FFR, i am at a crossroads in my life. Need some opinions.

[Mollocephalus]

Okay, now i'm at home and can reply a bit. Italy is fucked, but where i live that is especially severe, moving to the north could be a bit of a solution.

I will start sending resumes and put up a nice looking portfolio (sadly, i haven't started yet since i was working full time at my studio), in the meanwhile i'll take whatever i can. My girlfriend lives in tuscany and has a stable job, if anything i could start looking for jobs in the area.

I was thinking about giving sites like 99designs.com a shot, cause occasionally there are well paid jobs which are ultimately won by mediocre designers due to a lack of participation. Does anyone have some first-hand experience with those?

mi40: my family cannot move. they cannot speak any foreign language (this is pretty common here) and they have their own ways to support themselves anyway. Besides, i don't want them to follow me and i don't want any support from them, they can't give me any even if they wanted to.

Originally Posted by kommisar

well your father isn't foolish to think online could work.

It's not foolish at all. The problem is he expects me to do that when i'm not a web designer, then asks for things that are incredibly complicated and expensive to do on a website and expect they can be easily done. Not only that, but start selling online means even more investment and it takes time to start off. I don't have that time anymore, because the situation is wearing me off and it's not possible to continue on these premises - i work an average of 10 hours per day and i'm making nothing out of it, the overall situation does not give any encouraging hints and then we (as a nation) have to witness everyday all sorts of waste from an incompetent ruling class.

Working with your parents, for the few of you who might have experienced it, can be nice for some aspects but also pretty crappy for some others. You're always their son, and being tied forever with my family like that is not what i want, after these 4 years i realize it. No boss can project their expectations on you like a parent can do, and if things don't go that well it becomes hard to bear with the constant pressure.

After a bit of talking, i know i can find another job right away (nothing exceptional, not even relevant to what i do) so i can make a little money to support myself when i'll not be here anymore. If that counts, i could count on my girlfriend when i'm looking for jobs near where she lives - keep in mind that not all workplaces can be found online and many won't consider applications over phone or mail here in Italy. Our culture is a little different - a bit more rural, i'd say.

Anyway, after this weekend i'll give my father an answer and that will be it. Let's see where this goes.

If not even moving to the north will do, i'll just have to leave the country. There are programs to work abroad and if you're not picky it's not overly difficult to find a living.