Hey there!
That’s the first article I’m actually writing for this newsletter.
Last one was originally intended for my other newsletter The European Engineer.
But then, after realising that I had been publishing too many articles on remote life / remote biz setups over there (mainly a newsletter about tech careers in Europe), I decided to create a new newsletter.
Which is the one you’re reading right now (RemoteGoats).
Today’s article is free.
Next one will be - at least partially - paywalled (it’ll probably be about my research on my next city to move to / best city for remote workers in Switzerland).
In today’s article we’ll make some progress on the analysis already carried out in my other newsletter:
I’ll be sharing a few considerations I made, since coming back to Warsaw after the past 6+ months in Zurich.
Plus, some comparisons with Dubai.
I will also zoom-out, re-introduce myself, and give a big picture / biographical / historical explanation of how I got here.
In case you don’t follow me there yet, check out my X profile.
Some of the things I’ll post here today come from there.
(at this point I’m basically using it as a note taker / drafts collector, for things that I then re-elaborate and wrap up in an article such as this one)
Alright, let’s get into it!
A little background first
Here is Nicola Amadio.
I’m an Italian national, currently based in Zurich, Switzerland.
I’m 31, male, and this is my background in a few sentences:
Grew up in small-town Italy
From 5 to 15 years old, I spent most of my time training and doing sailing competitions (“optimist” class first, then “laser”)
I went to a humanities focused high-school despite being more math/science-inclined (wanted to expand my horizons). Looking back: an interesting choice, given that my current job is 50% writing.
Afterwards, I went on to study Robotics Engineering in “the best uni in Italy” (which I didn’t really like) in Milan.
Then, I worked as a dev in Zurich for a year, and went back to Milan for a master’s degree in Computer Science (thinking I’d end up doing a PhD in AI).
In the meantime, I spent half a year in Germany (in Bavaria, during high-school), almost 1 year in Spain (half in Seville during the bachelor and half in Madrid for my master’s thesis), and about 1 year in Zurich.
Then I spent 6 months in Barcelona interning for Amazon.
And afterwards went back to Zurich to work first in a Scandinavian tech consulting firm, and then at Oracle.
You can see my “CV” on LinkedIn.
What you can also see from my LinkedIn is that I have over 57k followers. This is because, while at Oracle, I started The European Engineer newsletter (now almost 14k subscribers), sharing all the hard-earned lessons around pursuing top tech careers in Europe and making good money that way.
As I started this journey as an online entrepreneur, I bumped into another riddle: where do I move to, now that I earn online? Does it make sense to stay based in the most expensive city in the world (Zurich)?
I found this question hard to answer, and went on on a long discovery path, that reminded me my previous discovery path of “how to make good money as a dev in Europe”.
Since the obsession and research about that previous topic ended up giving me useful info to share online, get an audience, and build products, I thought I’d do the same for this new path.
Which is why I launched this newsletter and the AI-based software tool to find a place to move to (remotecompass.ai).
So that’s roughly how we got here.
My current setup is: base in Zurich + exploring other locations.
When I started my business, I was resident in Switzerland, operating as a sole proprietor.
But I wanted to open an LLC.
I researched the topic in-depth, spent way too much time on it, and since I didn’t find another good place to move to, and didn’t want to have my company in one place while living in another (to avoid tax complication), I set up shop in Switzerland.
I’m not unhappy about my current hybrid setup. You can read more about it also in last week’s article, i.e.:
It’s also not a perfect setup, obviously.
Today’s article (and probably future ones too) will touch on the nuances about its pros and cons, and on the things I get to learn while I study and research how to improve it / refactor it.
As I mentioned earlier, my “second base” at the moment is Warsaw.
It’s not really an “official” or “terminal” solution, but rather a place I ended up hanging out in often, over the past couple of years.
A little background on how I ended up in Warsaw:
While being based in Zurich, during my last job at Oracle, I would spend long weekends and/or holidays abroad, checking out some cities that could give me what Zurich wasn’t giving me:
A great nightlife
Affordability
Social and dating scene
All 3 are a bit mid in Zurich.
