3A%5B%22full-
tim...](https://angel.co/jobs#find/f!%7B%22types%22%3A%5B%22full-
time%22%2C%22contract%22%5D%2C%22remote%22%3Atrue%2C%22roles%22%3A%5B%22Backend%20Developer%22%2C%22Full-
Stack%20Developer%22%5D%2C%22keywords%22%3A%5B%22Software%20Engineer%22%5D%7D)

\- [http://berlinstartupjobs.com/](http://berlinstartupjobs.com/)

\- [https://remotefriendly.work/](https://remotefriendly.work/)

\- [https://weworkremotely.com/](https://weworkremotely.com/)

\- [https://goremote.io/](https://goremote.io/)

You can also try to immigrate to another country, Berlin, Brno and Amsterdam
are _(among other cities in Europe)_ full of startups actively looking for
skillful engineers and because of the benefits for foreign skilled workers the
company and the candidate receives tax exceptions and other things that makes
the process more appealing to some people.

The only problem that I see is that you are a "self-taught" programmer, right?
Many companies prefer people with an university degree because that is the
easiest way for them to demonstrate that the candidate knows at least the
basis of computer science, same thing with the embassies, they do not have
time to assess if the applicant is actually a skilled worker or not, so the
university degree is definitely a must. With 18 years of work experience you
might apply as an "Experienced" developer and maybe you can skip the
"university degree check" but is still a bit harder than if you had one.

Also check the "Živnostenský List" [1][2] is a special type of visa for
freelancers in Czech Republic that allows you to stay in the country for up to
a year as long as you have two clients and $6,000 in your bank account. Once
in Europe you can improve your chances to get either a fully remote job or an
on-site with its inherent benefits.

[1] [http://www.wandertooth.com/zivnostensky-list-work-in-
prague-...](http://www.wandertooth.com/zivnostensky-list-work-in-prague-not-
eu/)

[2] [http://www.wandertooth.com/freelance-visa-europe-work-in-
pra...](http://www.wandertooth.com/freelance-visa-europe-work-in-prague-non-
eu/)

Good luck.

------
datavirtue
contact me....sean dot anderson at datavirtue dot com

We are looking for a solid developer...and we have a PHP project with a major
company.

------
ezekg
Have you tried [https://www.toptal.com](https://www.toptal.com)? I believe
they allow freelancers from anywhere to apply.

------
keefe
What can you show to prove you can program? Basically, you have to prove that
you're a better bet than somebody local. So, build something on your own and
leave it open source, then find postings that use those technologies and
apply.

------
thrway3
Please help me too.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13287025](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13287025)

------
samnwa
What is your email address?

~~~
elInoubio
el dot inoubio at gmail dot com.

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neximo64
could you please display your email address somewhere on your profile.

~~~
elInoubio
OK. Already, it is el dot inoubio at gmail dot com.

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datavirtue
contact me ....sean dot anderson at datavirtue dot com

We might be able to work something out. Looking for a PHP developer for out
team.

------
woodylondon
Hey. email me at antpaul75@gmail.com

~~~
stevekemp
For the benefit of other readers it might be more useful if you said WHY the
poster should mail you.

Do you have job(s) on offer? Are you in the same part of the world as the
poster? Or do you have advice you don't wish to share publicly?

------
gaspoweredcat
you could register at upwork (formerly elance) or a similar freelancing site

~~~
illwrks
I would never recommend this, they are a race to the bottom on price. I have
no idea about the Congo, or the politics of the region, but I doubt all
matters are handled in paper. There are computer systems running software
there, phone systems, service provider infrastructure etc. Find out who is
responsible and get talking to them.

There is likely a development community and opportunity there, but it is not
obvious.

~~~
hoju
I started on Elance and found some awesome clients there. One even told me to
double my bid because "they weren't cheap"! The key is to focus on a niche and
find clients that value their own time.

Also I was living in a 1st world country and able to support myself from
Elance projects, so it would be much easier for someone in the Congo.

------
akirayamaoka
>>started programing since 14

But something went wrong with google skills.

~~~
nkkollaw
Very helpful.

~~~
akirayamaoka
Since when did ycombinator become a place for job search?

~~~
bbcbasic
Democratic Republic of Congo ... fwiw

------
gargarplex
Hi,

I just wrote a book on breaking into freelance programming consulting (link in
bio). I do 90% of my work remotely and often for countries outside USA.

My guess is the number one thing holding you back is your grammar and
punctuation. Especially at startup firms, your irregular style is going to
hold you back for two reasons.

1) The founders of startups tend to be supremely pedigreed and set a culture
of grammatical excellence; you need good grammar to get into a top university.

2) HR and management professionals who screen resumes and may nothing about
how to separate a good developer from a bad developer instead rely on false
cues, like "is their spelling and grammar obviously correct" or rather, "is
their spelling and grammar somewhat abnormal from the standard conventions of
American English writing" – in which case they reject.

So the question is: how do you improve your grammar? Start by reading the book
_The Elements of Style_. Its contents are largely available online for free.

~~~
elInoubio
:-).

Your reply makes me smile a lot. You are right. My English is not perfect. It
could also be horrible. French is my first language and I don't practice
English daily. But my understanding is perfect.

~~~
ilaksh
Have you looked for a french programming bid/job board/remote site? Assuming
you have of course but just checking.

Personally I think your English is good.

