Ask HN: How to fund personal CS research if you are from Russia?
A friend of mine who is from Russia is currently in somewhat unusual situation. He asked me to give him advice, but I don't know what to tell him, and I would like to ask for your opinion too.
My friend is a very talented person, who has been working on computer science research in quite rare fields of research for many years.
He is a self-taught one, he never received formal education, but he has deep knowledge and expertise in these fields. To fund his personal project and to pay regular bills, he is working as a mobile app developer. So, his research is basically a "hobby" thing, but he sees it as his primary life priority. To mention, he does not have any family. So, his side work is basically all that he has.
Recently my friend has to leave his job and to escape Russia, because he does not want to participate in Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Currently he lives abroad in those few countries that still didn't close their borders to Russian citizens. Informally speaking he is a refugee, even though he does not have such status officially. It is likely that if he returns back home he will be prescribed to serve in the war zone.
Hear is the problem.
He wants to keep working on his research project, but his savings are declining dramatically, because he lives abroad. He is going to find remote job to pay current expenses, but probably he no longer will be able to continue his research in this case. He will have to survive.
I really don't know what to tell him. In some way his situation is much better than a lot of people have today. At least he could find a job, and he has some savings. But he will have to abandon the work of his life.
Maybe there are another opportunities I could advice him in his situation?
Thanks in advance!