6 ms·

How I Work from Anywhere in the World

129 points by baus 10y ago

achariam 10y ago
Currently in the process of considering a new machine myself and came across a similar article about the MacBook written by Rob Rhyne in 2015 (http://martiancraft.com/blog/2015/08/macbook-for-developers/ http://martiancraft.com/blog/2015/08/macbook-for-developers/).
jenn 10y ago
Hey all - I wrote this article. One update: I've since upgraded to a Pixel XL + Google Fi which is a big step up from my Nexus 5. Happy to answer any questions!
- fermuch 10y ago
  Great article, lots of tools I didn't know of. Can you provide more info about where I can get that 2g chip outside the states? Sounds very useful to use a service like that. Also, can you expand a little bit more about the slack integrations? I can't imagine something more than simple notifications for services like github, but you described it as it "changed your life", so I'm assuming you found ways to automate your daily life with integrations.
  - jenn 10y ago
    Glad it was helpful! I'm not totally sure where you can get a card similar to the T-Mobile or Google Fi cards outside of the US. I know there are a few "international" sim cards on the market, but I haven't tried any of them myself. A lot of my Slack integrations these days are powered by Zapier, but for regular dev work + client management, I use simple integrations like Trello, Github, etc. The life-changing part comes from being able to communicate and get updates from the multiple teams I work with in a given day, across multiple companies and groups, in one app that also works on all of my devices. In my Slack team, I've also set up some private channels where I pipe in things like twitter alerts, flight alerts, etc. so that helps too!
- junto 10y ago
  How do you manage the legalities, work visas etc. Many countries are quite strict about entering the country depending on whether you are entering for work or pleasure purposes.
  - jenn 10y ago
    I haven't used work visas anywhere. I'm not going to the country for the purpose of work. I'm there as a tourist and do work while I'm there. Not typically engaging in any business transactions within the country.
    - tluyben2 10y ago
      If I tell that story at the US border there is a good chance I have to turn around if I may believe reality tv and comments here which is why I go to the US strictly for vacation (usually not even taking a laptop). Is that just paranoia or?
wyclif 10y ago
I'm currently working remotely from the Philippines. Essentials for me: Trello, Slack, GitHub, Dropbox, AWS, VirtualBox, Feedly, Pinboard, ExpressVPN, Skype, Adobe Creative Cloud, Toggl, Gusto, Mint
ljoshua 10y ago
My first response upon reading the title: "Answer: I have no dependents." ;) Enjoyed the article though, Karma was new to me and looks interesting.
- jenn 10y ago
  Definitely helps! Though I do know a fair number of people who do this WITH kids which blows my mind. Glad the Karma tip was useful!
  - wyclif 10y ago
    I work remote with kids in tow. We have one so far.
    - beagle3 10y ago
      How old, and how do you manage their education?
      - xiphias 10y ago
        What other education a kid needs than to have parents who can stay with them all day and teach how to work from anywhere in the world? I think the more important thing is how does the kid socialize?
      - wyclif 10y ago
        He's six years old, speaks three languages fluently (putting me to shame!), and is enrolled in school at the moment. Even though I work remote, I do it from a home base, and use that as a jumping off point when we travel during school holidays, summer, etc.
    - bogomipz 10y ago
      How often do you move around? Or do you work remotely from one place for a long period of time - 6 months to a year etc?
    - 10y ago
theparanoid 10y ago
Starting out I'd work anywhere in the world. Now only North America & Australia (Sydney/Melbourne is 5 hrs difference from west coast US). The remote options are better than local except in SF, LA, & Seattle.
- exidy 10y ago
  4-5 hours total, sure, but it's actually a 17-18 hour difference if you care about weekdays vs weekend!
grobertson 10y ago
"I’m excited to see what Apple has in store at WWDC though. Maybe something even slimmer?" I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man saying this, and maybe I am. Please, dear god, stop this war on thickness. I want my ports back.
- jenn 10y ago
  Totally agree. I was super excited to upgrade but I'm not sold on the lack of ports + touch bar. Might wait to see what they do with the bitty MacBook. If not, this MBAir and I are together until the death!
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    Luckily for our kind, the refurb market for older Mac laptops should be flush for at least the next 10-15 years.
- tenpies 10y ago
  And battery. Some of us don't like being plugged in, especially now that the power adapter is back to it's MBP-propelling design.
hbcondo714 10y ago
Jenn, any tips on finding clients / remote work?
- jenn 10y ago
  That's a whole opus unto itself! In short: easiest way to find clients is through your existing network. Finding remote work...well that depends on what exactly you do, but there's tons of stuff on http://remoteok.io http://remoteok.io.
phunehehe0 10y ago
> If I could make one improvement to Every Time Zone it would be to have more time zones available and maybe let you create a set of “favorite” time zones That's describing one of my favorite sites World Time Buddy https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/.
dharma1 10y ago
The tooling is easy - but where do you get remote gigs that pay well?
BerislavLopac 10y ago
For the coding-oriented traveling workers, this is one very useful tool: https://codeanywhere.com/ https://codeanywhere.com/
reconx 10y ago
Has anyone managed to pull off remote work while in a corp job?
- holdenk 10y ago
  There are corp jobs which pretty much require a lot of travel - doing developer relations has been a great way to see the world for me (and meet all sorts of cool developers).
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  I'm doing that right now. A lot of restrictions.
  - reconx 10y ago
    I've been looking into traveling & working remotely, as I've transitioned into a mobile role...just need internet + phone to get work done, but now looking into logistics/feasibility of sustaining the remote work-life balance. What sort of restrictions have you ran into?
    - jimmywanger 10y ago
      First, I am not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt. What part of the world do you live in/claim residency in? The reason I ask, is because I live in the US. If you're in the US or EU schengen zone, you can live and work almost anywhere in that particular area with no legal restrictions. For instance, my mailing address is in California, but I can easily move to Florida or Nevada or some state without a state income tax. Check your company's HR policy, I know there are a few states I'm not able to work from due to my company's policies. If you work in a foreign country, that's a whole new can of worms. My company doesn't have a problem with you taking a month off and working a few weeks in India, for example, since it doesn't really make sense to fly to India for just 2 weeks due to travel times and jet lag, and you don't want to blow all your vacation at once. However, if you're thinking of living for half a year in Ecuador, for example, even if the time zones line up, the company probably won't be as cool about it if they know about it, in my case. The reason is that you're kinda breaking your tourist visa. You're not supposed to be doing any work, and if you are, you're supposed to be paying taxes to the country you're living in. Now, it's a ridiculous argument, as you're pretty much living as a tourist, not taking a job from a local, and putting money in the local economy. However, if that's how your tourist visa is written, that's how it's going to be. Now, if you're working for yourself as a freelancer, they probably won't go after you too hard, mainly because the upside is so limited. You can only squeeze so much blood from a stone, and they'll probably spend more money prosecuting you/doing audits than you'll pay back taxes. However, since you and I (appear) to be working for large corporations, they have much more of an incentive to sue you. They can tack on penalties, and threaten a huge accounting/legal team to "discover other irregularities" in the company's HR policies in hopes of a large settlement. If that's the case, you gotta keep the fact that you're spending longer periods of time overseas to yourself.
bogomipz 10y ago
I agree with the author that the T-Mobile simple choice plan works as advertised. They only guarantee 2G but I have almost never seen that. The slowest has been 3G and in my places in the EU are LTE speeds.
- richardlitt 10y ago
  Only 2G in Japan.
- jenn 10y ago
  They had a 4G promotion in Europe over the summer which was FANTASTIC. I didn't realize how slow 2G felt until I had 4G back. Another reason I switched to Google Fi.
GomezSandra 10y ago
Great article! Thanks for sharing

