"Last month I ate noodles for three days." Why a tech worker lives paycheck to paycheck on €14K
Alexei’s story is shared by the Złoty Dzik channel about Polish finances.
Alexei’s story is shared by the Złoty Dzik channel about Polish finances.
Alexei is an entrepreneur and IT architect with 15 years’ experience who relocated from Belarus to Poland after the events of 2020. He sometimes works up to 18 hours a day and earns between €8,000 and €14,000 per month. But instead of living comfortably, buying expensive gadgets, or traveling, he deliberately denies himself common pleasures—even concert tickets and proper meals at the end of the month.
For over a year, Alexei has been investing almost all his money into DZELKA—a free platform for Belarusian emigrants featuring an events calendar, business directory, and an AI assistant for immigration processes. Read about why he gave up «living large,» what his budget looks like now, and why he chooses to invest in a social project instead of personal comfort in this feature from «Złoty Dzik.»
When money doesn’t bring happiness
«I generally have enough money, but I have to deny myself certain things—like concerts. The Neighbourhood is performing in Krakow soon, and I decided not to go because it’s more important to allocate that money differently right now.»
I’ve been an IT entrepreneur for over 15 years. In Belarus, I owned a company where I earned between $12,000 and $14,000 net monthly. We worked on major projects—artificial intelligence, mobile applications. After the events of 2020, I had to relocate to Poland with my team.
In 2022-2023, we had almost no money: we lost some orders, declined others, and were essentially building everything from scratch in Europe. Our main goal was simply to find enough money to live while simultaneously launching our own product.
Eventually, I took employment: part-time as an IT department director at one company, and part-time as a software architect, primarily in neural networks: large language models, customization, pipelines, multilayer perceptrons. In simpler terms, I do complex things that power systems like ChatGPT or help someone have their own custom ChatGPT with specific functionalities. Combined, these two jobs bring me an average of €8,000+ per month, sometimes up to €14,000. Most of this income is invested in Dzelka.
How the product idea emerged
«When we moved to Poland, some people struggled to find jobs, others to find specialists. There was no common platform with Belarusian events or unified information on legalization. That’s when I realized that while I had money, I wanted to create a large, useful project. A portal where Belarusian businesses could advertise their services, find partners and clients, post job vacancies. With a comprehensive event calendar featuring all Belarusian events in Poland, and a built-in AI assistant for legalization and legal procedures. That’s how the idea was born.»
The service will be completely free for users, but with paid packages for businesses in five languages: Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and English. The platform is being tested and is in the final stage before release.
«How much have you already invested in the project?»
«On average, I spend $7,500 a month from my own pocket on developing the project (design—€270, content—€400, salaries—€6,000, testing—€500, and marketing—€350). And that’s been going on for 14 months.»
This path turned out to be very expensive, although initially it seemed I could definitely handle it financially. Before, I had plenty of disposable income and didn’t even know what to spend it on. I’d like to believe these are investments, but for now, technically, they are pure expenses. The project runs on enthusiasm and my personal income. That’s why I’m denying myself even a concert ticket—everything goes toward developing the project.
«What if the project doesn’t take off? Have you thought about that?»
«Yes. In that case, we’ll collect donations to at least cover server infrastructure costs and keep the platform running. If donations don’t cover expenses, we’ll turn off the artificial intelligence—the most expensive part—and keep the project completely free.»
«The idea itself is important to us: helping expats find businesses, services, events, and post their own events. We’ve fundamentally decided that even if we go deep into the red, the project must remain alive. Even without monetization or a legal entity, it should continue as a free platform.»
«Moreover, we’ve built in a community moderation mechanism based on Wikipedia’s principles, so users can independently maintain and develop the portal.»
«We also assume that hackers might try to breach the platform, so we deliberately don’t store personal data. Only services and events—information that’s already publicly available.»
«Legalization issues involve nuances. If someone with a complex case uses your AI consultation and ends up getting deported due to an AI error—who’s responsible?»
«First, we explicitly warn that inaccuracies are possible. Second, there’s an additional algorithm that tracks errors and corrects responses. Additionally, there’s a separate neural network controller that operates as a separate layer and verifies answers. When data is insufficient for an accurate answer or the situation is too complex, the user will be redirected to a live consultant—for a fee. We’re currently negotiating with such specialists.»
«Free users will have access to regulatory documents, contract templates, and application forms with examples of correct completion, and can participate in chats to discuss legalization issues.»
«Before, I could blow €800 in one night drinking with friends»
«Tell us about your budget—what does it consist of now?»
«Let’s calculate. Mortgage with utilities and administrative payments—€1,000 per month. Food, mobile service, internet—about €1,000 more per month. Car—roughly €150 monthly for maintenance plus €250 for gas. Entertainment—concerts, trips, vacations—totaling €1,000-1,500 per year, so a couple hundred per month. And this is, rather, also work: I need to meet someone at a café or restaurant. Recently, I played tennis with a great Belarusian guy—not cheap either. There are also expenses for treating someone to beer, wine, biscuits. These things are sort of basic expenses, but they’re constantly present. In my understanding, there’s business ethics, and it sometimes requires treating others. Going to, let’s say, premium establishments or creating an atmosphere where it’s convenient and comfortable to socialize.»
