Goiânia’s Job Game: How I Got Hired by a Startup While Eating Pastel at 2 a.m.
okay so i moved here thinking i’d find coffee that didn’t taste like burnt tires and maybe a rooftop with a view. instead, i found a job in tech-kinda-and now i’m writing this on a crackling wi-fi signal in a 12m² apartment that smells like feijoada and desperation. here’s what’s actually hiring in goiânia, according to people who don’t lie to your face when you ask if the security guard at the co-working space is legit.
first: the city’s got over 1.5 million people, and 62% of jobs posted on linkedin go to candidates who didn’t even ask for a salary. yeah. that’s real. the jobs that are actually growing? according to goiás’ labor department (saae.go.gov.br), it’s not finance, not law. it’s:
- IT support roles (especially cloud infrastructure with aws) - up 41% since 2022
- Public health tech admins (think wb3 system hacks in SUS clinics) - booming because no one else wants it
- Remote customer service for brazilian banks - pay’s trash, but you get to wear sweatpants and yell at bots in portuguese
- Freelance digital animators - mostly for dentistry ads. yes, really.
- Cross-border data entry for agribusiness exporters - going crazy because goiânia’s the soy queen of the center-west
you want rent? a one-bedroom in parity (not downtown, not the slums) runs you 1,800-2,200 brl. that’s if you don’t mind the neighbor who plays arrocha at 11 p.m. every friday. east side (santa catarina) is cheaper, but the projector at the cinema is broken and they use the same mop for the lobby and the bathroom. south zone? pricier, but you get better pão de queijo and a chance to escape the 37°C heat without AC.
look, i know what you’re thinking: ‘but it’s not são paulo or rio.’ you’re right. but goiânia? it’s the slow-burn winner. the air smells like rain on asphalt even when it hasn’t rained. the sun sets behind the serra dourada like it’s trying to make you cry. it’s not glamorous. it’s honest.
overheard at bar do zé:
> "They hired my cousin because she knew how to fix the printer AND cry convincingly during interviews. That’s the real skill set."
overheard at pizzaria do chefo:
> "If you speak english, they’ll promote you to ‘digital liaison’ even if you’ve never sent a single email."
now, here’s the drunk advice: don’t apply to a ’startup’ unless they have at least three people and one of them knows how to use gmail without spinning its wheels. i saw a guy interview with a company that called itself ‘inovatech’ but had zero website. they handed him a pen and said, ‘write a business plan for a robot that makes feijoada.’ he said yes.
they hired him.
local subreddits: r/Goiانيا
Reddit Goiânia - ask about wifi zones, not jobs.
yelp for food: Yelp Goiânia - stick to pastel at aguas claras.
tripadvisor ‘best’ co-working: Tripadvisor Coworking
no, that place has no AC when it’s 35°C. don’t go.
i’ve got a thing for the janitor at the city library. he gave me a saved usb stick with 200 gb of old municipal land records. said, ‘you’re the first person who asked about them.’
stay. you’ll get used to the heat.
better yet, you’ll learn to love it.
and i’m not even kidding about the robot feijoada.
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