129 points by baus 10y ago

Currently in the process of considering a new machine myself and came across a similar article about the MacBook written by Rob Rhyne in 2015 (http://martiancraft.com/blog/2015/08/macbook-for-developers/ http://martiancraft.com/blog/2015/08/macbook-for-developers/).

jenn 10y ago

Hey all - I wrote this article. One update: I've since upgraded to a Pixel XL + Google Fi which is a big step up from my Nexus 5. Happy to answer any questions!

fermuch 10y ago
Great article, lots of tools I didn't know of. Can you provide more info about where I can get that 2g chip outside the states? Sounds very useful to use a service like that. Also, can you expand a little bit more about the slack integrations? I can't imagine something more than simple notifications for services like github, but you described it as it "changed your life", so I'm assuming you found ways to automate your daily life with integrations.
- jenn 10y ago
  Glad it was helpful! I'm not totally sure where you can get a card similar to the T-Mobile or Google Fi cards outside of the US. I know there are a few "international" sim cards on the market, but I haven't tried any of them myself. A lot of my Slack integrations these days are powered by Zapier, but for regular dev work + client management, I use simple integrations like Trello, Github, etc. The life-changing part comes from being able to communicate and get updates from the multiple teams I work with in a given day, across multiple companies and groups, in one app that also works on all of my devices. In my Slack team, I've also set up some private channels where I pipe in things like twitter alerts, flight alerts, etc. so that helps too!
junto 10y ago
How do you manage the legalities, work visas etc. Many countries are quite strict about entering the country depending on whether you are entering for work or pleasure purposes.
- jenn 10y ago
  I haven't used work visas anywhere. I'm not going to the country for the purpose of work. I'm there as a tourist and do work while I'm there. Not typically engaging in any business transactions within the country.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    If I tell that story at the US border there is a good chance I have to turn around if I may believe reality tv and comments here which is why I go to the US strictly for vacation (usually not even taking a laptop). Is that just paranoia or?

wyclif 10y ago

I'm currently working remotely from the Philippines. Essentials for me: Trello, Slack, GitHub, Dropbox, AWS, VirtualBox, Feedly, Pinboard, ExpressVPN, Skype, Adobe Creative Cloud, Toggl, Gusto, Mint

ljoshua 10y ago

My first response upon reading the title: "Answer: I have no dependents." ;) Enjoyed the article though, Karma was new to me and looks interesting.

