The Chronicles of Disillusionment

Scene 1
High school ends, and now you’re faced with countless paths you could choose to follow for the rest of your life. Driven by your passion and the belief that this path might lead to your dreams, you choose a field related to computer science.

Scene 2
It’s your first day at university. You replay the scenes you’ve seen in movies in your mind, thinking you’re now part of an educated elite who understands a bit more than the average person. But as you observe those around you and the various professors, you realize how misguided that notion was.

Scene 3
You struggle through university and finally finish. Now it’s time to use what you’ve learned and enter the job market. You remain hopeful, having invested so much time learning things that even university professors barely understand, let alone those outside the academic world.

Scene 4
You find a way to introduce yourself to the market, land your first client, and secure a contract. The project is supposed to be completed in two weeks, and the payment you receive would typically last you six months.

You’re excited and start working on the project. The delivery day arrives, and the client says the work is great but needs a few minor changes. After these adjustments, they promise to release the payment.

Scene 5
Six months pass, and you finally finish the supposed changes, whether real or imagined. The client promises to settle soon. Three more months go by.

Scene 6
The energy you had stored up over years, along with the contents of your wallet, runs out during this period. Failure? Not quite; you have to survive. You navigate through thousands of competitors and get your next project, this time promising to be completed in a month.

Scene 7
As you approach the end of the project, the client calls and says their niece has created a “Blogfa website” for them, so they no longer need your services. No need to continue.

Scene 8
Here, it’s impossible. It’s the third world, after all. You decide to work with overseas clients, where projects worth thousands of dollars are being done for twenty dollars by people from India and Pakistan. It seems the mess of the third world has spilled over to the first world.

You find an intermediary to get projects for you. It appears you’ve found your way. Things go well, you complete the work, and you’re ready to receive your earnings. But your country and its banks are sanctioned. You turn to intermediaries again, who take a significant cut of your money. So, you decide to ask your intermediary to hold your funds and send them all at once.

Scene 9
Six months pass. Now you want to get your money, with elaborate plans in mind. You contact your intermediary. They refuse to give you your money. Pour the water where it burns the most.

Scene 10
Struggling to breathe, you decide to abandon freelancing and stay employed in a company until things stabilize. You accept one of the job offers. What’s your role? Supporting a system that was developed in the U.S., localized in Shiraz, optimized in Isfahan, malfunctioned in Tehran, and sold in Tabriz.

You see your dreams crumbling.

Scene 11
You resign, abandoning both employment and freelancing. The new path is to start a startup. You begin working with a team. Time passes, the work concludes. Now it’s time to find an investor. Sit tight until one appears.

Scene 12
Snow falls as you sit by the window. An old Russian opera plays on the gramophone.