On: Open AI announces $1.5M bonus for every employee

[koakuma-chan]

That's more than I make a year. I live in Toronto and work remotely for a Ukranian company.

[candiddevmike → koakuma-chan]

How do you live in Toronto on that kind of money? As I understand it, Toronto is one of the highest cost of living areas in North America.

[koakuma-chan → candiddevmike]

I rent a room. After rent, I have ~200 CAD net positive, which covers food and gym. I can't really accumulate money at this point, but I have existing savings and a few investments.

[meindnoch → koakuma-chan]

The opposite would make more sense.

[koakuma-chan → meindnoch]

I cannot work for a Canadian company because nobody is hiring juniors.

I cannot live in Ukraine because they will send me to war if I go there.

[FredPret → koakuma-chan]

15k / year in Toronto? How is that even possible?

[alternatex → FredPret]

You mean 15k / year in Eastern Europe whilst living in Toronto. Probably young and renting with roommates or family.

[FredPret → alternatex]

What I mean is 15k/year is not enough to live in Toronto, unless you live with your parents who then also feed you and you never go out

[koakuma-chan → FredPret]

I go out all the time to read books, it's great. Only downside I sometimes bump into junkies smoking weed in parks.

[stanleykm → koakuma-chan]

why would you do that to yourself?

[koakuma-chan → stanleykm]

Because this is the only way I can work as a software developer.

[stanleykm → koakuma-chan]

Surely there are contract gigs elsewhere in the world that will pay better and not ask complicated legal questions

[koakuma-chan → stanleykm]

Maybe there are, but I don't know. It seems pointless to try Fiverr and similar platforms, because it seems they are already flooded with freelancers. But I never did contracting so I am pretty clueless about that. I've read old HN threads and the general consensus seems to be that you have to have connections to get customers.

[stanleykm → koakuma-chan]

back in the bad old days id trawl craigslist and find cash poor startups. they were shitty gigs but at least enough to bootstrap a career