2 Years of Business 🥂 Was It Worth It?
Also: 10% discount on all my products for the next 24h to celebrate this milestone.
Before we start…
To celebrate 2 years of being in business, I’m offering a:
10% discount on Euro Top Tech and on my Coaching Program
For the next 24 hours.
Learn more about it at the end of this article (or just use the promo code ‘BIRTHDAY10’ at checkout if purchasing a Euro Top Tech subscription).
Now let’s get started!
I’ll tell a bit on how the business went in the past 2 years since I started it, if I’m happy with the results, and if I think it was worth it or not (no spoiler :P).
In April 2024, I launched the first version of my coaching program
The first cohort of clients started in May 2024 - exactly 2 years ago.
First application ever (from my man Nicola Bovolato):
He then went from “applying to 200+ positions with only rejections”, to, in 3 months, having multiple six figure offers, some of them fully-remote, to choose from:
Since then, he has:
Moved to Cyprus to maxx lifestyle and cut taxes
Saved up a great financial buffer before even turning 25
Started his own freelance practice as a Senior Engineer and fractional CTO
Another early applicant was looking for top positions in AI:
And ended up founding an AI company himself 😄
Another early applicant from Switzerland:
Eventually scoring a $200k remote role:
This last one took a bit of time: a few months in the coaching program, then tried things a bit on his own, then back to the program and finally landing a very tough role to land: $200k remote in Europe.
Many other such cases and clients, that we can deep dive later in the future (let me know if you want me to do that, btw! Just reply to this email something like: “yes, please more case studies”).
Euro Top Tech went from this (June 2024):
To this (May 2026):
And more…
Will probably do a new demo video about how the platform has changed recently, with all its new features and improvements.
How much money did I make?
Well, as you might already know…
This means that…
Even if in 2026 I achieve my financial business goal, I’ll be making HALF of what I made in 2023 with my last tech role.
That’s the truth that online business gurus out there don’t tell you 😄
I recently called out one of these gurus on X:
Same guy that says these things:
It’s sad that people fall for this stuff, but it is what it is.
I have a bigger audience than him (about ~80k total followers vs ~40k), make more than him with my business, so according to him I should be ELITE.
Which in a way it is the truth: I am a very rare case of someone who was able to build a large audience on social media and bootstrap a diversified business that actually makes (some) money.
What is also true, though, is that:
I make less than half of what I made 2 years ago as an employee in tech.
And that majority of the people I help out in my coaching program (regular people that invest in their job search) land roles that pay 2x/3x of what I make.
They get to buy houses etc:
This is the reality of the situation here, and the reality of bootstrapping your own business.
I know I posted often about this topic lately, and I don’t plan to touch on this topic again anytime soon.
I just see too much misleading content out there and I feel a strong urge to call out on a lot of it being bs and misleading marketing.
Am I happy about it? Do I regret going this route?
I think, 2 years in with my business, it’s the right time to ask myself this.
I don’t have an answer, but I tend to think that: yes, I’m happy about it and I don’t have regrets.
Here’s why I’m happy about it, despite the opportunity-costs:
1. Impacts on customers
As you’ve seen at the start of this article.
2. The raw satisfaction of creating an ‘artifact’ that people use and love, entirely with your own hands
3. The learnings
It’s cool to have been able to go broader with my skillset: not just backend engineering and distributed systems, but full-stack (finally reaching a decent-looking UI after 2 years in 😄), learning about writing, filming, talking, content, marketing, sales, coaching, taxes, accounting and more.
I learnt a lot, for it just being 2 years.
4. The fun
One of the reasons I was able to learn a lot is because I worked a lot.
And I was able to work a lot because I genuinely like 95% of my job.
This is important.
I once asked a SVP at Oracle for career advice, and he told me: “Work on something you like. You’ll still burn out, but you’ll burn out less.”
I find that to be true, in my experience.
5. The alignment with my skills and interests
Somewhat related to the above point.
