Education

[Brian W]

In the U.S., you don't need a business license to do what I'm doing legally, although the bureaucrats and IRS (Tax people in the U.S.) would like to make it seem that you do. Regardless, I currently don't make enough money doing what I do to care about filling taxes and when I do start making money, the small fee to register as a Sole Proprietorship (like $75usd processing fee) will be no big deal. That's not enough to pay for a single credit at a University.

Speaking of cost of education. Unlike in Denmark, Daniel, education can cost you $15k-$40usd a year. In comparison, thats the range in price for a new car from this year. $80k can buy you a middle class house (not rent or down payment, that will get you the whole shebang). So college is no where near free here. Not to start a political conversation, I wonder what you lose out on to gain access to free education in your country.

[Daniel0]

 

Starting a business is free over here, so are educations.

 

 

That makes me want to immigrate

 

The catch is that you pay higher taxes.

[Mchl]

 

The catch is that you pay higher taxes.

 

If my memory serves well Danish tax system is among most complicated in UE, isn't it?

[ignace]

Starting a business is free over here, so are educations.

 

OMG you lucky bastard. I'm migrating to Denmark as of now!! And high tax systems, I'm living in Belgium how much higher can it get? Our government just dug a whole that took us years to fill and now we are back where we started at 130% of the BBP (in english: Bruto Domestic Product?).

[Mchl]

That's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) I believe

[ignace]

That's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) I believe

 

Thank you, I didn't knew if bruto was translated too or not in English.

[JonnoTheDev]

The catch is that you pay higher taxes.

And the price of beer is ridiculous! It was when I went to Copenhagen anyway.

[ignace]

The catch is that you pay higher taxes.

And the price of beer is ridiculous! It was when I went to Copenhagen anyway.

 

They care about your health, cola is much cheaper

[Mchl]

That's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) I believe

 

Thank you, I didn't knew if bruto was translated too or not in English.

 

As you've already noticed I pride myself in using acronyms.

 

TLA FTW!

[Adam]

The catch is that you pay higher taxes.

And the price of beer is ridiculous! It was when I went to Copenhagen anyway.

 

You're from the UK aren't you? You don't think it's ridiculously over-priced here too? Not to mention price of smokes these days..

[ignace]

That's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) I believe

 

Thank you, I didn't knew if bruto was translated too or not in English.

 

As you've already noticed I pride myself in using acronyms.

 

TLA FTW!

 

YWDYDT? S, DYGAKOONOBATUWYAS? DYCSTH, WYT? IMTP, AAIAPAWAAGOIWWUWYMWYSTW, LFO. AITUT.

[JonnoTheDev]

You're from the UK aren't you? You don't think it's ridiculously over-priced here too? Not to mention price of smokes these days..

Yes. It is compared to what it used to be but not as bad as Denmark. It must have been about 6 years ago when I went on a training course in Copenhagen and I remember it being around £5 or more for a beer. God knows what its like now. It's the same in Norway. My parents have a place out in Spain and when I go all you see is Norwegians drunk because they can afford the beer.

[ignace]

Norwegians drunk because they can afford the beer

 

Yeah, but I am sure you won't find anyone drunk in Denmark or Norwegian.

[tomfmason]

Norwegians drunk because they can afford the beer

 

So, basically high prices on beer avoids drunkenness. The same measures they take on smokes. In Belgium you are basically "forbidden" to smoke. Only allowed in places where they don't serve food. But every pub (cafe?) has to serve food to make a good income.

 

oddly enough it is basically the same in the states. The only place that i know of locally that serves food and allows smoking are the native american casinos. I am not sure if that is because they are their own sovereign government or not.

[.josh]

A lot of "small town" places still have smoking sections but more and more larger cities are banning smoking indoors - even in your own residency. 

[ignace]

A lot of "small town" places still have smoking sections but more and more larger cities are banning smoking indoors - even in your own residency. 

 

For a better and healthier living

[andrewgauger]

So....

 

Developers are a different breed than the rest of the IT community.

 

If you can do the work, you can get a job.  If you want to do the work for a Giganto-corp, get a bachelors.

If you want to freelance--start contributing to the opensource community.  It is one thing to have 5 people using a product you created for each unique individual.  It is entirely something different to say your products have a user pool of 10,000.

 

Also, open source contribution will get you sponsorships for feature sets and you if you target enterprise level customers, you will get paid to create an instance of your open sourced solution.  This is the direction I am going (I happen to be a daytime Administrator and moonlight as a developer).  So what I would say, if you already have 2+ solid years foundation, going and getting a degree may hold you back.  The first two years in college will be a waste of time (excepting the end result), and frankly may be too difficult to sit through (I never finished the first year because it is dreadfully boring).   

 

I suggest that you get a larger community going that use your products, revisit old clients and request (at discount) to apply the advanced techniques you have learned since and get a publisher to print your portfolio.

 

If you are going to freelance grab it with both hands, don't let go and don't compromise.

 

Oh and get married already, if you already are listening to the in-laws like gospel, you might as well marry her. 

[.josh]

Oh and get married already, if you already are listening to the in-laws like gospel, you might as well marry her. 

 

lol QFT