[cassianoleal]

> Working in IT in Brazil means living in São Paulo

It absolutely does not. Porto Alegre and Recife are 2 large IT centres where there's plenty of good jobs from large corporations to small startups. Florianópolis also had small but workable one though I don't know how it's evolved in more recent years.

Salaries are certainly better in São Paulo but so is the cost of living, and for many the quality of life can be a lot lower.

[DanielHB]

Well I am from São Paulo state, I worked a few years in Campinas but I refused to move to São Paulo city. But even in Campinas (which is a somewhat decent tech center) it still was hard to find good jobs.

From my point of view moving from São Paulo state to one of those other Brazilian tech centers is not that big of a leap to just move to another country.

[cassianoleal]

That's fair but it's also moving the goalpost. :)

[DanielHB]

True, but like I mentioned, I lived in Campinas which is not that bad IT place, but still I was very unimpressed about the jobs around the region, either boring enterprise jobs or small scrappy startups.

If I have to move somewhere where I know no one and it takes a plane flight to see family I might as well move to a place with a hot job market where I can make good money and have good work life balance.

[cassianoleal]

I moved abroad from Porto Alegre for similar reasons (and many others) so I get it.

That said, I did have a few interesting jobs there. And the quality of life was in many ways better, though I can’t complain much.

[forinti]

There are a few good opportunities in both Porto Alegre and Recife, for sure, but most jobs are mediocre at best.

If you have any sort of ambition (technological or financial), you should get a government job, start your own business, or move.

[cassianoleal]

From what I can tell, most jobs are mediocre at best anywhere.