8 ms·

Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? When you work from home, you wanna leave home often, where do you go

Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? When you work from home, you wanna leave home often, where do you go if you're in the middle of nowhere? I work from home in the middle of a dense city, pay a premium for it! You leave home and there are about 100 places (cafes, theatres, museums, parks etc.) I can go to that are walking distance. Is that possible in say rural Michigan, where housing is apparently practically free?

dvtrn 8y ago
Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? It's (probably) not just you, but at the same time working from home for me, a full-time worker who has a boss that takes the "as long as you get your work done" approach to remote work, which results in me in the office one day, but the very next deciding "yeah I'm not dealing with the blue line's crap today"...rarely comes with the urge to get up and go anywhere and usually don't unless it's to walk the dog or take a smoke break on my porch. And I live and work in the middle of Chicago, where there's no shortage of places favorable to remote workers or walkable spots for lunch very close by. But at the same time I've also found myself in Hawaii getting paged for an all hands "oh shit" emergency and been just as productive despite the time difference, so I think it's very much a YMMV type of thing.
Max_aaa 8y ago
Actually it is wonderful. I work from home and live in a small village minutes from the ocean in New Zealand. Groceries are can be delivered. The only reason to drive to town is the odd meetup.
- abraae 8y ago
  Ha snap, I live in Northland and do the same. My day breaks are running around a track through the bush, body surfing when the surf is up and checking my traps. Small world.
  - pj_mukh 8y ago
    This sounds amazing and I wouldn't consider this to be the "middle of nowhere", you have beautiful bush and surf to run through!
  - jms 8y ago
    I'm thinking of doing the same! Living in Sydney at the moment, but am an NZ citizen. Looking at Northland or Taranaki for the kitesurfing :) Could I ask you a bit more about Northland? My email is in my profile.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - Max_aaa 8y ago
    We are closer than you might think, as I am too in Northland. For me it is hiking and sometimes kayaking.
    - abraae 8y ago
      Hi Max drop me a line if you want to catch up, email in profile
komali2 8y ago
No, you're right, for a person like you or me it could be terrifying. But huge swaths of the population enjoy this lifestyle - in the USA they mostly depend on cars, ATVs, or horses to get around (speaking from my Texas experience). It's not city life, but it's life. It's just a little bit "slower" sometimes. It can be relaxing in its own way. I mean, I live in the core of SF, but how often do I go to the theater or museum anyway? No more than I did when I lived in the suburbs.
- deleted 8y ago
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- ryanmercer 8y ago
  > or horses to get around (speaking from my Texas experience). Heh not unique to Texas. I've seen horses outside of strip malls just outside of Indy -> http://imgur.com/gallery/i1Rflum http://imgur.com/gallery/i1Rflum
- scarecrowbob 8y ago
  Personally, I am looking to buy a place in Llano or Blanco (between Austin and Fredericksburg, basically) in summer of 2019 and then spend a lot of time camping and visiting people and travelling. Just because you're remotely based in the sticks and use property there as a place to park equity and a place to keep your big stuff (I have a lot of tools and music equipment) doesn't mean you have to stay there if you're remote.
  - zid3nt 8y ago
    Do you find there are a lot of places to camp around there? I'm in San Antonio, and I find it very sparse compared to places that feel made for camping and hiking (looking at you, PNW).
    - dvtrn 8y ago
      What's the limit of how far you're willing to drive? Big Bend and Marfa are great road trips if you've never been to either.
freetime2 8y ago
I work remotely from "rural" Japan. I am surrounded by rice fields and mountains, but also only a 10 minute drive or 20 minute bike/bus ride to the city center where there is shopping and night life. From there it's a couple hours to Tokyo by bullet train, which I visit a handful of times a year. There are old or abandoned houses nearby that can be had for very little money. I love being in the mountains. I get outdoors for cycling, hiking, running, or skiing almost every day. The language barrier is a bit scary, but fortunately I knew enough to get by on day-to-day tasks. Google translate is also a godsend.
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- PunchTornado 8y ago
  sounds like a dream. what am I doing in this small room in London? I'd like to do it...
- inawarminister 8y ago
  Wait, you do this before getting an N3? How is that possible?
  - rococode 8y ago
    Not sure if this is what OP used, but the Google Translate app is nearing sci-fi levels of accuracy and speed. The conversation function is good enough that you can talk with someone while both using different languages and actually understand each other with minimal delay.
    - inawarminister 8y ago
      Yes but I was under the impression that Japanese long term work visa was only granted to those that had achieved N3 in Japanese language, seems I might be under a mistaken impression...
      - 8y ago
ahje 8y ago
I work from home from a house in the countryside. There are no businesses here, no traffic, nothing disturbing me in my work. The closest neighbor lives a kilometre away. As a bonus, I don't even have a driver's license and the nearest bus stop is a 20-minute bike ride away from here. Personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but I guess it does take a certain kind of person to pull it off.
ticviking 8y ago
>Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? That situation is literally my dream. I live in a suburb now and literally go 3-4 days without needing to leave home. I most often leave to go get firewood or meat to BBQ out back. In my dream I'd be on a full acre(instead of the little 0.2 acre lot we're on) with enough room for a normal family home, and a "mancave/study" so I "go to work".
- mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
  What's your house budget? For a place with a man cave you'd probably need 250k here in southern Japan. While not really remote, it's far from the busy likes of Tokyo. All of my work is with companies around the globe in all sorts of time zones. I'd say it's boring for a single person out here, you'd definitely only put up with it if you had a family. Securing a visa would be another challenge unless you married a Japanese citizen, which you wouldn't want to do after coming here as divorce rates are high for mixed couples. Culture can be very frustrating too after a while.
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gwbas1c 8y ago
> Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to a rural area that's a popular vacation area. (I must admit that I wanted to end up in a different rural area that's also a popular vacation area.) My neighborhood is excellent, and there's plenty to walk to. Rural areas still have dense spots with plenty of things to do. There's just a lot of open forests around the dense areas! What's terrifying is that I still telecommute for the job I got when I lived in Silicon Valley. I have no idea what's going to happen when I need to change jobs. (Edit) I still miss living right on University Ave in Palo Also, CA. But, that's not sustainable given how much it costs to live there, and our (me and wife's) overall lifestyle desires.
- emilecantin 8y ago
  I did that jump, but in Canada. I moved from a medium-sized city (pop. ~180K) to a literal village (pop. ~900), then I lost my remote job a few months ago. I just jumped back into freelancing, and for now I actually have too much work. There's a lot of demand for North-American developers on the freelance market. Also if your cost of living is low (as it tends to be in rural areas), you can afford to charge a little less but still make a lot of money (I suspect my rate is pretty cheap for my clients, but it's double the amount I used to make).
  - barry-cotter 8y ago
    > I just jumped back into freelancing, and for now I actually have too much work. What would patio11 say? Charge more.
kyleblarson 8y ago
I work remotely from a town of 200 full time residents in the North Cascades Mountains in North Central Washington State. The closest grocery store is about 25 miles away and the closest stoplight is about 80 miles. You have to plan a bit around shopping and logistics but it is a wonderful place to live. We are in the middle of the largest maintained network of nordic ski trails in North America, I can literally backcountry ski from my front door and we have hundreds of climbing routes within a 10 minute drive. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

