What's on your mind today?

[dmgtz96]

Unfortunately, the capital/investment market is not the same as in the US. Here, you either buy something that you think will appreciate in value (land, real estate, gold etc), or you save it in a bank. Everything else is not that accessible (or you have to trust apps and portals from who knows where). Besides, I'm very much far behind in that game.

Good for you though! Good thinking ahead. I have enough savings to not work for a few years, but if I invest in an apartment, that's gone forever.

Damn, that sucks. In the US, you have the choices of investing in the stock market or becoming a real estate landlord. But… landlording takes up so much of your free time (since you have to manage your properties early on) and ties you down to one geographic area, so some of us simply contribute as much as possible to our 401k//Roth IRAs.

here’s an interesting video if you’d like to take a look


job market here is pretty bad due to AI layoffs and high interest rates, so a lot of homes right now are staying flat in value. People simply aren’t buying.
I would say, figuring out a way to invest in American stocks would probably be the best move in your case. I don’t know if that’s even possible from Serbia, though.

 

[dmgtz96]

@dmgtz96 Dude, take a risk sometimes take it from someone who has played it safe and got screwed because I was afraid of taking risk or getting slapped.

So the funny thing is, Japanese idols *have* to remain single for their career. It’s a strange rule that’s part of the industry. (And, anyways, she’s in a different continent ) I’m sure they date when no one is looking, though!

one of the things that drew me to her is that she has a pretty traditional Japanese style of beauty. A lot of girls right now are going for a more Korean look, but instead she feels more like a Japanese model/artist from the last century. I’ll probably see her online in a few months and then in person next year

 

[Progrez]

So the funny thing is, Japanese idols *have* to remain single for their career. It’s a strange rule that’s part of the industry. (And, anyways, she’s in a different continent ) I’m sure they date when no one is looking, though!

one of the things that drew me to her is that she has a pretty traditional Japanese style of beauty. A lot of girls right now are going for a more Korean look, but instead she feels more like a Japanese model/artist from the last century. I’ll probably see her online in a few months and then in person next year

I have been wondering why Koreans and Japanese are looking similar these days. I much prefer natural beauty compared to girls who put on 50 billion layers of foundation but that's just me and my upbringing.

If you don't take a chance or risk you will never know. I am surprised that people can tell who is who and especially with AI it's getting harder for me to spot what's real and fake these days. For me personally, it's becoming a challenge to find someone who is smart but someone also who comes from a good family and who is a vegetarian as well. When 99.99% of the world population are meat eater what do you do?

 

[Progrez]

Damn, that sucks. In the US, you have the choices of investing in the stock market or becoming a real estate landlord. But… landlording takes up so much of your free time (since you have to manage your properties early on) and ties you down to one geographic area, so some of us simply contribute as much as possible to our 401k//Roth IRAs.

here’s an interesting video if you’d like to take a look


job market here is pretty bad due to AI layoffs and high interest rates, so a lot of homes right now are staying flat in value. People simply aren’t buying.
I would say, figuring out a way to invest in American stocks would probably be the best move in your case. I don’t know if that’s even possible from Serbia, though.

I don't know how they are thinking that they can make money based off AI just yet . I suppose this is why they got rid of 20000 people. EDIT: Oracle is sacking 30,000 employees.

Oracle Layoffs 2026: Oracle cuts up to 30,000 jobs globally, long-serving employees among those affected

Oracle Layoffs 2026: Layoffs announced on April 1 span US, India and other regions, impacting staff with decades-long tenures.

www.storyboard18.com

In other news, man it's such a racist world out there especially in Australia. I am surprised they allowed it on IG. I am not going to post the video either because it's so vile and abhorrent.

 

[Archon]

Damn, that sucks. In the US, you have the choices of investing in the stock market or becoming a real estate landlord. But… landlording takes up so much of your free time (since you have to manage your properties early on) and ties you down to one geographic area, so some of us simply contribute as much as possible to our 401k//Roth IRAs.

here’s an interesting video if you’d like to take a look


job market here is pretty bad due to AI layoffs and high interest rates, so a lot of homes right now are staying flat in value. People simply aren’t buying.
I would say, figuring out a way to invest in American stocks would probably be the best move in your case. I don’t know if that’s even possible from Serbia, though.