Obviously, it’s partially subjective.
But, having talked to many expats in Switzerland, many seem to agree:
That’s why I started spending many weekends abroad, and travelling more in general.
Since my job was in Zurich and I would often just travel for the weekend, I mostly explored Europe.
Southern Europe is elite for early and late summer
Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey. All great: weather, sea, nature, food, vibe, people, etc.
Zurich is nice during summer
It’s the most vibrant part of the year in the city: there’s many events, lake and rivers to swim in, not as crowded or hot as other places in Southern Europe.
Western and northern Europe
The only 2 cities I would regularly hop on in this category are Paris and Milan. Both are nice culture cities, and they have direct train connection from Zurich.
Lisbon I used to go to because at some point I had a rental property there. Nice too!
Central/Eastern Europe is where I found the best big cities:
Safe. Can be big one if you’re going out at night.
Affordable. Also important if you plan to go out a lot and/or rent Airbnbs.
Fun. Central/Eastern Europe is growing a lot and has a captivating buzz.
Belgrade was cool and fascinating, Bucharest OK, Warsaw quite amazing.
Warsaw kinda has everything:
Modern
Great infra
Full of beautiful parks
Tons of places to go out
Sick skyline (tallest skyscrapers in EU)
Growing and also good for work and networking
So that’s why I ended up going there more regularly.
I haven’t moved there permanently, for a few reasons.
Some reasons I’ll highlight in today’s article, while discussing pros and cons of Zurich and Warsaw.
In general, though, I’m currently of the opinion that you should “bank all on one country” (if you can).
A diversified and international life offers a lot of advantages.
You never know what is gonna happen in the future, and keeping options open can be worthwhile.
That said, I personally still think that committing to places (and people) has value. And that’s why I spend time doing thorough research on where to set up long-term.
This year I will also check out Dubai, which is the de facto home of 90% of online entrepreneurs. And, either end of 2026 or 2026, check out also some popular spots in Asia and LATAM, such as Singapore, Uruguay, and more.
I will talk a little bit about Dubai as well later on in this article.
If you want to get an idea of my aforementioned experiences travelling/workationing in Europe, you can check some vibes on my IG posts/highlights. 📷
Warsaw
Pros
Switzerland
Pros
Cons
We already talked about them earlier on, as well as in the aforementioned previously published articles.
Dubai
Here’s some more perspectives about Dubai (and its pros/cons) as shared by someone who recently moved there from London.
The argument for which “Dubai is not polluted because most of the PM2.5 is desert dust, which is not unhealthy” is completely BS and here’s why:
So, yeah… Not great. Also no seasons, far from Europe - compared to a base in Europe (obviously).
Conclusion
First of all, I’d like to take the time to thank you for joining me in this new adventure! ❤️
Let me know by replying to this email where you found this newsletter (if on X, LinkedIn, etc). And why you decided to subscribe (so I also know what topics to touch on in the future).
Make sure to become a paid subscriber if to join our Discord community and access paid articles, like the one I’ll publish next, on my Swiss city research.
What’s next
As hinted above, for now I plan to stay based in Switzerland, and I’m looking for the better options with regards to where exactly in Switzerland to be based in, and for which months to be there during the year, and how to improve the logistics of my setup.
I’ll share my progress on all of this in the next article.
With regards to Warsaw, for now I’ll keep hanging there every now and then, together with my other “2nd bases” like south of Europe in early/late summers, and Milan/Paris as weekend gateways when I’m in Zurich.
As mentioned above, now that I’m fully-remote with my job, I’d also like to spend some time outside of Europe, checking out places strategically (and for fun).
Long-term, while I believe in diversification, I also think that probably I will always hold a European-bias in my planning.
To stay close to home / family / friends / parents as they age etc.
Because I like the European lifestyle.
Cause my gf (and her family) is European too.
Thanks for reading it all, appreciate the support!