dvtrn 8y ago

Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? It's (probably) not just you, but at the same time working from home for me, a full-time worker who has a boss that takes the "as long as you get your work done" approach to remote work, which results in me in the office one day, but the very next deciding "yeah I'm not dealing with the blue line's crap today"...rarely comes with the urge to get up and go anywhere and usually don't unless it's to walk the dog or take a smoke break on my porch. And I live and work in the middle of Chicago, where there's no shortage of places favorable to remote workers or walkable spots for lunch very close by. But at the same time I've also found myself in Hawaii getting paged for an all hands "oh shit" emergency and been just as productive despite the time difference, so I think it's very much a YMMV type of thing.

Max_aaa 8y ago

Actually it is wonderful. I work from home and live in a small village minutes from the ocean in New Zealand. Groceries are can be delivered. The only reason to drive to town is the odd meetup.

abraae 8y ago
Ha snap, I live in Northland and do the same. My day breaks are running around a track through the bush, body surfing when the surf is up and checking my traps. Small world.
- pj_mukh 8y ago
  This sounds amazing and I wouldn't consider this to be the "middle of nowhere", you have beautiful bush and surf to run through!
- jms 8y ago
  I'm thinking of doing the same! Living in Sydney at the moment, but am an NZ citizen. Looking at Northland or Taranaki for the kitesurfing :) Could I ask you a bit more about Northland? My email is in my profile.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- Max_aaa 8y ago
  We are closer than you might think, as I am too in Northland. For me it is hiking and sometimes kayaking.
  - abraae 8y ago
    Hi Max drop me a line if you want to catch up, email in profile

