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

[Spenner]

Originally Posted by Mollocephalus

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?

I've won a few contests on there, but it seems to have gotten a lot more competitive lately. It just sucks when you have an original idea that you know works better than the rest and they go for some clip-art tier shit :I I had that happen once... $500 design lost to by CLIPART!!!! But honestly it's not worth putting all your effort in, only if you have some spare time between waiting to hear back from job applications or something.

[Pseudo Enigma]

I didn't read any other posts so idk if it's been said already.

put together a portfolio of your work and send it in to some big guys. Maybe you'll get sent somewhere by it. Think big.

[DotKritic]

Could also give Threadless.com a try if you want to make designs for t-shirts.

Here's how it works

1. Get your idea ready to submit

Read [their] submission guidelines to learn about printing techniques, creating high resolution artwork, preparing presentation files, and following the rules! You'll also find color specifications and downloadable assets like templates and blank photos for mockups.


2. Submit to the challenge

Once you've prepared your design files, it's time to submit it for scoring! Follow the instructions and fill out the form (the whole thing).


3. The community scores your design

For 7 days, the Threadless community scores your design 1 to 5 and leaves comments. These scores and comments help us pick which designs to print. You're encouraged to promote your design to friends, family, and the rest of the Internet!


4. If your design is printed, you'll get:

a. An upfront cash payment (between $250-$2,000!) based on what it’s printed on.

b. Royalties (3-20%) based on the number of products sold with your design!

[benguino]

I'm sorry to hear the situation you're in :/

Based off what I read, here's what I would suggest.

For that job you said that you could find away, I'd go with that, especially if you can no longer handle the tension between you and your father. Use the time you're not at work to be working on your portfolio, sending out resumes, etc to try to get your name out there or to be working on some plan for yourself. Doing so will allow you to still show off your name on a global scale.

However, a lot of opportunities happen because of knowing the right people and those kind of things tend to happen on a more local scale (or at least they begin that way). So, another option is that you move out of Italy to places where there are more opportunity (whether that be NA or wherever.) That way you can physically meet people, go to an interview the next day of someone requests, etc.

I know I'm not being much help, mostly because the only person who understands your situation the best is yourself. In the end it's your decision. I do wish the best for you though, good luck in whatever choice you make.

[Mollocephalus]

Ok so here's some updates on this

Yesterday was a really tough day and it's gonna be like this for a while. After one of the most emotionally distressing discussions of all my life, i told my father i no longer want to continue working here. As a result, i am prompted to gather all of my stuff and bring it away. I'll keep coming half day until september so the change isn't so drastic. Both my parents are shocked but in all honesty all they are doing is try to support me through this decision. Now i have to find means of making money. Even though the crisis in italy is pretty severe, through a friend from the italian ITG community i already found a spot in the north of Italy, inside a company which is currently anaffected by the crisis and going pretty strong. I'll send a curriculum by the end of the week and get in contact with the human resources manager really soon. Only issue i have is i'm broke as fuck, so from now on i'll save every little money i can, and will try to sell out some useless stuff i have lying around. In the meanwhile i have to help my mother who is in serious debts... It's gonna be tough but i'm gonna do it. Wish me luck.

[mi40]

good luck brother, i'll take care of stepping stones for now - you focus on assembling your life together first ok?

thumbs up

[moches]

oh my God, I had no idea about this. I wish you and your family the best of luck on making it through a really tough time.

[adlp]

yo mollo i know youre not religious at all but i looked up my church's meetinghouses throughout Italy that are all over your country here. every single church has a bishop, and what we call a Bishop's Storehouse which is essentially temporary free groceries for anybody going through a tough time to help them get back on their feet. it doesnt matter at all if youre from another church/muslim/jew/agnostic/atheist there will be people wanting to help others out.

all you would need to do is show up on a random sunday afternoon and talk to any stranger to help you find the bishop and the bishop will hook you up on the spot. no obligation to join the congregation whatsoever

also some of our chapels have Employment Resource Centers and will work with anyone to help find work relating to your skills

good luck bro

[korny]

I would suggest doing what adlp said seeing as you could use any bit of help you can get. They will most definitely help you with what they can, free from any sort of unwanted pressure about joining. They genuinely just want to help those in need. Good luck either way brotha.