5 ms·

Ask HN: How did you go nomad?

20 points by sidyapa 7y ago

quaquaqua1 7y ago
I tried to many times for the long term but then the only offer I received recently was in person (client is stuck in 1980s mentlality)
maxencecornet 7y ago
While in Paris working as a freelance nodejs developer, I built a website that was making me just enough to get by in South East Asia without having to work (a bit more than $1k/month) So I left France, and while living on the money generated by this website, I tried to build a product In the end, my website revenue dried up and I went back to France to work as a freelance developer, after a year of digital nomadism in SEA It was one of my happiest time in life It feels like it was decades ago, time flies
- muzani 7y ago
  Why go back to France if you're freelancing? Why not work remote at a low living cost?
  - maxencecornet 7y ago
    Remote clients are hard to find
kleer001 7y ago
For a short period of time. It's unsustainable.
- stockkid 7y ago
  What were some reasons you found it unsustainable?
  - kleer001 7y ago
    Economic. I couldn't find anyone who wanted a member of staff to not be tied to one location. They were only contract jobs. And contract jobs are whole-life-style wear and tear that are mostly avoidable. Lifestyle. Moving around constantly was great in my youth, but thinking ahead I realized it would be in my long term best interest (social and psychological) to grow roots and settle down somewhere. That said, moving around a lot got me the exposure and experience to know WHERE to land. I'm glad I did it in my youth, but that's a window that's closed. I'm happy where I landed and look forward to a comfortable yet challenging life.
    - meiraleal 7y ago
      I work fulltime for a outsourcing company that really doesn't care about my location, just the delivery of working code. Although after 5 years of nomading I also have this feeling of creating roots, I've managed to do that going mostly to the same places every year for 2-4 months.
    - stockkid 7y ago
      Thanks for sharing.
actionowl 7y ago
Convinced my employer to let me work 100% remotely a few years ago.
- taurath 7y ago
  What size? What is your role?
  - actionowl 7y ago
    The engineering team for our division is about 30 people, the company as a whole is much larger but our division has a lot of autonomy. When I went remote I was a developer, now I'm managing an SRE team of 3 people.
ijiiijji1 7y ago
I've lived in a VW for 9 years in the Bay Area mid-peninsula area without steady income by expending as little as possible. When you stop buying shit, stop with commuting, stop "errands" and other pointless behaviors, you can focus your time on what you want/need to do.
ivanvanderbyl 7y ago
I went nomad after calculating that rent on my apartment in NYC was higher than living anywhere else in the world. So I just left behind everything that didn't fit in my backpack and a carry-on sized suitcase, boarded a flight to Bali, and started a company remotely with a friend in Australia. 5 years later we employ 24 people, all remote.
bwb 7y ago
2004... I was working out of Boca Raton FL as the first "official" employee for a web hosting company. I convinced my boss (the owner) to let me move to Dublin Ireland and work from there :). I landed on a Saturday and by Monday I was set up by the amazing people at the Guinness Enterprise center with dedicated internet and a small one-person office :). I was maybe 23 years old... Crazy fun time in my life. I ended up staying for about 6 months. After I got home I started several companies with 100% remote teams. I've done the nomad thing every year since then for 1 to 3 months and several 2 year and 1-year blocks. Now I have a family and I just moved to Valencia Spain for 2 years to try it out.
meiraleal 7y ago
2014, I lost everything I had invested in my startup (founded in 2011) and decided to go for a sabbatical year (without a penny and no work). After some time, I liked the lifestyle and started to look for some small gigs with software development until I found a full remote full-time job.
The_DaveG 7y ago
Wife and I decided that we were done with the city and lack of space and wanted to travel. Spent the next year downsizing as much as we could while looking for remote first/only companies to make a jump. Found one of those companies that wasn't necessarily large nor stable and bought a vintage transit bus with the goal of making it at least 6 months to see how it went. Two and a half years later, we moved on from that company and are traveling slightly different, but the remote first companies and nomad lifestyle are instilled in us.
sdiw 7y ago
This is what I wish to do. Unfortunately, I don't have the courage to do so b because I think I'd get bored traveling alone. I don't like city life much and think of traveling to different places as I am a freelancer and I have that luxury to go nomad.

