u/Brief-Post2216

Hey everyone,

I’ve been lurking in this community for a while and finally felt like sharing my journey. Coming from a typical middle-class family in Bangladesh, the pressure of managing university expenses while trying to support the household is something many of you might relate to.

About two years ago, I was running between two private tutoring gigs every day. The pay barely covered my personal expenses, and I constantly felt stuck with no clear direction for the future.

Around mid-2024, I pooled my tutoring savings, borrowed a bit from a friend, and bought a used Core i5 laptop. The battery was completely dead, so it had to stay plugged in constantly. After finishing classes and tutoring sessions, I would stay up late learning digital skills—focusing on graphic design and video editing—through free YouTube tutorials and open-source documentation.

The initial phase was rough:

\* Family skepticism: Staying up until 3 AM made my parents worried that I was just wasting time on a screen. Explaining how remote work works to traditional parents was a challenge in itself.

\* Hardware limits & power cuts: Rendering heavy files took ages, and unexpected load-shedding meant losing unsaved work and starting over multiple times.

\* The rejection phase: For the first 6–7 months, I couldn't land a single paying client. Reaching out on local platforms and cold pitching mostly led to silence.

The breakthrough came when I shifted focus from "knowing a bit of everything" to building a tight, niche portfolio and learning how to communicate effectively with international clients. I started actively networking and sharing my work consistently.

Last month, I officially joined an overseas creative agency as a full-time remote junior designer. Last week, I received my first official salary—and being able to hand over household contribution money to my father and buy a gift for my mother felt unreal.

I’m nowhere near where I ultimately want to be, but for anyone feeling stuck with minimal resources: stay consistent, treat your skill acquisition seriously, and don't give up during the quiet months.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been lurking in this community for a while and finally felt like sharing my journey. Coming from a typical middle-class family in Bangladesh, the pressure of managing university expenses while trying to support the household is something many of you might relate to.

About two years ago, I was running between two private tutoring gigs every day. The pay barely covered my personal expenses, and I constantly felt stuck with no clear direction for the future.

Around mid-2024, I pooled my tutoring savings, borrowed a bit from a friend, and bought a used Core i5 laptop. The battery was completely dead, so it had to stay plugged in constantly. After finishing classes and tutoring sessions, I would stay up late learning digital skills—focusing on graphic design and video editing—through free YouTube tutorials and open-source documentation.

The initial phase was rough:

* Family skepticism: Staying up until 3 AM made my parents worried that I was just wasting time on a screen. Explaining how remote work works to traditional parents was a challenge in itself.

* Hardware limits & power cuts: Rendering heavy files took ages, and unexpected load-shedding meant losing unsaved work and starting over multiple times.

* The rejection phase: For the first 6–7 months, I couldn't land a single paying client. Reaching out on local platforms and cold pitching mostly led to silence.

The breakthrough came when I shifted focus from "knowing a bit of everything" to building a tight, niche portfolio and learning how to communicate effectively with international clients. I started actively networking and sharing my work consistently.

Last month, I officially joined an overseas creative agency as a full-time remote junior designer. Last week, I received my first official salary—and being able to hand over household contribution money to my father and buy a gift for my mother felt unreal.

I’m nowhere near where I ultimately want to be, but for anyone feeling stuck with minimal resources: stay consistent, treat your skill acquisition seriously, and don't give up during the quiet months.

Hey everyone! I'm u/Brief-Post2216, a founding moderator of r/MymensinghBD. This is our new home for all things related to \[ADD WHAT YOUR SUBREDDIT IS ABOUT HERE\]. We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about \[ADD SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU WANT PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY TO POST\].

Community Vibe We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.
2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/MymensinghBD amazing.

Yesterday, my friend was coming home from Farmgate.

He was standing beside the road, waiting for a CNG, and talking to his younger brother on the phone.

A motorcycle suddenly came very close to him.

