You need a visa. But it's impossible to get a visa to work in US/Europe unless you have a job. And even trying and applying for a visa costs more than most people's monthly salary. And there is no money-back guarantee.

But finding a job is also not easy. Applying to some IT company in the US without being able to show of significant work experience? No college education from a well-known university? How can you get job experience that is sufficient to apply for an IT job when you live in a country that has the problems the article talks about?

And no, you cannot just apply to some junior entry-level job. You won't get a visa unless you are so qualified that the host country has a huge demand for people with your skills. And this is just one of the hundreds of problems you're facing when deciding to leave Africa.

So yeah:

>Get out of Africa. Africa will steal your life.

Thanks for that advice. Very helpful.

Frankly, if the factors you describe are really what's stopping you from reaching your goals, you're likely to fail anyway.

A very narrow perspective of the world.

Though I hope not, but some day if you fail for reasons beyond your control despite your best efforts may be you will see for yourself why not all failure happens due to a individual's short comings.

The world is full of examples of people who work heroically only to meet chronic failure.

But those things ARE actually under your control. Just move to San Francisco :-)

I'm not sure what your point is.

I'll bet that a large percentage of those people worked in Africa

I am also working at emigrating, and it is a painful process. Huge amounts of bureaucracy. I have to shell out for English exams (despite English being my first language). I then have to shell out more for my work experience and degree to be assessed by the Australian Computer Society. Getting letters from ex-colleagues has proven to be challenging, because the letters need to be notarised - hopefully these will be acceptable- no guarantees.

I then lose an arbitrary two years of work experience points (at least) because I didn't study in Australia. Finally, assuming that I have enough points, and there isn't a revision to the Skilled Occupation List, and I am invited to apply for a Visa, there is another small fortune to be spent on visas. Any small oversight or error, and my money is gone. If I don't have enough points, I have to spend the same amount to have my experience assessed again in six months.

Fortunately, I have enough saved up enough money to play the emigration game, the same probably applies to you. Most people have not.

One thing to consider is that it might be easier to grow into a big fish in a small pond than in a big pond. I've seen people in small pond countries grow into big fish then move to a bigger pond with their big fish credentials. Whereas when a small fish moves from small pond to a big pond, with only small fish credentials, it becomes food, forever battling it's way nowhere. Not always, of course.

This is one of the reasons for the mass exodus away from certain US states and into others. People vote with their feet, and eventually policies catch up due to consequences.

If you ask me, winds are blowing the right way for Africa. It's a good time to be there.

The calculus changes once children enter the picture though. The continent (a huge place to generalise about) isn't exactly the sort of place to risk raising a family, unless you are rich enough to be able to maintain a ready escape plan for them, and to educate them privately. You don't want to risk having them complaining in 20 years about the same things the OP talks about and being stuck here.