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While many people here may disagree with this; this is very real in the Philippines. Maybe in your country, you are compensated for your efforts. But here, when
by wenbert 16y ago
While many people here may disagree with this; this is very real in the Philippines. Maybe in your country, you are compensated for your efforts. But here, when you are working you never feel you are compensated enough. Seriously, the basic salary here isn't enough to raise a family. It isn't even enough to buy yourself a decent and healthy meal daily.
That is why many programmers here, code themselves to death here. I have many friends who are very unhealthy because they have to work 2 or 3 jobs at the same time. Coffee and cigarettes seem to make them think faster (BTW, I haven't had a cigarette in over a month, so yay for me) or probably they do not have enough time for other pleasures aside from these.
I myself used to work 9.6 hours (that's with no overtime) from Mondays to Fridays. When I got home I work an extra 6 hours on the internet. On weekends, I work at least 8 hours. And I still live with my mom because I still can't afford to live alone and have an internet connection.
Working your mind off I think is as hard ass working physically. At least my brother, who is a nurse can sleep soundly at night without thinking about solving anything. He can rest his mind and his body. I on the other cannot rest my mind and therefore it is impossible for me to rest my body.
I love to code that is why I do what I do. But sometimes, posts like these come up from time to time. Also, I think this is more of a problem with the entire system here.
FYI: Nurses here are paid dirt shit. Not even above the minimum wage: about 240PHP a day and a Big Mac is about 150PHP. They are paid less than the floor cleaners in the hospital and the hospital treats them like shit. I can easily make 3 to 4 times from what he gets per month. He chose this career because there is an opportunity for him to go to another country where he gets paid what he deserves. He is really good at his job and he has a passion for it. Too bad the hospitals treat their nurses like disposable cups.
- julsonl 16y agoOh I didn't know that was the case. I grew up and graduated in the Philippines with a Computer Science degree, but didn't manage to experience work there. Most of my friends work in HP, Canon and other multi-nationals, and entry-level work is paid dirt-cheap. Although it scales up considerably as you gain experience, though I've heard that it doesn't scale and pay as well as someone on the IT management track, which sucks. Maybe that is also the case in Cebu? I'm only familiar with Manila. Also, I've always had the impression that living with your mom does not carry the same stigma as here in the US. The only time people release their shackles from their parents is when they get married, even that doesn't occur quite often too. Why are you working over-time in the weekends anyway? Is it related to your Monday-to-Friday job?
- wenbert 16y agoI used to work an American company it started to pay well but then the US economy got hit a few years ago. Working on the weekends is not related on the day job. I do other stuff online to make extra money. It's funny, now that I have thought of it, I have been doing sidejobs longer than my dayjob. I had sidejobs since at the 2nd year of college. Also, I forgot to post that I am shifting careers. Now, I code on my free time - for fun! I now work for a Norwegian surveying company. I spend a lot of time in a ship inside the survey room. Still computer related but I with less hours :D and hopefully bigger pay.
- julsonl 16y agoYeah. I sort of took a quick glance at your past comments and found that, just forgot to update. That sounds like an awesome job! I just hope you don't get to pass around the Horn of Africa that much (knocks on wood).