OpenNode | Senior Backend Engineer | Los Angeles, CA | Remote OK

OpenNode is building the future of money through simple, secure, instant, and low-cost Bitcoin payment infrastructure for businesses everywhere.

We are now seeking a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) to deliver distributed, resilient and high-performing backend services using Node.js + TypeScript.

More details available at https://bit.ly/3e112tc

You can reach out at rui@opennode.com

Congrats on the launch Trey! I'm very excited for the future of Sparkswap and the Lightning Network ecosystem.

Shameless plug: I've built a platform that showcases apps that are powered by the Lightning Network.

Most of them are experiments with instant settlements and micropayments, but it should give you a good idea why you should care about Lightning: https://www.lapps.co

I've been there while I was still in the first year of college of a 5 year MSc in CS course and needed some extra cash.

I started on Upwork with a very low rate (~$20/h) and applied to as many jobs as the platform allowed me to, with a custom cover letter for every single one. It was time intensive, but without any reviews it's your only way to stand out.

After I got my first project, I made sure that my client was blown away by everything: communication, turnaround time, code quality, etc. When I was sure the client was happy with the result, I asked him if he could leave me a review describing the process of working with me. By asking, you're letting him know that his review matters, and he'll probably put some extra effort instead of just writing something for the sake of it.

I kept (slowly) increasing my rate and continued sending custom proposals for clients. This is your advantage over all the low bids you can be sure they're getting.

After a few projects under my belt, I've built my personal portfolio, making sure Upwork reviews were there, along with a small description of the projects I completed. I've published my portfolio around in a few relevant websites and this has brought me client work directly to me a bunch of times.

After a while, you'll notice you're getting more proposals than you can handle, mostly uninteresting and low pay. That's when I've set my Upwork rate to something high enough that clients that weren't serious just wouldn't contact me.

I was 20 when I started doing this. I'm 23 now, with my MSc almost complete (just delivered my thesis this week) and a remote job working full-time at a startup with a great salary.

This is not a fool-proof plan, I may have gotten lucky here and there, but it is absolutely viable to do this without a resume. I've never had a resume to this day.

Can I ask what type of skills you recommend for upwork? I've done a lot of mobile and now I'm working in Unity and when I looked through Upwork I didn't see many opportunities.

FWIW I've been using Fastmail's iOS app for a long time and it's quite snappy and I can't recall running into any bugs.

I've launched ScholarCheck a few days ago to help businesses verify students' emails.

If you're a startup looking to implement student discounts, run a student giveaway or you have another use for our ScholarCheck, get in touch with us and we can arrange a special launch discount.

1password if you're not using any other password organizer app.

Bartender to keep your menu bar items organized.

Flashlight to make Spotlight a bit more powerful.

Flux if you're into it.

Github OSX app is quite nice.

That's what I got from a quick look to my system.

I'm in a very similar situation and about a month ago I posted this exact same question here on HN.

Since then, I went ahead and built a functional job board for part-time jobs for students/parents/etc.

I'm currently looking for some early adopters who have part-time jobs to post (for free!), so if any readers have part-time jobs to fulfil, email me at hello@ruigomes.me. Even though I'm currently booked for months, it'll help people in the same situation I was a month ago, and in the situation the OP is now :)

I've started a spreadsheet with some data I've gathered from previous HN threads. Feel free to edit it with reliable data.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1acN26Wb862Wjcfk3vF2U...

I'm using a Raspberry PI with transmission to handle my torrents.

I can go to the web page and just paste the magnet URL and it just downloads it for me.

I also have flexget running from time to time which checks if there are any new episodes of TV Shows I'm following and automatically downloads that for me and places them in the correct folders after downloading.

I was mostly inspired by this tutorial (http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47084) but I've made some changes along the way.

I can publish my flexget config if you want to take a look, I believe I had to make some changes in it after an update. I'm also not using the Trakt.tv functionality. I find it easier to just edit the config file than to sign up for a website and create a bunch of lists and whatnot.

I have the same setup with Deluge and minidlna. Dump a magnet link and the torrent is downloaded and moved to the DLNA library directory for easy access. I watch most non-Netflix shows like this.

An added bonus is the ability to schedule downloads for 2AM-8AM only, when I have unlimited bandwidth.

One tip to save a bit of time: Most browsers have plugins that let you automatically send a magnet link to your remote transmission daemon when clicked on (the chrome plugin also shows your transmission activity in a popover).

Thanks mcrider. Cool tip! I didn't know to look for plugins.

I'd love to see the config, if possible. I did a similar tutorial with transmission that didn't have the auto-update features of flexget, but it'd be interesting to give it a shot.

Here you go: https://gist.github.com/ruigomeseu/b9b55a71bc08bccc29d6

Thanks!

Is it realistic for a fresh graduate (with a masters) in Informatics and Computing Engineering from Portugal to go straight to NYC and be able to live alone (as in not sharing rooms) and actually have some money saved by the end of the year?

I would absolutely love to experience NY, since I'm a passionate web developer.. There's so many companies in this field over there that I feel that my career would grow so much faster than if I stay here in Europe (at least in Portugal).

I would personally prefer NY over SF since it's way closer to "home".

Any thoughts on actually being able to financially live in NYC as a fresh grad?

By "alone" do you mean not sharing just bedrooms or any rooms? Most new grads share an apartment with roommates but have their own bedroom.

I know many recent grads living in New York (myself included), mostly earning from $60k to $120k, and it's not a problem for any of us. What's tough is settling down with a family. But as a single person - especially with the additional savings you get by not owning a car - it's fine for tech salaries.

To make it more concrete, here's a budget:

$70k starting salary (low for NYC tech)

-$24,500 taxes (overestimated at 35% to be safe)

-$18,000 (1500*12) Manhattan rent + utilities

-$18,000 careless youth living expenses ($1.5k/month subway, eating out, bars, museums, music, traveling, etc)

______

$9,500 left over per year for saving.

So even underestimating salary, overestimating taxes, not choosing a super cheap apartment, and not being frugal in the slightest on monthly living expenses, you still net $9,500 per year.