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Ask HN: Developing a Skillset for Contracting in Europe

11 points by pendragon ↗ HN
I'm a Python developer with a Linux background looking to develop my resume over the next 1.5 years prior to a move to Europe. I'm interested in what advice you could offer.

I'm at a point where I could invest in DevOps and infrastructure skills or go heavily into programming. I've been a developer for 4 years and self describe as intermediate. What I'm looking for is the kind of skillset that would give me mobility throughout Europe so I can travel slowly and focus on seeing new things and living.

I've done a lot of web app backend work, some sysadmin work and really need to step up my knowledge in both depth and breadth. The question is into what? I absolutely hate frontend web work and am frequently bored in web dev.

6 comments

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iamdave
This is a good question, I'd like to hear what people think. Not for the sake of sojourning through Europe, but I feel the answers could easily apply to someone wanting to work remotely period.
pendragon
Remote drove me insane. I was younger then though, and if I did it again I would make sure I had a seperate office room. Living in a flat of rowdy people was a bad idea.
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morey
I am living in Germany and I think that either way you will have good opportunities if you really develop a strong skill set in that field. But if you "hate" frontend" work and are frequently bored in web dev I would say that customers and contractors are often looking for a "complete package" for developing smaller short-term projects.
ianpri
If you're going to be moving around Europe then having a "full stack" skillset is going to be the most advantageous - 3 month type gigs for devops are going to be much harder to find than MEAN stack roles, especially if you want to visit less startup centric countries/cities.
collyw
I live in Spain, and I haven't been aware of a large contractor market here.

The financial industry in London does seem to attract a lot of contractors. Its also fairly corporate style languages that look for a lot of the time (Java .NET).