Geeks Beyond Firewalls: A day in a life of a Syrian techie
Let’s get one thing straight, being a geek in the Middle East is a challenge, and I’m not talking about the kids in Dubai, with every major product a credit-card-away.
No, I’m talking about your average Moe, so to speak, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) resident, who has to hunt down a 2-month old PC Magazine as a kid, then grow up to live off article reviews and the occasional visiting relative/friend whom lives abroad to get the hardware. As for leading a Techie life in MENA, and especially in Syria, in the Web Development industry, it’s not much of a challenge as it is a test of patience in the face of a thousand cuts.
While most of the Western Hemisphere starts their PC in the morning to check their mail then move on, we have to start our PC, then our proxy of choice, then our most efficient browser with proxy support (I currently Firefox because Safari & Chrome both use the OS settings instead of their own); because you learn out of experience, that a slow yet reliable connection, is always better than a fast but possibly blocked one. You also keep your emails backed up because you never know when Gmail is going to be the next service to decide you’re not worthy.
