Almost twenty years ago I moved to Belgium to work as a programmer. I must say that I did not set myself the task of leaving Russia, even if it was a carcass, even a scarecrow. I felt pretty good at home too. But I was offered a job as a tester by a company that sent its people to work in France (yes, yes, not in Belgium, that's not a typo). I was a house boy, lived in an apartment with my parents, and the offer to go straight to France seemed very interesting to me, despite the fact that before that I worked in Nizhny Novgorod as a developer in a branch of a Belgian company and from a professional point of view, the position of a tester was not particularly interesting to me.
The year I lived in France turned out to be a good time. They paid very decently and a single, unmarried young man could afford a cheerful life. It is surprising that in France, a country of linguistic chauvinism, I managed to live a year, practically speaking no French. Even in France, there is enough English in IT. From an everyday point of view, everything was fine, but after working as a tester for a year, I realized that I like making my own mistakes more than looking for others. I started looking around for a new job. And then my former colleague from Russia, who by that time had moved to Belgium and managed to change his place of work, introduced me to his boss. He offered a job in a small Belgian company, I was only the second programmer there after my Russian friend. Compared to France, I lost a lot in salary,but did it deliberately. The position of a tester did not give professional development, so I was not thinking about money, I was thinking about my soul. To make it clear, I came to the same level of cleanliness in Belgium only after 3-4 years, and yet I had married by that time.
Thus began the Belgian period, which continues to this day.
The first four years I worked in one place in what I now understand was a junior position and a salary. The company was very small, there and then it was not called that, but moving to the next place made the difference obvious. In terms of money, there has been a jump from "a little short at the end of each month" to "a little left". Psychologically, this is a very big change. Money doesn't bring happiness, but it calms the nerves. In terms of work - I still remember this moment very well - I go up to the boss in a new place with a timid proposal to change this and that in the root code "because it will be better this way, see?" And he looks at me with surprise - "Well, if you think that it is better, then do it, what is the question." And what, so it was possible ?!
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As a conclusion, I will say that the option of freelancing in IT in Belgium is quite successful and profitable if you are ready for some risks and agree to exchange power for money.