komali2 8y ago

No, you're right, for a person like you or me it could be terrifying. But huge swaths of the population enjoy this lifestyle - in the USA they mostly depend on cars, ATVs, or horses to get around (speaking from my Texas experience). It's not city life, but it's life. It's just a little bit "slower" sometimes. It can be relaxing in its own way. I mean, I live in the core of SF, but how often do I go to the theater or museum anyway? No more than I did when I lived in the suburbs.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ryanmercer 8y ago
> or horses to get around (speaking from my Texas experience). Heh not unique to Texas. I've seen horses outside of strip malls just outside of Indy -> http://imgur.com/gallery/i1Rflum http://imgur.com/gallery/i1Rflum
scarecrowbob 8y ago
Personally, I am looking to buy a place in Llano or Blanco (between Austin and Fredericksburg, basically) in summer of 2019 and then spend a lot of time camping and visiting people and travelling. Just because you're remotely based in the sticks and use property there as a place to park equity and a place to keep your big stuff (I have a lot of tools and music equipment) doesn't mean you have to stay there if you're remote.
- zid3nt 8y ago
  Do you find there are a lot of places to camp around there? I'm in San Antonio, and I find it very sparse compared to places that feel made for camping and hiking (looking at you, PNW).
  - dvtrn 8y ago
    What's the limit of how far you're willing to drive? Big Bend and Marfa are great road trips if you've never been to either.

freetime2 8y ago

I work remotely from "rural" Japan. I am surrounded by rice fields and mountains, but also only a 10 minute drive or 20 minute bike/bus ride to the city center where there is shopping and night life. From there it's a couple hours to Tokyo by bullet train, which I visit a handful of times a year. There are old or abandoned houses nearby that can be had for very little money. I love being in the mountains. I get outdoors for cycling, hiking, running, or skiing almost every day. The language barrier is a bit scary, but fortunately I knew enough to get by on day-to-day tasks. Google translate is also a godsend.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
PunchTornado 8y ago
sounds like a dream. what am I doing in this small room in London? I'd like to do it...
inawarminister 8y ago
Wait, you do this before getting an N3? How is that possible?
- rococode 8y ago
  Not sure if this is what OP used, but the Google Translate app is nearing sci-fi levels of accuracy and speed. The conversation function is good enough that you can talk with someone while both using different languages and actually understand each other with minimal delay.
  - inawarminister 8y ago
    Yes but I was under the impression that Japanese long term work visa was only granted to those that had achieved N3 in Japanese language, seems I might be under a mistaken impression...
    - 8y ago

ahje 8y ago

I work from home from a house in the countryside. There are no businesses here, no traffic, nothing disturbing me in my work. The closest neighbor lives a kilometre away. As a bonus, I don't even have a driver's license and the nearest bus stop is a 20-minute bike ride away from here. Personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but I guess it does take a certain kind of person to pull it off.

ticviking 8y ago

>Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? That situation is literally my dream. I live in a suburb now and literally go 3-4 days without needing to leave home. I most often leave to go get firewood or meat to BBQ out back. In my dream I'd be on a full acre(instead of the little 0.2 acre lot we're on) with enough room for a normal family home, and a "mancave/study" so I "go to work".

mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
What's your house budget? For a place with a man cave you'd probably need 250k here in southern Japan. While not really remote, it's far from the busy likes of Tokyo. All of my work is with companies around the globe in all sorts of time zones. I'd say it's boring for a single person out here, you'd definitely only put up with it if you had a family. Securing a visa would be another challenge unless you married a Japanese citizen, which you wouldn't want to do after coming here as divorce rates are high for mixed couples. Culture can be very frustrating too after a while.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

gwbas1c 8y ago

> Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to a rural area that's a popular vacation area. (I must admit that I wanted to end up in a different rural area that's also a popular vacation area.) My neighborhood is excellent, and there's plenty to walk to. Rural areas still have dense spots with plenty of things to do. There's just a lot of open forests around the dense areas! What's terrifying is that I still telecommute for the job I got when I lived in Silicon Valley. I have no idea what's going to happen when I need to change jobs. (Edit) I still miss living right on University Ave in Palo Also, CA. But, that's not sustainable given how much it costs to live there, and our (me and wife's) overall lifestyle desires.

emilecantin 8y ago
I did that jump, but in Canada. I moved from a medium-sized city (pop. ~180K) to a literal village (pop. ~900), then I lost my remote job a few months ago. I just jumped back into freelancing, and for now I actually have too much work. There's a lot of demand for North-American developers on the freelance market. Also if your cost of living is low (as it tends to be in rural areas), you can afford to charge a little less but still make a lot of money (I suspect my rate is pretty cheap for my clients, but it's double the amount I used to make).
- barry-cotter 8y ago
  > I just jumped back into freelancing, and for now I actually have too much work. What would patio11 say? Charge more.

kyleblarson 8y ago

I work remotely from a town of 200 full time residents in the North Cascades Mountains in North Central Washington State. The closest grocery store is about 25 miles away and the closest stoplight is about 80 miles. You have to plan a bit around shopping and logistics but it is a wonderful place to live. We are in the middle of the largest maintained network of nordic ski trails in North America, I can literally backcountry ski from my front door and we have hundreds of climbing routes within a 10 minute drive. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.