You probably already know that, but sometimes it helps to hear it again:

The world is a competitive place, and a lot of success factors are outside of your control. (timing, pre-existing resources, sheer luck)

What you can control is exactly what you are already doing: Work really hard and make the best of what you have. Come up with a good long term plan and execute it. Do life decisions that help with that plan.

This will make you more successful than your relative peer group and over time wash you into an upper percentile compared to others dealing with the same factors.

Keep up the good work! It's a long game.

Many people think that if they work really hard it will pay off. But its the other other way, first you discover that something pays off, then you can start to work hard to get even better. So it should really say work smart.

While it’s true that working hard is not sufficient to have things pay off, I think waiting to find something that pays off to work hard would result in most people missing the opportunity they were given. To sustainably work hard is a skill, and unless you’ve practiced it in advance of an opportunity showing itself you’ll find yourself unable to work hard when you need to.

Disclaimer: I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa and talking to some locals there. In short I've learned: access to healthcare is completely and utterly fucked (this is why maximum age seems to be 40 in the villages that I went to), getting food is a struggle but doable if you know what you're doing (you just plant stuff somewhere and hope it doesn't get robbed), you'll have a mud house somewhere, you'll be living close with your family, you'll be relying a lot on your community and your community relies on you.

My point of this entire comment is to say: be a bit careful with your words when you're from a 1st world country and the person you comment to lives in an entirely different context.

--- My actual comment ---

You seem to be based in the USA. This person is from a 3rd world country. Your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country.

For example, I can imagine that a lot of people don't think that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one. Why? Because there are a lot of mercantile practices going on. Your passport matters. There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports.

Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive and I'm sorry that your relative passed away from malaria and that we had no money for medicine, and even if we did have money the infrastructure would be too broken to bring it fast enough. Sadly enough, that happens quite often. Technically, that's still the same as "make the best of what you have". But I can imagine that it can be perceived quite negatively, as some might see that there's some implied sarcasm there.

> This will make you more successful than your relative peer group

So instead of having an average age of 50, you'll get to be 60? More successful for sure. Yet, I can feel the unfairness to 1st worlders who get to be 80.

> It's a long game.

I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game. I know I do at times. But I also happen to know family members that almost die from hunger (rare thing to happen in The Netherlands but it does). I am sure that to them in those moments life is not a game. Because of that, I also believe that enough people who suffer from poverty or are threatened by it don't perceive life to be a game.

---------

In closing: I think your comment was actually well meant. But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally. I assume that other people have a similar enough interpretation of it.

FYI I didn't downvote, as I think your comment was well meant.

> I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa

Thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and actually visiting a non-touristy place.

It is unclear what the definition of a 3rd world country is. It has different meanings depending on cultural context. see also https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp

> your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country.

My advice was written for someone with a university CS degree, years of experience in his profession, and an actual job offer that might still be honored. That goes a long way, especially in impoverished countries, where your odds of success are even more tied to the wealth of the family you were born in.

> that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one

Whether that's true or not, it's out of his control.

> There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports.

I agree. But a passport is a pre-existing resource, something you don't have a lot of control over. You can try to immigrate to another country, but that takes a long term plan again.

> Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive

That's true again. Families in Africa, who don't have a son with a CS degree, often pressure their strongest, smartest son, the future of the family, to embark on a very dangerous journey to Europe. The risk of dying along the way is fairly high, but the upside is huge for the whole family.

The person I responded to was worried about a job offer. He might need to work for less money in a job he hates again. It's all relative.

> I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game

My bad, I should have used an actual subject: career. And a career has many characteristics of a strategy game. Accepting the job offer was probably a good career move and it might still happen. It's not withdrawn yet. Even if it is, I can't think of a situation where it would help to stop doing the best you can.

> But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally.

Appreciate that. It's interesting how people fill in context based on their own experiences and come up with assumptions. While it's true I'm currently based in the US, I wasn't born with this privilege.

Like many others in this thread, I posted some universal best practices you can apply in pretty much every part of the world to deal with inevitable setbacks. It worked for me in the past 2 recessions and I expect it to work again for this one. The person I responded to seemed to be in distress and I think building some resilience skills helps with that.

So, why is this encouraging and helpful message being downvoted into gray? I can only assume some salty graduates are lashing out.

Don't do that to yourself, i.e. living bitter and angry. Engage with those you disagree with by conversing. Correct them or be corrected and learn.

I got to say I have given up worrying about why people are downvoting what I say, I do have a suspicion that I have a couple people who when they see my name automatically downvote - oh it's that guy again - although I don't think they search me out to downvote either.

on edit: at any rate I upvoted it as you're right, seems an encouraging nice message.

FWIW across ~10 years of HNing my sense is it's pretty hard to land on > 1 person's shitlist, and while it's unlikely you've garnered a coterie of haters, it is the iron law of HN that complaining about--or speculating about potential--downvotes attracts many downvotes.

Hiring is still going on in most of North America. Hedge your bets look at other companies and interview. Preparation for one interview is preparation for lots of them

Unfortunately US work visa for people from my country is not so easy. Though I've been applying at companies in EU, the visa process is much simpler.

