About a hear ago, I left an employer of a decade so that I could upend my life and move to a new country, polish old skills and build new ones, focus on personal projects, make some art—to just shake things up a bit, because I’ve never been too comfortable with getting too comfortable. 14 months later, her I am: new time zone, new accomplishments, and reinvigorated curiosity, interests, and enthusiasm. Toned (slightly less sedentary), tanned (pasty), and ready to go.

In the interim, it seems like jobseeking has changed dramatically. How are people looking for gigs today? Specifically people with acute LinkedIn allergies, wanting to work with smaller, skills-concentrated teams? In a leadership capacity in my prior position, I caught just the glimmerings of what I’m now told is now a slop-slurry stew making everyone’s—seeker ’s or hirer’s—a lot less pleasant. How close to the truth is this? We nerds historically have a knack for eventually routing around misery in our own ways, so my hope is that stories have been at least somewhat exaggerated.

So, where does one with an overabundance of curiosity, who just wants to make things with a small-to-medium-sized team of really smart, eclectic weirdos—part time, full time, contract, whatever—look for opportunities in late 2025? What strategies are you all using? I’m personally interested in remote opportunities in the EU and US, but I don’t want to make this all about me. I’m sure others in different locales wonder similarly. Any and all pointers appreciated.