$120k a year without any benefits is stellar salary in Brazil. I am top 1% income here. But I think those FAANG jobs paying $200k+ are out of reach for me.
About first job. First job as a junior I would actually recommend getting a local, ideally onsite, job on a company with several senior engineers and a culture of good mentoring for junior people. Well worth the investment of two years for the knowledge. Then go remote and global. If you can find such a company that’s remote and paying in a strong currency from the start, great too.
About stacks. If frontend, definitely React (but strong fundamentals in CSS and JavaScript are more important than React). Backend I would say Rails, Python or Node.
For being more marketable, create a portfolio of projects that you 1) created yourself, not just copied from a tutorial; you thought yourself and built it and 2) deployed. Websites or webapps that are actually deployed in a domain and are functional. It could be anything, but go all the way with them.
Then apply to A LOT of positions and learn along the way how to improve yourself, your portfolio, your communication, your interview skills, etc. I applied to ~250 positions to get my first dev job (keep in mind that all of them were for junior frontend developers, which I was).
The problem for me in getting a local job, is I have to go back home (I'm from a poor African country, there are no jobs there and if there are the pay is "shit"). I live in France right now, they are not so so keen on the remote thing, plus the fact that they still really care about degrees, mine is in business. What hires the most, back or front end? I'm leaning more toward back end stuff as I find it more fun, but I would change if it affects my chance of getting a job.
What's your background by the way? STEM or completely unrelated? How hard is it for them to hire a contractor? Does it involve a lot of paperwork? An on my side, what do I have to do? How about part-time jobs?
PS: Shoot me an e-mail, I'd like to stay in contact with you if that's ok.
I have a degree in Economics. I worked in the social sector for seven years, then in marketing for about six years. I learned to code when I was 37yo to change careers.
If you prefer backend, study backend. It matters a lot that you are studying what you like more. And, between back and front, there is no difference in what hires more. Maybe backend hires more, but both hire a lot.
It is very easy for an American company to hire an international contractor. Much less paperwork than hire a local fulltime employee. But most large companies don’t want to do it for potential labor law issues. If they hire someone as contractor that works fulltime and has the same work relationship as a regular employee, the companies risk an expensive lawsuit. The risk is much lower for intentional ones I believe. Anyway, this is decided before you apply. If they accept hiring globally remote means they accept international contractors.
On your side you just sign a contract and send very simple invoices that you can create your self on Word or Excel.
I’ll email you.
Also, I am a contractor. If they wanted to hire me as a full time employee with typical benefits they would have to establish a branch here.