20 points by sidyapa 7y ago

I tried to many times for the long term but then the only offer I received recently was in person (client is stuck in 1980s mentlality)

maxencecornet 7y ago

While in Paris working as a freelance nodejs developer, I built a website that was making me just enough to get by in South East Asia without having to work (a bit more than $1k/month) So I left France, and while living on the money generated by this website, I tried to build a product In the end, my website revenue dried up and I went back to France to work as a freelance developer, after a year of digital nomadism in SEA It was one of my happiest time in life It feels like it was decades ago, time flies

muzani 7y ago
Why go back to France if you're freelancing? Why not work remote at a low living cost?
- maxencecornet 7y ago
  Remote clients are hard to find

kleer001 7y ago

For a short period of time. It's unsustainable.

stockkid 7y ago
What were some reasons you found it unsustainable?
- kleer001 7y ago
  Economic. I couldn't find anyone who wanted a member of staff to not be tied to one location. They were only contract jobs. And contract jobs are whole-life-style wear and tear that are mostly avoidable. Lifestyle. Moving around constantly was great in my youth, but thinking ahead I realized it would be in my long term best interest (social and psychological) to grow roots and settle down somewhere. That said, moving around a lot got me the exposure and experience to know WHERE to land. I'm glad I did it in my youth, but that's a window that's closed. I'm happy where I landed and look forward to a comfortable yet challenging life.
  - meiraleal 7y ago
    I work fulltime for a outsourcing company that really doesn't care about my location, just the delivery of working code. Although after 5 years of nomading I also have this feeling of creating roots, I've managed to do that going mostly to the same places every year for 2-4 months.
  - stockkid 7y ago
    Thanks for sharing.

actionowl 7y ago

Convinced my employer to let me work 100% remotely a few years ago.

taurath 7y ago
What size? What is your role?
- actionowl 7y ago
  The engineering team for our division is about 30 people, the company as a whole is much larger but our division has a lot of autonomy. When I went remote I was a developer, now I'm managing an SRE team of 3 people.

ijiiijji1 7y ago

I've lived in a VW for 9 years in the Bay Area mid-peninsula area without steady income by expending as little as possible. When you stop buying shit, stop with commuting, stop "errands" and other pointless behaviors, you can focus your time on what you want/need to do.

ivanvanderbyl 7y ago

I went nomad after calculating that rent on my apartment in NYC was higher than living anywhere else in the world. So I just left behind everything that didn't fit in my backpack and a carry-on sized suitcase, boarded a flight to Bali, and started a company remotely with a friend in Australia. 5 years later we employ 24 people, all remote.

bwb 7y ago

2004... I was working out of Boca Raton FL as the first "official" employee for a web hosting company. I convinced my boss (the owner) to let me move to Dublin Ireland and work from there :). I landed on a Saturday and by Monday I was set up by the amazing people at the Guinness Enterprise center with dedicated internet and a small one-person office :). I was maybe 23 years old... Crazy fun time in my life. I ended up staying for about 6 months. After I got home I started several companies with 100% remote teams. I've done the nomad thing every year since then for 1 to 3 months and several 2 year and 1-year blocks. Now I have a family and I just moved to Valencia Spain for 2 years to try it out.

meiraleal 7y ago

2014, I lost everything I had invested in my startup (founded in 2011) and decided to go for a sabbatical year (without a penny and no work). After some time, I liked the lifestyle and started to look for some small gigs with software development until I found a full remote full-time job.

The_DaveG 7y ago

Wife and I decided that we were done with the city and lack of space and wanted to travel. Spent the next year downsizing as much as we could while looking for remote first/only companies to make a jump. Found one of those companies that wasn't necessarily large nor stable and bought a vintage transit bus with the goal of making it at least 6 months to see how it went. Two and a half years later, we moved on from that company and are traveling slightly different, but the remote first companies and nomad lifestyle are instilled in us.

sdiw 7y ago

This is what I wish to do. Unfortunately, I don't have the courage to do so b because I think I'd get bored traveling alone. I don't like city life much and think of traveling to different places as I am a freelancer and I have that luxury to go nomad.