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"The reality is that when you’re poor, if you make one mistake, you're done." - this was my experience. I graduated with first-class honours from a top 10 UK u
by peterburkimsher 10y ago
"The reality is that when you’re poor, if you make one mistake, you're done." - this was my experience.
I graduated with first-class honours from a top 10 UK university, paid for by my dad's job at CERN. No companies came offering jobs, except weapons manufacturers and oil companies. I refuse to support either of those industries.
I went off around the world on Working Holiday visas, doing a variety of jobs. Some of those were related to tech, some were not. My résumé grew dramatically, as each job only lasted for a few months.
I tried to start a Ph.D. programme at KAIST in Korea. I had to spend all my savings from 5 months in China to pay 6 months of rent up-front for on-campus accommodation.
Then the professor didn't pay my scholarship. I complained to the international office. They talked to the professor. The professor then talked to me, said I'd been gossiping bad things about him to people in the administration, and kicked me out of his lab.
No professor, no lab, no university, no student visa, no country. Everything fell apart.
A friend there told me to get a job with his brother in India, which I accepted. It was only paying 5000 rupees/month (78 USD/month), but accommodation was provided (food was not). I sent thousands of job applications to try to get out of there, and finally gave up and posted an emotional rant on Facebook. A previous colleague saw it, talked to my old boss in Taiwan, and somehow got me an invitation to work here. Even though my salary is much lower than it would be in a Western country, I'm terrified that if I leave, I won't be able to come back. Articles about homelessness and poverty often show up on Hacker News, and keep convincing me that I should just stay comfortable. I'll never be able to afford a house or learn to drive, and I probably can't afford to get married. But at least I have food and shelter, and that's the most I can hope for.
- pitaj 10y agoIf you don't mind me asking, where do you have citizenship? What is your degree? I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but I'm gonna throw out a bunch of questions because I want to know more details about your story. How old are you? Did you ask your parents and other family for assistance? Were they unwilling or unable to help you? Why did you go for a terrible job in India (if you're Indian, ignore this question)?
- peterburkimsher 10y agoCitizenship by descent, from the UK. Parents who live in France, but work in Switzerland. I would have to pay rent to live at home. They refused to pay for anything now I'm over 18. The article is saying that society ignores merit, and I agree, because it's much more about rich families supporting their children who inherit wealth. Earning wealth seems impossible. I'm now 27. I was 21 when I graduated (accelerated Masters in 4 years straight from high school). I was 23 when I tried to start the PhD program. I went for a terrible job in India because there was nobody else who would hire me. I sent hundreds of applications, mostly to Taiwan because I wanted to come here, but also other countries. Most companies just ignored me, or required me to fly somewhere at my own expense for an interview.
- ams6110 10y agoI have to say this sounds like complete bullshit.
- peterburkimsher 10y agoWhat kind of proof do you need?
- AlgorithmicTime 10y agoSo you refused to take good work in reputable industries and expect anyone to feel bad for you?
- GFischer 10y agoweapons manufacturers and oil companies. I refuse to support either of those industries That doesn't sound very pragmatic. I definitely would have qualms about working for a weapons manufacturer, oil companies not that much, but if I'm in need of a job I'd take them. When you didn't have a job, had you burned all the bridges with the oil companies? From top UK university to 78 USD/month sounds hard to believe (especially if you worked Working Holiday you know that you can make ten times that working odd jobs anywhere else). Can you take additional jobs? Even if it's fiverr or mechanical turk or some other platform? If you have an UK citizenship you should be able to do well, not sure about affording a house (I can't either) but renting, learning to drive, etc. shouldn't be impossible. I read on a sister thread that you were offered interviews but you had to fly there, I would try to save for a ticket and cheap accommodation and try to schedule a bunch of interviews at your target destination. When I was looking for work abroad (I'm from Latin America) I didn't ask to be flown in, and I have a CS degree and a Masters. Maybe you need help from someone (social worker, psychologist) to identify the issues that are holding you back, if you do have a top 10 degree it's not an intelligence problem.
- peterburkimsher 10y agoHow do you "take additional jobs"? Companies just don't reply to me. I was able to earn $500 USD to buy my plane ticket to Taiwan because I posted my code about an offline cache of stackoverflow, and someone contacted me to let me do a small project for him. The UK will not give me unemployment benefits, because I'm a citizen by descent. This was the story of that job search. I have a job now, but I want to make very clear that it wasn't because I didn't try - it was luck and connections, not qualifications, that helped me. http://peterburk.free.fr/jobsearch/all.html http://peterburk.free.fr/jobsearch/all.html
- szukai 10y agoI just found your resume off your tumblr. Unless you updated it, I really hope you get someone to help you revise it. It's not very palatable, imo.