[pop45]

I'm just finishing my MSc and I feel so lost and hopeless. I just started to evaluate my options to enter the job market. I'm not sure what is corporate life like for a software engineer in the US but in my country I'm finding out that it has more to do with requirement analysis, evaluating the best COTS (things like Microsoft NAV, SAP, TIBCO seem to be common) for the client and then configuring and deploying it.

Maybe with some ABAP in the way and in some cases some J2EE/WSDL/SOAP or C#/.NET webservices to interact with it. It looks like it's almost impossible to escape this kind of work here, the main employers are outsourcing/consulting companies like Accenture, etc.

I fear that if I go this way I will never be able to escape because I will be gaining experience in this areas and my career will be stuck in this world.

I won't be touching anything like Python, Ruby, Scala, RabbitMQ, Redis or any other technology that might be used by companies were someday I would like to work for, and do real development/engineering.

I'm sorry for my ramblings, I just feel so lost and depressed and would like to get it off of my chest before I explode, and maybe find some advice and guidance from you guys.

[bicx]

It may be an unpopular opinion on HN, but I would urge you to seek meaning in your life in something more fundamental than your career. Once you find your identity in something more important (God, family, relationships... don't hate, HN ;) ), it's actually easier to make an objective decision about what to do for a living. It makes it easier to take intermediate steps (unfulfilling in the short-term) between what's available and what the future may hold. I would even dare to say that it makes you more adventurous in your career because failure in your career no longer equals failure in life. You are not your code.

The perfect job isn't always on your doorstep, and it doesn't define the rest of your future. For my first job after school, I was writing enterprise APIs in old, deprecated languages for a large insurance company, and I had the same fears you do. However, I am now working at a cutting-edge startup writing Android apps. They were smart enough to see potential in me rather than a collection of acronyms and technologies on my resume. Working hard is important no matter where you are. Showing genuine interest in the startup is also huge.

[pop45]

Thanks a lot for your comment. It hit home. I don't have many friends or relationships, my family is really small (no siblings or cousins) and I'm far from home, and my life is centered around finishing my deggree and programming/learning new technologies. I feel I don't have anything else, so if I fail at it, I have failed in life.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It gives me some hope which is invaluable as I have very little of it right now.

[bicx]

Glad I could help you out a bit. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always email me at [e-mail].

[nyrulez]

Are there no innovative technology companies in your country ? Or are they not hiring (you) for some reason ?

Don't worry so much about the technology itself as the principles behind it. If you are just graduating, you have a lot of life ahead of you. Do something that you don't hate to your gut, and do a great job at it! You would be surprised how often that leads to new realizations and better opportunities. It is hard but don't throw away what you can get now just because it is not where you want it to be.

Also, it is your responsibility to be up to world class standards even if your current opportunities don't demand it. Make sure you are competitive at an absolute level and don't give in to the mediocrity that your current situation (or the level of your peers) can suck you into. That may give you the option to move up (maybe in a different country or a different company) given that you are already prepared for it.

[happywolf]

Not true at all. You can always look for projects that interest you and start to contribute: browse github and knock yourself out.

For entry level jobs, as long as you can show adequate knowledge in a certain technology, I don't think any employer will care if you get it in a full-time job, or from your personal projects. In fact, I do think a candidate who does personal projects is more attractive because of the initiative and will-power needed to go this path.

[taway]

Long time lurker, first time poster. While I understand what you are saying, I also understand the fears of the parent. From what I know, in some parts of Europe like Greece, Spain, Portugal there is not much software development going on outside of COTS and I know some people in these countries that get caught on a cycle of jumping from consulting company to consulting company but essentially doing the same kind of job and where 12-14h/day are common. Sometimes even weekends. It can be soul crushing and I doubt that they have any energy or time left for pursuing their own projects/learning new technologies, etc. I don't have first hand experience so I might be wrong but that is what I have heard from about a dozen of people.

[pop45]

Yes, I'm in one of the countries you mentioned. I also see that pattern among older friends which graduated and are now working for 3-5 years. About 30-40% of the people I knew either exited the country immediately after graduating or 2-3 years after. Some even moved via mobility programs like Erasmus and never came back. The rest remain in the cycle you mentioned and that is my fear.

[ido]

If you are in an EU state why not move somewhere with a better job market like Germany, UK, the Netherlands or the nordic countries (you don't need to be able to speak anything but English to get work as a programmer in any of these)?

[lnanek2]

Well, even in countries like Belarus, where the largest companies were indeed outsourcing companies, I still saw a lot of gaming companies, particularly war games. Graphics programming is a grueling field where you spend months working on complex tweaks to improve frame rate or implement some effect, but it could feel rewarding to someone who is into it.