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There are lots of options - but it's up to you to make them happen.

* Speak to someone. I know you feel like you're alone - but you're not. Find a local tech group and speak to the people there. If you're feeling really down, speak to a mental health professional. It's a great feeling to get something off your chest.

* Find a job in London - or any other UK city. You seem to have good written English and you're a European citizen so shouldn't have any visa issues.

* Start your own consultancy - either work for small local companies or use oDesk and bid for work.

* Take a "day job" and concentrate on your passions in your free time. Grinding away in a Java shop may be dull - but could provide you with enough cash to start an interesting side project.

* Finally, don't worry about starting small. My first job out of university was driving a truck and delivering PCs! A bit shitty, but it provided a springboard to all sorts of interesting work.

Good luck!



+1 London +1 Day job that you reduce to 7hrs a day or less. You'll have to be brave, and you'll probably feel alone until 2 years after you settle in any city. Don't overwork. Once you're there, say yes to all social events. Keep overviewing all the new frameworks, Backbone, RequireJS, Play Framework, etc. Your OP was awesome.


+1 on London, we have a vibrant startup scene with a lot of support. I know quite a few Italian developers that I could introduce you too that have moved here. Shoot me an email through the link in my profile.


If you're coming to the UK, don't limit yourself to just London, there are equally vibrant tech scenes in other cities like Sheffield (where I live), Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and many more.


Nice one for mentioning the North! I work for a startup in Manchester and it's a great tech scene (if a bit smaller than London, naturally).


Great to see another Sheffield-based software engineer on HN!


Do you go to any of the tech events in Sheffield? I co-organise ShefPHP and sometimes go to some of the others.


Actually no, I'm painfully unaware of these things! I usually go to Dorkbot when it's on. One of my colleagues goes to the testing meetup in the Rutland. What are some other good ones?


You could consider joining a hackspace wherever you go to get your sanity back from the constant boring grind of the day job.

Plus there's the usual advantage of meeting new people, talking to like minded people and possibly creating something awesome with the members of the hackspace.


Will do, thank you so much.


> Finally, don't worry about starting small.

That in Italy might be a problem by itself. There's an incredible unemployment rate. Just pack your stuff, say bye to momma and leave the country.

Oh and remember to inscribe to AIRE before having nasty taxation surprises.


-1 on start your own consultancy in Italy. Taxes will kill you. It's not worth it.




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