Real estate is actually considered a safe investment over here. It's been rising in value constantly (especially over the past couple of years) - my GFs apartment almost doubled in value over 4 years due to the location being in demand. There's also a bit of a bubble around it (some money laundering involved, lots of immigration from Russia and Ukraine especially, driving demand), so the demand and supply are still very high. It's gonna stop at some point, but I don't see it crashing.

Good luck buddy, hope things settle a bit for ya. My trick to handle market swings like that has been to diversify my income streams. So job, yes, but always have a (1man) company on the side, some small passive income streams, and in my case a partner who does the same (company + job).

It’s impossible to get absolute certainty in any financial endeavour, but you can spread the risks

my 2 cents

That is indeed great advice! However, it's still my current pain point - what exactly to do on the side (especially that's not software-development based)? No real blue-collar/trade experience, so I'm quite far behind in the market. Anyhow, that's for me to figure out, just rambling out loud here.

Thanks, man. I also worked at an ecom company, led their UX Writing/Content Design team. The role might be more common in EU and US, but still a niche here in SE Asia, even more so for senior positions.

Luckily, I'm quite frugal and the severance package was fair enough, so I have a long runway ahead.

I'm treating this unemployment period as a career break, while starting my freelancing journey. It's progressing, even though very slowly. But this year seems going to be better (hopefully). I'm currently in the process of securing a deal with long term potential.

Anyway, I thought IT and software engineering were still in high demand? I saw a lot of openings on remote job portals. Industry knowledge isn't mandatory, is it? Because some engineers I've worked with have moved from ecom to OTA, ride hailing, and fintech.

Good luck! Good to hear it's becoming a bit brighter for you.

Hm yes but in Serbia, loads of jobs in IT are in outsourcing (usually to the West). It's where the money lies, BUT that's also very competitive as it is rate-based. Another flaw is that whenever there's a crisis in the markets to where we are outsourced, we also feel it.

As for lateral movements within the industry, it's very much technology-based, I would say. The tech stack I'm in is very much closed and can't be learned by everyone - you get it from an internship at a company, and then experience from working on a project; you can't gain it otherwise. Some skills are transferable to other fields, but knowledge isn't. This was definitely something I wanted to explore.

I might also hit up some buddies to try and build our own product(s) which we can attempt to sell. But overall, not looking too bright.

 

[Jetflag]

I’ll probably see her online in a few months and then in person next year

Put on a Texas cowboyhat & tell her you’re a multimillionaire oil magnate

 

[Jetflag]

2 months before the family’s expansion

And I forgot to arrange the post natal care

 

[NameLessYet]

Noticed something when walking in the city center of Copenhagen and passing by a book store. @Super-Frog Saves Tokyo

 

[Jetflag]

the book next to it is a banger i might add.

 

[Archon]

So on the one hand, in 2026, working in IT, I'm quite happy to have a project to work on, and work in general. I see that the situation is not bright everywhere, and it's hard not to be thankful.

That said, the past month or so has been really stressful. The sheer volume of work that is required is very high, and the velocity is unreal. So logically, it was decided to add more developers - but that rarely solves anything in IT, it just creates other bottlenecks. And that puts a lot of strain on everyone, especially the more experienced members. For better or worse, I am one of the few (two) that is being relied on to handle the most important/critical issues. However, the other team members are not picking up their end when it comes to team responsibilities so that also falls on us. Add to that some mentoring that I have to do of a junior colleague, and it's already quite a lot more than I'm used to.

My role will also be growing as I'll also step in a (minor) leadership role.

So on the other hand, yeah I'm grateful, but I've earned myself a proper raise here. I think I would be quite unmotivated to continue giving my all if it's not appreciated.