❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day Techies ❤️ 

I spent 3 days in jail in Romania this week - yes, I pulled a real Andrew Tate - minus the cars, women and millions.

More on that at the end of the newsletter

In this weeks’ issue, I wanna talk selling a dream and i’ve brought someone to help me sell it to you - I’m going to put that story in the Career Advice section

Let’s get stuck in

JOBS

Want a 3-day weekend?

This job board gives you companies that work 4 days a week - and most of them are fully remote

• 32 hour work weeks

• Fully remote

• High pay

CAREER ADVICE

It’s time to whip out the Mamba

I’ve said these words before, and it only lead to disappointment, so I hope history does not repeat itself - but even if it does, at least, I will be satisfied.

I was scrolling LinkedIn, pretending to work, as one does, and I came across this post from Dom Pitot - A Saffer living in USA, Texas of all places

Some Immaturity

Now, I don’t know what an Afrikaans accent mixed with a midwestern US accent sounds like - but i’d pay good money to hear him pronounce “Three”

Immaturity aside - his post is fantastic, you should give it a read - he has a great story of making it from nothing and he has a great message that I want to share with you.

Like Dom, I have lived and traveled all over the world - including America, I worked and studied there, and I hold the Green Mamba - albeit an expired Green Mamba

The South African Dream

Dom’s point is the South African Dream should be to live in SA, but work for international companies

• Get amazing work experience

• Be paid well and in hard currency

• Have the opportunity to work and travel

• Live in a country with amazing climate, food, geography

This really is the dream, and you should take it seriously - for a very small percentage of you, I will make that dream come true for you.

BUT

I cannot help all of you, it’s why this newsletter exists, it’s to help you help yourself.

Fairplay if you want to leave SA - who am I to judge or stop you - but a lot of you don’t want to, and a lot of you want to make the best of the cards you have been dealt.

Read this newsletter, look at the job boards I share, watch my youtube videos. Take this seriously - you will make more money, you will have much more experience and knowledge than most tech talent in SA and you will live the South African Dream

P.S you have to put in the work - please do reply to this email if you have any questions 🙂 

INTERVIEW ADVICE

Be curious

A lot of people think that interviews are happening to them, that its a one way street. A lot of companies conduct them that way too.

What you should be doing during the interview is understanding what the team is working on, how they are solving the problems and what problems they are currently facing.

Here’s a list of great questions to ask during an interview.

Your questions and curiosity will show the company your competence

• in their industry or niche

• in their tech stack

• in your experience

Ask them what are some of their biggest technical challenges, and just have an open discussion about it, question whether they have tried to implement X or Y, the trade-offs they are accepting in their solution.

Asking good questions, helps you stand out - because most don’t

LEGAL ADVICE

Don’t get caught - Going to prison

Ok, so a lot of you know that I am opening a company in USA - i’m going to make a youtube video about it when it’s complete - but I imagine the process will take weeks.

Already had a hiccup

When registering a company in the US, they will usually email you and ask for a picture of your credit card and you holding your ID - you also have 5 days to do this

Now when you are about to get scammed, they do put time pressure on you too and they do ask for sensitive info - and I wasn’t falling for that trick… again…

So I waited - I thought they’d still register my company without this - my request to open the company was canceled and I was refunded my $104.

I’m doing it again

I opened it yet again, this time, I did send them all the sensitive info they wanted, so let’s see what happens next :))

Back to not getting caught

I flew back from London to Brasov, Romania (it's the home of Vlad Tsepes, shout out Dracula)

I was in London for my brother’s birthday and to go watch a Papa Roach concert, was epic! Now I was flying back to Romania with my GF - sorry ladies, I have been spoken for, also, sorry Gents of that proclivity.

and after waking up at 2am to catch a 5am flight back, flying 3 hours and waiting at border control to give in my passport - That’s where the po po came in strong.

I handed my passport to border control, and they saw I had two passports, and they took me to the back to count my days in the EU

Now, I already knew I was screwed, I just didn’t know how screwed - Because I am only allowed 90 days in the EU for every 180 days. and I’ve been living in Romania since like October.

They counted 118 days, if it was 120 days, I would have been banned from the EU for at least 6 months, at most 24 months.

The Solution

Send me to jail until the next flight back to London - I say this half-jokingly - it is a jail, but its a comfy one - there are no windows, there is a bunk bed, and the door is locked, so you can’t escape…

…But

You got all your stuff, Laptop and Phone included, wifi and your friends can drop off food

No conjugal visits tho…

And so I just arrived back in London - spent Sunday to Tuesday in a locked room 20 meters below ground, in a city very few people know about…

No real point to the story, I just thought it an interesting adventure to share with you

THATS A WRAP

Before you go: Here’s 3 ways I can help you

1. LinkedIn - I’m always hiring - but only 2 to 4 people a month - connect with me on and send me your CV - currently, I only hire people with 7 or more years of experience - if you have less, but are EXCEPTIONAL, i’ll make exceptions

2. Youtube - i’m always making content to help you out, subscribe and binge

3. Free Career Advice - i’m going to be giving away CV feedback for early subscribers for free, I usually charge $100 for a resume roast - i’ll make a recording and send you feedback - just reply back to this email with your CV - its totally free for first 10 people