jenn 10y ago
Definitely helps! Though I do know a fair number of people who do this WITH kids which blows my mind. Glad the Karma tip was useful!
- wyclif 10y ago
  I work remote with kids in tow. We have one so far.
  - beagle3 10y ago
    How old, and how do you manage their education?
    - xiphias 10y ago
      What other education a kid needs than to have parents who can stay with them all day and teach how to work from anywhere in the world? I think the more important thing is how does the kid socialize?
    - wyclif 10y ago
      He's six years old, speaks three languages fluently (putting me to shame!), and is enrolled in school at the moment. Even though I work remote, I do it from a home base, and use that as a jumping off point when we travel during school holidays, summer, etc.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    How often do you move around? Or do you work remotely from one place for a long period of time - 6 months to a year etc?
  - 10y ago

theparanoid 10y ago

Starting out I'd work anywhere in the world. Now only North America & Australia (Sydney/Melbourne is 5 hrs difference from west coast US). The remote options are better than local except in SF, LA, & Seattle.

exidy 10y ago
4-5 hours total, sure, but it's actually a 17-18 hour difference if you care about weekdays vs weekend!

grobertson 10y ago

"I’m excited to see what Apple has in store at WWDC though. Maybe something even slimmer?" I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man saying this, and maybe I am. Please, dear god, stop this war on thickness. I want my ports back.

jenn 10y ago
Totally agree. I was super excited to upgrade but I'm not sold on the lack of ports + touch bar. Might wait to see what they do with the bitty MacBook. If not, this MBAir and I are together until the death!
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  Luckily for our kind, the refurb market for older Mac laptops should be flush for at least the next 10-15 years.
tenpies 10y ago
And battery. Some of us don't like being plugged in, especially now that the power adapter is back to it's MBP-propelling design.

hbcondo714 10y ago

Jenn, any tips on finding clients / remote work?

jenn 10y ago
That's a whole opus unto itself! In short: easiest way to find clients is through your existing network. Finding remote work...well that depends on what exactly you do, but there's tons of stuff on http://remoteok.io http://remoteok.io.

phunehehe0 10y ago

> If I could make one improvement to Every Time Zone it would be to have more time zones available and maybe let you create a set of “favorite” time zones That's describing one of my favorite sites World Time Buddy https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/.

dharma1 10y ago

The tooling is easy - but where do you get remote gigs that pay well?

BerislavLopac 10y ago

For the coding-oriented traveling workers, this is one very useful tool: https://codeanywhere.com/ https://codeanywhere.com/

reconx 10y ago

Has anyone managed to pull off remote work while in a corp job?

holdenk 10y ago
There are corp jobs which pretty much require a lot of travel - doing developer relations has been a great way to see the world for me (and meet all sorts of cool developers).
jimmywanger 10y ago
I'm doing that right now. A lot of restrictions.
- reconx 10y ago
  I've been looking into traveling & working remotely, as I've transitioned into a mobile role...just need internet + phone to get work done, but now looking into logistics/feasibility of sustaining the remote work-life balance. What sort of restrictions have you ran into?
  - jimmywanger 10y ago
    First, I am not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt. What part of the world do you live in/claim residency in? The reason I ask, is because I live in the US. If you're in the US or EU schengen zone, you can live and work almost anywhere in that particular area with no legal restrictions. For instance, my mailing address is in California, but I can easily move to Florida or Nevada or some state without a state income tax. Check your company's HR policy, I know there are a few states I'm not able to work from due to my company's policies. If you work in a foreign country, that's a whole new can of worms. My company doesn't have a problem with you taking a month off and working a few weeks in India, for example, since it doesn't really make sense to fly to India for just 2 weeks due to travel times and jet lag, and you don't want to blow all your vacation at once. However, if you're thinking of living for half a year in Ecuador, for example, even if the time zones line up, the company probably won't be as cool about it if they know about it, in my case. The reason is that you're kinda breaking your tourist visa. You're not supposed to be doing any work, and if you are, you're supposed to be paying taxes to the country you're living in. Now, it's a ridiculous argument, as you're pretty much living as a tourist, not taking a job from a local, and putting money in the local economy. However, if that's how your tourist visa is written, that's how it's going to be. Now, if you're working for yourself as a freelancer, they probably won't go after you too hard, mainly because the upside is so limited. You can only squeeze so much blood from a stone, and they'll probably spend more money prosecuting you/doing audits than you'll pay back taxes. However, since you and I (appear) to be working for large corporations, they have much more of an incentive to sue you. They can tack on penalties, and threaten a huge accounting/legal team to "discover other irregularities" in the company's HR policies in hopes of a large settlement. If that's the case, you gotta keep the fact that you're spending longer periods of time overseas to yourself.

bogomipz 10y ago

I agree with the author that the T-Mobile simple choice plan works as advertised. They only guarantee 2G but I have almost never seen that. The slowest has been 3G and in my places in the EU are LTE speeds.

richardlitt 10y ago
Only 2G in Japan.
jenn 10y ago
They had a 4G promotion in Europe over the summer which was FANTASTIC. I didn't realize how slow 2G felt until I had 4G back. Another reason I switched to Google Fi.

GomezSandra 10y ago

Great article! Thanks for sharing