About

Last update: January, 2024

Hello!

As one of the first visitors to this site suggested to me (thank you!), it might be interesting to read a few lines about myself and why I decided to put together this small collection of information.

I am Italian, in my 30s. I am not an accomplished writer and if you don't like the way I write, my friend, there is little I can do about it.

Ever since I was a kid, I've always been a PC gamer, and to get the games to work, at least in the early 2000s, you had to work hard enough to find the right configurations to make the game playable. You had to find the right version of the game, drivers, download additional patches, patches 'patched' by the gaming community itself, which at the time still had no real online hotspots like today. I would stand there for hours, days, figuring out how to do it. Not to mention the hardware. I had to find a compromise between what my parents could afford to spend and what I could actually find in the shops in my small town. In short, for a whole series of reasons, I grew up trying to make my PC work better, gaining a little bit of experience in this field.

When it came time to choose a university, as a good lazy person, I asked myself what I would really like to do for dozens of years of my future life without tiring myself out and breaking my back. Little to think about.

Master's degree in computer security. No, I didn't graduate in the right time, in fact, between the three-year degree and the Master's degree I took some years longer than I should have. Not because of any particular problems, I could have done better, but I was a bit stupid. It happens. But better that way, maybe if I had graduated earlier I would have made different choices and I wouldn't be here now.

Who knows.

Initially, I enjoyed programming, the study of algorithms... I was a lousy mathematician and I still am. Gradually I got closer to the world of security, mainly because of my curiosity, which drove me to visit forums on the subject, to try my hand at navigating the dark web using Tor and so on. Specialising in cybersecutiy came naturally to me and I must admit that I liked it (and still do, a bit less, but still). My first job was immediately in a large company in the sector, which was unfortunately disorganised, with lots to do and little time. You have to be committed to your work, but at least give me time to do things before giving me new and totally different things to do. After a little over a year, I completely shattered and, since you can find work with IT without too much hassle, I started studying the job market. The answer was, in essence, open a LinkedIn profile, study how interviews work and, finally, jump in. I sent out applications like a machine gun and a lot of interview proposals came in, many more than I ever imagined. I chose the most interesting ones and arrived at the final interviews with 3-4 proposals in hand. I chose to migrate, like the birds. I accepted a position that can be summarised as Linux systems admin. Across the border, in the land of cheeses (which I don't even eat, except for fresh dairy products), chocolate, mountains, an inordinate amount of Porsches and speed cameras.

I am in Switzerland. Close to Italy but still far from the family, the only negative note. At least for now I am not regretting my choice, I manage to go back to my parents a good number of times a year and thanks to a bit of remote working, I manage to stay a couple of weeks at a time. So far, after more than two years among the Helvetians, I am doing well. I would have preferred less hot and humid summers, but if that's what I'm complaining about, I'd say it's more than fine.

So, why did I open (I am opening, it's all a work in progress here) getaswissjob? Because every day, among the various subreddits that deal with this topic, I see so many people looking for work abroad, looking for work in Switzerland or who are simply fed up with certain features of the labour market in Italy. There are people, in my personal judgement as an ordinary person, who have everything they need to find a job here, they just need a push, some information, a starting point. The purpose of this site.

I also have a good interest in personal finance. I am not a born saver, if I want something and can afford it, I buy it, but only after I have set aside at least part of my salary. I consider the emergency fund to be fundamental and some form of investment as a second step. The concept of 'money generating money' is too often too underestimated.

For the sake of better transparency, I would like to be able to monetise this work in some way, probably by adding a small advertisement in the newsletter and some sponsored links here on the site, but it will be non-invasive stuff, not necessary for the navigation and enjoyment of the content, and I will try to only insert advertisements that can be useful (within the limits of how useful an Amazon sponsored link can be, for example). No content will ever be behind a paywall. Sharing information and then making it inaccessible except by shelling out money is the opposite of what I want.

If you want to ask any questions, have any suggestions, want to tell me to fuck off, use the subreddit: r/getaswissjob.

I am not an expert, I am just a guy sharing his experience, what he has learnt. Take what you read on this site with a grain of salt and before you take what you read for granted, take a tour of the internet in search of sources that confirm or disprove what you have read.

Some will ask why a subreddit and not a forum, a chat, other stuff. Because it's convenient for me, because it's thanks to reddit that I got the idea, most users, at least initially, will come from there and should have no difficulty in adding a subreddit to those they already follow, without forcing them to join other platforms or social networks in any way.

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