Before he could even understand what was happening, the guy sitting behind the motorcycle snatched the phone straight out of his hand and disappeared into the traffic.

The whole thing probably took less than 5 seconds.

My friend just stood there for a few seconds in shock.

Then he started running after them.

Obviously, there was no way he could catch them.

He tried calling his number.

Switched off.

Then he realized something even worse.

His phone had his photos, contacts, Gmail, Facebook, banking apps—basically his entire digital life.

And that's when the panic started.

He went home and immediately changed his important passwords and tried tracking the phone.

But here's the question:

If your phone gets snatched like this in Dhaka, what is the BEST thing to do in the first 30 minutes?

Should you immediately go to the police and make a GD?

Should you contact the mobile operator first?

Should you try tracking the phone yourself?

What about the IMEI?

And realistically, has anyone here actually managed to recover a stolen phone in Dhaka?

If you've been through something similar, please share exactly what you did.

It might genuinely help someone else avoid losing everything along with their phone.

Every monsoon, we have the same story.

It rains for a few hours → roads go underwater → traffic completely falls apart → people struggle to get to work, university, school or home.

And then after a few days, everyone forgets about it.

Until the next heavy rain.

What frustrates me is that waterlogging in Dhaka doesn't even feel like a natural disaster anymore. It feels like a normal part of city life.

You can leave home perfectly fine and suddenly find yourself standing in dirty knee-deep water just because it rained.

And it's not only about getting wet.

Hidden potholes, open drains, dirty floodwater, stalled vehicles, insane traffic jams — everything becomes a safety issue.

The question I keep asking is:

Why do we keep treating waterlogging as something unavoidable instead of an infrastructure problem that should have a permanent solution?

Dhaka has drainage projects, road projects, development projects and billions of taka being spent on the city.

So why does a few hours of heavy rain still have the power to basically shut down parts of Dhaka?

Maybe I'm missing something.

What do you think is the REAL reason behind Dhaka's waterlogging?

Poor drainage design?

Blocked drains?

Illegal construction?

Loss of canals/water bodies?

Poor city planning?

Or simply lack of maintenance?

And most importantly:

If you were given the authority to fix ONE thing about Dhaka's waterlogging, what would you fix first?

Am I the only one who feels like walking in Dhaka has become unnecessarily exhausting?

I’m not even talking about the traffic anymore. I’m talking about FOOTPATHS.

Almost every day, you’ll see the same thing:

Footpath → দোকান

Footpath → parked cars/bikes

Footpath → restaurants putting tables outside

Footpath → construction materials

Footpath → random vendors

And sometimes the entire footpath is just gone. 💀

So what are pedestrians supposed to do?

Walk on the road.

And then the same drivers get angry because pedestrians are “blocking the road.”

I genuinely don’t understand how this became normal.

The frustrating part is that walking should be the simplest form of transportation. You shouldn’t need to own a car, know how to drive, or spend money just to travel 500 meters safely.

And as a pedestrian, you have absolutely no protection. One distracted driver, one speeding bike, or one vehicle coming out of a side road and you're basically gambling with your life.

What annoys me even more is that people seem to have accepted this as:

“এটাই ঢাকা, ভাই। কিছু করার নাই।”

No. This shouldn't be normal.

If Dhaka actually wants to become a livable city, shouldn't clear, continuous, pedestrian-friendly footpaths be one of the first priorities?

What’s the worst footpath/parking situation you’ve personally encountered in Dhaka?

And if you could change ONE thing about Dhaka’s streets tomorrow, what would it be?

We complain about Dhaka all the time — traffic, pollution, crowds, noise, expensive rent… the list goes on. 😅

But despite all that, there must be things about this city that we genuinely love.

What’s one thing about Dhaka that you would actually miss if you moved away?

Could be a specific food, a place, late-night walks, friends, the chaos itself, or even something really small and ordinary.

I’d love to hear what keeps people attached to this crazy city. ❤️