Take a look at Japan as well, really easy to get in to work but money is not as good as NA. I don’t really know EU market

I'm a Dutchie, and I can't speak about the EU market as a whole, but as any European that travels around a bit, I have the following ranking in terms of lifestyle/pay:

1. Switzerland (90k or higher + mountains if you're willing to drive a bit)

2. Luxembourg (I just remember you get paid quite a bit)

3. Berlin (alright pay, low living costs, amazing city)

4. England + Scandinavia + The Netherlands (didn't look into Scandinavia enough but in most cases they're on par or a bit better than The Netherlands)

Englang is on #4, because while the pay is better, society seems to be more screwed. University is more expensive, the welfare system sucks more (compared to most of the other countries in this list, Scandinavia being Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland).

Take this with a grain of salt, do your own research of course.

Countries that I wouldn't want to go to:

1. Eastern Europe

2. Southern Europe

The pay is too low.

The thing is: higher pay is always better, even when living costs are always, let's say 50% in any country. The more money you safe, the more you can utilize it for geo-arbitraging strategies later on in life.

I can't speak for the rest of the countries in the region, but in Romania if you work in IT for a decent company you pay 0 income tax if you graduated from a local CS department and only a 10% flat rate otherwise.

A senior position at a good company in Bucharest will mean at least 3000 Euros net per month which means that you'll live like a king, since rent for a great apartment will be something like 500-600 Euros.

The downside is lower development you notice regarding infrastructure, education levels, pollution, etc.

> Countries that I wouldn't want to go to:

> 1. Eastern Europe

3-4k EUR net (after taxes) is pretty normal salary for senior enterprise dev in big cities in Poland. That's perhaps a bit less than in say Berlin (although I'm not too sure of that, given high taxes in Germany), but the costs of living are so much lower.

How about not using Cold War era divisions.

Kazakhstan is in Eastern Europe. It's 2000 km away from Poland.

France is in Western Europe. It's 800 km away from Poland.

With the EU money and regulations pouring in, the Central Europe begins to feel much more Western-ish and quite disconnected with Eastern Europe.

It will take time till people start referring to Poland as Central Europe, Estonia as Northern Europe and ex. Slovenia as Southern Europe...

Fair point! Thanks for pointing it out. My knowledge on Eastern Europe is pretty bad.

The issue with geo-arbitraging is that when you work somewhere for an extended period of time, you put resources into your life there. Retiring by leaving your home and friends etc. doesn't seem nearly as sweet.

You create a new home and make new friends (and eventually family if you moved somewhere single & got married along the way). I think you really underestimate how much easier life is in some places compared to others, even outside the extremes.

Fair point, I'd still argue it's better to send money back home, if one comes from a 3rd world country.

The best thing would be to move to a country with low living costs and work remotely for a company from a high living costs country.

Please consult with someone worked in Japan before you actually go. Japanese company culture is very different to us/euro style, and if you can’t speak japanese, you will not be able to blend into their company culture.

Also, Japan IT sector is notoriously messy, think again before you join them

Its not a competition, but I can do you one better. I have excellent jobs get away from me 3 times, days before I join. First was due to 2008 recession, company shutdown and I came to know when I went to join on day ONE, fresh after graduation. The last was now due to covid, the company abandon plans and even fired some their own staff. So, no scope of getting there. Scores of shitty jobs in shitty companies. Couple of failed startups and pending payments I doubt to recover.

But unlike the last 2 times, now it didn't hurt much. May be i developed a tolerance. But its more of the fact that I accepted that many things are beyond my control. The fact it happens, shouldn't be taken personally by looking around and wondering why it "happened to me"? Shit happens, move on.

Focus on self-development like reading more, watching & listening to informative things like documentaries or well-written programs instead of time-killers. Stick to a personal routine and keep a clear head.

What is the fun if everyone has the same story? I story is unique to me, no claims of plagiarism. Your priority is to keep moving forward, whatever happens just think how to move forward.

I just talking this time and studying. What else can I do? I do spend about an hour applying for jobs. Learn new skills, in job & in life. I have a small garden now that was setup during this covid times. I contribute fresh leafs to the meals at home.

> so here I am sitting jobless leeching on my family till god know when. sitting jobless - that is you. Why sit simply, do something productive for you or the ones around you. Just washed some old unused vessels in the kitchen that my mom wanted to use now. leeching? as long was you not drinking or snorting drugs and actually trying to move forward its fine. Your time will come. You need to believe that to keep moving forward.

Dont resent or feel jealous of the ones who seem to have things better than you. You can never compare yourself to any one around.

The only person to compete with is yourself from yesterday.

In wich country did you decide to move? Some have more troubles than others during this period depending on sector.

For example, most companies in Germany/Europe working in the automotive sector froze hiring since nobody is buying cars anymore.

comment looks fine to me?

It was dead for about 10 minutes after I posted it, I think it tripped up some spam/troll filter for new accounts. It's fine now though, but I can't edit the original comment and remove the last line.

Yes, new accounts tend to have their comments appear as dead until they are vouched for. For constructive posts this usually happens quickly.

It can be brought back to life if people vouch for it, so I assume that’s what happened.