Plovdiv, Bulgaria - The Freelancer Scene

Plovdiv, Bulgaria - The Freelancer Scene

Plovdiv.

The best city in the world to take it easy.

Among the most ancient cities in the world, Plovdiv, Bulgaria is number six. Life here moves in slow motion, people are well-mannered and aristocratic, parks are full of adventures: people eating popcorn, playing chess or making out. Everyone is laid back and relaxed, and Plovdiv has got the amenities of a city, but without all the metropolitan tension. It's one of the places where you can buy good cheese and wine for a small amount of money - for food is delicious and comparatively cheap. Voted European Capital of Culture, 2019, Plovdiv is among the greatest places one can select for a living. It is the city of creative people.

If you, globetrotter, land here without any occupation arrangements how can you survive?

Teaching English

Elijah, 30 years from Canada, Russian lineage, has found his place under the Plovdiv sun. He meets people in a small and affable caf teaching them English, which is his native language. He is so brainy that he really gives his students a hard time, making them think. Due to his lessons, I found a whole new part of myself, which I hate. It's not that my command of English is not good - no, I just find difficulty expressing my ideas on various subjects. So when he asks: What do you think of nanotechnologies? - I fall silent. I have always considered myself an intelligent person, it turns out that I need practice in extroversion. Elijah is very professional and very supportive, and he believes it will be only a matter of time, when our lessons will give results.

Elijah is something between the English teacher, the coffee fortune-teller, the guru and the Father figure. He pokes his nose into every subject. When asked if teaching English is his vocation, he admits that what he really loves doing is work on projects - helping his friends.
He is very affectionate when it comes to friends - he throws them surprise birthday parties, he makes cocktails with jinn, tonic, lime and cucumber, he opens galleries, cafes, stores and makes parties, barbecues and hiking events - his hands are always busy with honest toil. If you have a writer's block - he will give you an advice: "Live a little! Just let go of the book and feed the other areas of your life, and inspiration will come to you naturally, from the inside." Elijah is the living proof that a bit of intelligence can help you adapt easily to an entirely new environment and make a successful living.

Freelance Writer

I am 33 years old, I live and work in Plovdiv, I live the life I like, I work what I love. I can do this from anywhere in the world, but Plovdiv has got this fairy-tale appeal. I wake up at 8 AM, sip hot coffee and write articles till noon, after which I have my time to myself. To grant myself financial independence, I am working on a book. When I become shamelessly rich, I will spend my money on romance, charity and adventure. In the form of a best-seller, or private lessons, or another creative product you can always sell your skills. My occupation feeds my self-esteem on a daily basis, with every achievement, in front of the computer I work miracles. Needless to say I am very happy and enthusiastic about freelance writing.

Everything started, when a great friend of mine directed me to a freelance forum, where freelancers from the entire country meet their customers. I invented an attractive presentation for myself and immediately, work proposals started hailing. Nowadays, I have huge experience in article writing, I have great reputation in the forum and I am conquering foreign, social sites for freelance writing.

Freelance writing allows fine standard. I can take notes while I am riding in the bus, on the beach, in the garden. I have time to read and dance salsa. I take long walks, I hang out with friends, who are always busier than I am. The most important is that I have this great resource to my disposal - Time. I can always invest in learning something new or realizing my own projects. I feel like a successful person.

Freelance writing is delightful and challenging! Freelance writing is empowering!

Programming

As a computer specialist, you can work from anywhere.

Kosta, a computer specialist from Plovdiv, 27 years old, does not like to think of people in his work environment as his subordinates, even though he is the general programmer in his company. He refuses to look down on his helpers. He believes all his colleagues have skills, in no way inferior to his. He thinks everybody has equal chances of becoming a programmer - it is not something that requires special talents. According to Kosta, one needs less than an year of preparation to become a programmer. But there is one condition: it's a hard, burning to ashes job for the mind and it needs dedication and perseverance.

Kosta is apt to giving lessons online, or on skype and he has thought about making courses as well. The most absurd problems in his job are when customers want something that is physically impossible. For instance, there comes a customer, who wants to use online information, when he doesn't have any Internet. He insists: "Listen, think of something, this is how I'd like it to be!" With the same success he could have asked Kosta to record some Internet for him on a disk.

Writing software, is profitable everywhere in the world, but it is not easy and computer specialists are not to be underestimated. When asked about the programmer's troubles, Kosta replies with the following joke:
Imagine you are a writer, and you are supporting the project War and Peace. You are supposed to write a new episode, in which Natasha Rostova is walking under the rain in the park.
It sounds simple - you write "It is raining." - save.


The program thunders with a mistake: "Natasha Rostova died." For a few days you explore your program: "Why is she dead, how did she die?" It turns out that Pierre Bezuhov has been in the park with shoes with smooth soles, he slipped in the rain and dropped his pistol, the pistol fired, the bullet ricocheted in a pole, and killed Natasha Rostova. How can this be fixed? To change Pier Bezuhov's shoes? To charge the pistol with a blank cartridge?

You decide to remove the pole. Save - and a new mistake - "Lieutenant Rzhevsky died." It turns out that in the next chapter, the lieutenant leans against the pole that you have just removed.

Such are the programmer's tribulations. You bring them wherever you go.
But you are no longer indifferent to residing in Plovdiv.
Plovdiv, the city of seven hills and four seasons.

The city of cool people.

Plovdiv - the city of opportunities, with millions of tourists every season, where foreigners come to cook their traditional cuisine, where festivals boom, where painters sell their art in the street, the silent, reticent city, where in the night everybody goes to dance, the lovable, inspiring city, where the workforce takes it easy...