I had always been a bit 360 with my interests and passions: focused on humanities in high school, considered cinema for uni, but also loved math and tech and business.
In this role I can feel like I get to use and take advantage of all of my interests and skills.
I like tech but there are people who’re deeper into tech than me, and that dislike some of the things I mentioned above (like content or marketing): what’s optimal for them can’t be optimal for me, career wise.
6. The finance side of it is also not bad
Let’s be honest: had I continued my corporate career, I’d probably be sitting at $250k-300k comp right now, with some effort but also without overly pushing it, I think.
So we do see a clear opportunity-cost and loss here.
But, it’s also not the full picture:
I’m now fully-remote: I can spend as much time as I want outside of Switzerland (if I wanted to, I could also relocate somewhere else cheap - which I’ve looked hard into but which I’m also taking my time to assess). My corporate job was Swiss/Zurich-based, had I targeted remote roles, probably I’d score $100-200k, not more.
I can optimise my taxes.
I can make personal interests and life stuff work for the business, like these researches that I do, or anything that I post on X these days, or trips I do, etc.
My business could go down, but it can also go up: that’s the reality of business.
My intuition tells me that working in your “area of genius” is often a good proxy for choosing career paths, also financially.
If you do what you enjoy and are good at, work will feel lighter, you’ll get better at it, you’ll create more value and deliver more results… Eventually the market should also reward you.
Of course it’s not guaranteed, but that’s how I see it at least.
That said, of course, sometimes I think about it.
Few more years of corporate would’ve also meant a few more $100ks of savings, which don’t hurt:
But hey, in the end… There is no “right” path or answer.
Also: YOLO.
Regarding the above-mentioned 10% discount
It’s quite simple.
You can purchase anything on EuroTopTech.com with a 10% discount by using the promo code ‘BIRTHDAY10’.
The promotion starts now and ends tomorrow Friday 8th of May at 13:00 CET.
If you apply to the coaching program in this time frame, and we do the selection and you “pass”/are a fit, and the payment of the first month of coaching happens before tomorrow at the end of the day…
You’ll have the discount on your first month of coaching (900 euros instead of 1000 euros), no matter when you decide to start (but obviously only apply if you plan to start now or in the next few months, not if you plan to start in 2027).
That’s a wrap guys.
May/June is always a time of birthdays/celebration around here :)
Since both my coaching program and job platform were started in this period.
And this year we also recently got to celebrate the 15k subs mark on this newsletter as well! And the Q1 recap.
I hope all this “business content” didn’t annoy you (but according to your reactions to the previous articles on this line, you seemed to like it!).
Expect more hardcore content of tech careers in Europe in future articles 😎
Thanks for all your support so far.
And have a great end of the week and weekend!
Here’s a bottle of Valais wine 🇨🇭 I’ll pop later today to celebrate 😁😋
This article is brought to you by:
Euro Top Tech - The #1 SaaS for top-paying tech careers in Europe:
10000+ top paying tech jobs in Europe from big tech companies, HFT firms and high-paying scale-ups.
6000+ jobs from 100+ fully-remote companies paying $100-600k per year.
Private guides - like this one - to help you land these jobs.
Remote GOATs - The operating system for high-earning remote workers:
Curated job board with thousands of six-figure remote tech roles (Europe-remote, global-remote, NA, LATAM, APAC).
Career Lab: practical guides + AI tools to land and negotiate top remote roles.
AI Relocation Software: decide where to live using data, not vibes.
Real-world data from remote workers on income, taxes, cost of living, and overall life satisfaction.
Private network of location-independent operators building borderless lives.Full access to paid content, deep dives, and the Remote GOATs community.
Six Figure Euro Engineer - Maxx your pay and lifestyle as a tech worker in Europe:
Work 1:1 with me (Nicola Amadio, author of this newsletter), and join the other engineers who were able to 2x/3x they pay and freedom in the past few months!