I earn quite well by Polish standards: €8,000 per month on average for sure. Sometimes more, but I can’t say I live well. I often have to deny myself things. For example, last month I ate instant noodles for three days until my salary arrived. Because I had to make a large one-time payment for servers, OpenAI, and momentarily ran out of money. I have a Realme phone, for instance. An iPhone doesn’t suit my work, and I don’t want to buy something expensive.
«But it’s about prestige. You attend meetings where you need some status clothing, phone.»
«I don’t know, the way I see it, I can’t afford it. Better, I don’t know… I just ordered a wardrobe. The measurement guys just left. Well, the wardrobe—I need it to store my things. But a phone… I can do without it.»
«How many hours a day do you work?»
«From 7 to 12—I can’t say exactly. Yesterday I went to bed at 7:30 am because I worked 18 hours. Overall, I try to work 7 hours a day, but it never works out that way. Probably the average is about 8-10 hours. But I really try for 7.»
«Explain why you earn so much and invest not in your comfort, but in a project that doesn’t even have a proven monetization strategy?»
«I still have real estate in Belarus, had to close my business—I lost almost everything after moving. Less than 10% of what I had remains. And the first year in Poland, excuse my language, I was just completely screwed. By the second year of emigration, I realized that comfort gives you nothing.»
In Belarus, I could spend about $6,000 on myself monthly. There were times when a single night out drinking with friends would cost €800. Now I see nothing good in that. I didn’t become happier, even the opposite, as I had to lose many people I thought were friends. There were constant stories of people asking me to pay because «you earn so much—what does it cost you?» For some reason, my income level and position always resulted in me being expected to invest in everyone and everything. And this created more personal problems than moral satisfaction from my financial position.
«That’s why I don’t want to live lavishly like before. There’s no more meaning in it. At most, it would lead to a line of cocaine in some random company, but that’s definitely not what’s worth living for.»
«I quit drinking and I’m quitting smoking, I exercise, I’m in good physical shape. I want to benefit society, so I no longer see the point in splurging: going to Madeira and living it up there for a whole month on €8,000.»
«Why did you choose Poland for relocation? With your capabilities, you could have chosen any country.»
«Because it’s cheap: lower taxes than in Britain, for example, cheaper living, real estate, food. Geographically closer and more understandable legalization procedures.»
«After hyperfixation, there’s always a 'crash.' I cry and hate myself»
«Is there something you miss in Poland? Some IT professionals complain about unripe avocados and the absence of chocolate-coated curd snacks.»
«I miss condensed milk, fish snacks with beer. Even though I drink non-alcoholic beer, I still want dried yellow trevally, squid. Ukrainian stores often sell such chemical-treated stuff that even tastes completely different. In Belarus, you could go to the lakes, buy dried eel. I desperately miss such things.»
I miss proper services. In Minsk, you could order a bouquet of flowers at night, and they’d deliver it anytime. In this regard, Poland definitely has problems. A taxi driver might drive for 15 minutes, arrive at the wrong place, and start telling me I need to go somewhere. Such things seem strange. You’re earning money, it’s your job to provide good service so I’ll return… Although everyone complains that service in Belarus is bad. But it’s not bad, rather gloomy, but I still miss it.
«I miss friends and community, events. I would very much like to attend Belarusian concerts, but it’s hard for me to find them. For example, Slava Komissarenko’s StandUp is only advertised on Instagram, and I deleted my Instagram.»
«Why did you delete Instagram?»
«I don’t like the patterns Instagram uses for dopamine reinforcement. I’m currently reducing dopamine-driven social media use. I try to keep motivation and reinforcement, and the overall operation of the dopamine reward system, natural. That’s why I deleted not only Instagram but all social networks. Only messaging apps remain—Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber.»
«I have ADHD and often experience hyperfixation, which gives me gigantic productivity. For example, I once created an AI consultant for a hotel chain’s reception desk in Europe in just 3 days, though such work typically takes 6 months. And I did it alone.»
After hyperfixation, I always hit a pit. I cry, hate myself, feel very, very sad. I question everything I do, all my achievements. I constantly consider myself worthless. And it used to be very difficult. I didn’t even like hyperfixation because I knew the 'hangover' would follow. After quitting social media, it got easier, and the 'pits' became less deep. The last time, I only cried—rather, my eyes were tearing up all day and I felt depressed. Though before, I could be completely incapacitated for 24 hours—it was impossible to even talk to me, I saw everything negatively. It’s better now, so I don’t plan to return to social media.
«As an architect, I understand perfectly how the reward system is built in gamification and apps. Therefore, I don’t want to mess with such important things for regulating mental health. I don’t think it’s worth it.»
«If you had the opportunity to change something, having the experience you now have, what would it be?»
«I only regret that we didn’t leave Belarus for Europe earlier, and in 2021 we scaled the business to Russia and Ukraine. I opened an office in Kyiv, my partner in Moscow. We should have scaled westward instead. Possibly even toward Silicon Valley. Now I can’t find an answer as to why we didn’t do that and went east instead. Although if I hadn’t had this experience, I wouldn’t have become who I am today. As a friend of mine said, everyone must drink their cup to the dregs. I believe this was my cup.»
