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Ask HN: Tips for a third-world JR Dev seeking international Job

5 points by SchwKatze 2y ago

I've been working as a JR developer (mostly back-end with Java and Node) for almost a year here in Brazil, but two things are making me strongly aim a international job: 1- Brazilian currency (Real) is cooked; 2- More space to learn and build cool stuffs; I'll graduate in CS in two years and I want to spend this time working to be competitive for international remote jobs. Any tips or things to consider?

rshnotsecure 2y ago
Certifications would help distinguish you. It can be hard to evaluate the worthiness of foreign educational institutions, but certs, such as those for AWS and GCP can be great. They often highly reflect what you will actually do on the job (assuming you are going to be a Cloud or DevOps Engineer), show discipline, and prove a high level of knowledge and the ability to gain that knowledge. Other certs that I think are valuable include the CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), Terraform Associate, and even the newer GitHub Certs. I'm sure others have valuable certs to add. It is always changing.
- matheusmoreira 2y ago
  > It can be hard to evaluate the worthiness of foreign educational institutions, but certs, such as those for AWS and GCP can be great. Does that imply I can be competitive in the job market even without a formal CS education? Or are degrees still required? I'm also brazilian and growing increasingly pessimistic and disillusioned about this country and its future.
- solardev 2y ago
  Is this a regional thing? In the US, I've never met another dev who's ever gotten a cert (to my knowledge) or even discussed one. Might just be my particular circles, though.
  - matheusmoreira 2y ago
    HN users seem to have a very dim view of certifications in general. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24855453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24855453 It's interesting how people pay for a degree, pay for certifications only to find themselves looked down on as people who don't have better things to pad their CV with. Looks like the best entries are previous jobs.
    - solardev 2y ago
      I mean, sometimes I wish our industry had more rigorous practices and standards. Web dev in particular gets more wild west by the day. But I've never heard a colleague even discuss a cert, much less actually have one (to my knowledge). I think they're a good idea, just extremely rare in my experience. I've met more self taught devs and tech people, many of whom make bank, than anyone with a cert. I've seen them online, of course, but always thought they were a foreign thing for outsourced support and networking stuff. Maybe a double standard there where US nationals get different treatment? I dunno...

5 points by SchwKatze 2y ago

rshnotsecure 2y ago

Certifications would help distinguish you. It can be hard to evaluate the worthiness of foreign educational institutions, but certs, such as those for AWS and GCP can be great. They often highly reflect what you will actually do on the job (assuming you are going to be a Cloud or DevOps Engineer), show discipline, and prove a high level of knowledge and the ability to gain that knowledge. Other certs that I think are valuable include the CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), Terraform Associate, and even the newer GitHub Certs. I'm sure others have valuable certs to add. It is always changing.

matheusmoreira 2y ago
> It can be hard to evaluate the worthiness of foreign educational institutions, but certs, such as those for AWS and GCP can be great. Does that imply I can be competitive in the job market even without a formal CS education? Or are degrees still required? I'm also brazilian and growing increasingly pessimistic and disillusioned about this country and its future.
solardev 2y ago
Is this a regional thing? In the US, I've never met another dev who's ever gotten a cert (to my knowledge) or even discussed one. Might just be my particular circles, though.
- matheusmoreira 2y ago
  HN users seem to have a very dim view of certifications in general. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24855453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24855453 It's interesting how people pay for a degree, pay for certifications only to find themselves looked down on as people who don't have better things to pad their CV with. Looks like the best entries are previous jobs.
  - solardev 2y ago
    I mean, sometimes I wish our industry had more rigorous practices and standards. Web dev in particular gets more wild west by the day. But I've never heard a colleague even discuss a cert, much less actually have one (to my knowledge). I think they're a good idea, just extremely rare in my experience. I've met more self taught devs and tech people, many of whom make bank, than anyone with a cert. I've seen them online, of course, but always thought they were a foreign thing for outsourced support and networking stuff. Maybe a double standard there where US nationals get different treatment? I dunno...