What it's Like to Code in a Developing Country

The global economy is so unequal, we already know that, but when we talk about developers, it starts getting very weird, at least in my experience.

I am Lisandro, a 20 years old Argentinian who started his journey in web development a few months ago at the Microverse.

Microverse is a full-stack web development academy that uses pair programming to help us reach our goals and get familiar with an international working environment, simulating 8 hours of working journey.

In the beginning, I joined thinking it would be impossible to land a job without a university degree, and then I started hearing some incredible stories.

I heard about people who learned to program in webpages like freeCodeCamp, and a year later started working in big tech companies as web developers, with a salary of 30,000 USD per year.

I did some research because It was hard to believe that people without a degree were getting hired. That would never happen in my country. As soon as I joined LinkedIn, I realized every job ad asks for a degree.

After asking partners, friends, and mentors, this is what I found:

There are not enough programmers in the world

You may hear this a lot, but the world requires programmers who knows how to solve problems, and in a place like Spain, the United Kingdom, or the USA, you only need to prove that you know how to do it, even if you are self-taught and don’t have a degree.

A degree doesn’t prove anything

Companies need a person who knows how to build apps, solve problems and has good teamwork. That's something that no degree can give you.

Anyways, with or without a degree, you will have to keep learning, even when you already have a job, so even the person who learned with online courses can start as a junior and climb in 4 or 5 years.

Developed countries need developers

If you are from a third-world country, you may find that working in your country is not worth it. It could be for the number of hours, the salary, or the technologies, and you know that you could have a job that makes everything better in a developed country.

So what would you do? Move to another country and try to find a job? No, you don’t need that. A multinational company can offer remote jobs to developers, so they can do the work wherever they want.

You don’t need to be, as an example, in the USA, to work in a USA-based company. You can get paid in their currency, so even an average salary would be more than enough. If you don’t like to work remotely, you still have a chance.

So many companies need developers so much that they can sponsor them and invite them to move to the company country with benefits such as work permission, a place to stay, the hardware to work, etc.

Hiring foreign developers doesn’t affect the economy

A multinational company doesn’t hire foreigners to look more inclusive. They do it because they need people who can code. They don’t care about your religion, age, gender, country. They want you to do what you know, and if you are good, you will get the job.

Conclusion

If you are a developer, or you are thinking to become one, you have to know:

1. You always need to study and improve yourself.
2. Nothing is gifted, all the good things I said above, come together with years of hard work.
3. You can try to get a job in your desired country, even as a junior developer.
4. Coding is something great and pays very well, but don’t force yourself, know your times and limits, or you could end up stressed and thinking that coding is not for you.