>One day they they lost a investor and had to let a few people go, since I was the only remote guy left, I guess they simply wanted to get rid of me, haha. So I got fired.

That's my concern with fully remote work. You're not at the office, so only the people who work with you directly even know your name, and you don't form a personal connection with anyone. Even the people you work with directly have only seen you a handful of times.

When the time comes to cut someone loose, you're the obvious candidate unless your work is head-and-shoulders above the other people. It's a lot harder to fire people when you've been swapping stories about the kids and how about that game and whatever over the watercooler for any length of time.

> It's a lot harder to fire people when you've been swapping stories about the kids and...

Maybe in the past but those days are long gone. The key to longevity is to make sure your work is of critical importance to the company. And if you're let go it isn't the end of the world, lots of dev work to be done.

The key to longevity was always to make your work of critical importance to the company. But everybody else is doing the same thing. The point was being remote is a strike against you, and you really have to distinguish yourself to overcome it.

All of the remote teams that I've worked on have at least 50% of the team also working remote, so it tends to be a wash.

It's a tradeoff, sure. But working from a low COL area means you can be prepared for periods without a job.

> I saved some money and got unemployment benefits (60% of my previous salary) so I had 1 year to do nothing.

Well thanks, I'm out. In most of the world after quitting job one has literally nothing but savings, and even registering as an unemployed (to get the mere public health insurance) is not trivial.

One year I lived from the benefits, 60% were about 1600€ a month. Got this for 9 months, which made about 14k€. I also had about 18k€ in savings, back in the days and a month cost me about 1k€. So I could have done this without benetifs, but it was nicer with.

Unrelated, but in Germany you get unemployment benefits after you quit a job? Wow.

There are two (mutually exclusive) kinds of unemployment benefits:

Alg: Calculated based on your previous salary and paid for up to two years (based on how long you worked and your age). If you quit voluntarily, the first three months nothing is paid out to you. They will (try to) offer you employment opportunities. This is an actual (mandatory) insurance and costs 3% of your income (up to a limit).

Alg II: Based on the bare minimum you need to live. Without any limits but you need to actively work on getting a job. This is financed through general taxes.

I believe this is only for German and EU citizens, right?

Alg is available to anyone (as everybody pays into the insurance). Foreigner might be required to leave the country at some point, depending on the kind of residence permit they hold.

Alg II is a bit more complicated: It is available to all persons that have their regular residence in Germany (with some restrictions). Again, foreigners may be required to leave the country based on the residence permit they have (and of course lose the benefit). For example, foreigners with a settlement permit (which is generally available after five years and allows unlimited residence) don't have any restrictions here.

This is one of the most important social networks that exists today and nations all over the world should copy & paste this idea.

It is incredible to see how underdeveloped social networks are especially in the US.

It starts by reconquering the words of the language we speak.

Bullshit. It's very easy to get kicked out of the system, while one is still required to pay full contributions while employed in Germany. Let's say e.g. one works in Germany for years, moves to another EU country, ends up without a job within couple of months. German benefits are forfeit, that's about it regarding their social security. Money sunk in a black hole.

While the system is not perfect, in the scenario you describe times worked in another country can be recognised within the EU (by filling out form E 301).

What if one relocated to a country with very limited social support? Paying the highest (e.g. German) social contributions and getting the lowest (e.g. eastern European) social benefits. It's like getting spat in the face. Thanks.

yes, but it could be better.

People who don't are unemployed but don't get benefits still have to pay about 180€ a month for health insurance.

Well, it's like that:

You have to be employed for at least 12 months in the last two years AND you have to be fired. Then you get 12 months long 60% of your last salary.

If you quit by yourself (like me) you only get 9 months benefits.

Well, only if you apply to jobs and at least make the admins think you try to get something new.

yes, but if you get ALG1, they are quite chill.

ALG2 admins are harder, but you get ALG2 after being unemployed for more than a year, so it's understandable, I think.