Comments on: Programmers, it’s time to pack your bags!

By: Alasdair@adinfinit-e

Alasdair@adinfinit-e — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 14:34:54 +0000

Thanks for the shout out! Good, write up. Posts like this really help preppie contribute and understand the flow of the project.

By: Aitzaz

Aitzaz — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 22:06:02 +0000

Hi Ashray,
That is an awesome post by you for the people like me who wants to travel all around the world. I am an Internet Marketer doing SEO/SMO and I am planning to travel by doing freelancing like you. Could you give me some good suggesstions?
Cheers!

By: hipnoterapi jakarta

hipnoterapi jakarta — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 07:57:09 +0000

Thanks for giving us an insight in your way of life,

By: Web Programming Blog

Web Programming Blog — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 09:20:07 +0000

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By: Monkey

Monkey — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:48:44 +0000

Thanks for giving us an insight in your way of life, I really hope to pull this of in a few years myself, right now I’m still getting my bachelor’s degree in computer science, so I’m stuck at one place at the moment =). Whis you the very best for your future!

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:09 +0000

Hey, cool to find your site, I’m also a brand new digital nomad! I’ve decided around new years 2013 that I’ve had enough of the Canadian winter and working 9-5, so I got a contract gig and decided to pack my bags towards warmer lands! I’ve since finished my contract and am now simply learning and working towards my first iOS game. It’s been an adventure! I’m 4 months in my nomadic lifestyle and it’s great! I’m planning to return home in a couple of weeks and then in a month or so head out potentially somewhere in Asia. I’ve been able to visit places I’ve never been. I keep a blog just like you at http://victorbstan.tumblr.com/. Good luck and thanks for sharing!

By: zea

zea — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:40:23 +0000

What if I dont know any programming, can I still do this? What should i do to get to a skill level thats freelance-able? how long would it take?
Thanks

By: Elena

Elena — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 10:55:01 +0000

We’ve been doing the same for about 14 months, so it is interesting to compare your experience with ours. I am doing some web and social media projects, and my partner is a “heavy-duty” programmer. We prefer to stay in one place for longer periods (3-6 months) depending on visa limitations, plus, when working on a lengthy project moving from place to place distracts and lowers productivity (as we learned from personal experience).

I mostly agree with everything you wrote, but there are couple things that were different in our case:
1. despite popular belief, a fast reliable internet connection is not something to be taking for granted. In Amsterdam it was perfect, in Estonia (in a small town far from Tallinn) it was non-existent, in Chiang Mai it’s intermittent (when it’s up it’s great, but it goes down quite often)…
2. oDesk and Elance are not the best places to look for projects for an experienced developer. It is impossible to beat Indian/Eastern European rates( the quality of some work they produce for such ridiculously low prices is questionable though). Good old networking produced far better results so far. It would be great to disocver a reliable online source of projects with fair rates, but I haven’t found one yet.

Cheers

Cheers!

By: Francesco

Francesco — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 07:06:33 +0000

It’s nice to read about travelling developers, good luck for your “exploring” :D
I’m a kind of nomadic developer too, even if I like to stay at the same place for a little longer (3 to 6 month). I really like the idea of “living” in a new place from time to time. When you stay in the same place long enough you get to know a bunch if things that you wouldn’t with a shorter time. You’re right when you say that we, as developers, have the greatest gift: “flexibility”. It is really a shame that so many developers didn’t realize this. I guess there are many different ways to travel while coding. My experience is quite different than yours, I’m working with the same team for 2 years now and I’m trying to stay in GTM+2 / -2 timezone to avoid communication issues (but this is not restricting me yet). I like to work with the same team for a long time and I found the way to travel without loosing this. I guess the point is that everyone can found his way for travelling. There so many opportunities out there, you just have to grab the right one.

Maybe we should create some kind of “home exchange” for developers :D I have an home that is empty for 6 months every year, and I have a comfortable office in it, a decent connection and everything a freelance would need to work (because I use that stuff to work).

Btw, I think you really are inspiring many developers who read your posts and I think this is a really good thing, keep doing it :D

By: Ashray

Ashray — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 05:32:18 +0000

Yes, we do indeed have a map! It’s here: http://bkpk.me/travel-plans/

Singles can certainly travel as it’s easy to meet up with people in other places.

We use the cheapest airline possible for every stretch. I’ve written quite a few articles about scoring the cheapest airline tickets so that you can save a big chunk of your travel budget:
http://bkpk.me/get-crazy-deals-flights/
http://bkpk.me/the-realtime-flightfox-review/

By: Ashray

Ashray — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 05:29:23 +0000

Well, this is tough. Debt is always something that’s a source of stress. Honestly, I’d suggest that you DO work at a company (try getting into one that’s not quite as soulless – they are out there!), gain some work experience and pay off your debt. Start building some freelance contacts+savings and THEN head out. This will also have the positive effect of you being able to bill your work at a good rate because a) you’ll have more experience b) you’ll be more confident in commanding what you deserve.

If you can start scoring freelance gigs while you’re in college and then continue with those at a later stage then it’s certainly possible to travel and pay off your loans at the same time. However, the risk will probably keep you under a bit of pressure so you may not feel 100% comfortable.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!

By: Gavin

Gavin — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 04:18:04 +0000

Do you have some wort of map showing your progression around the world?

Is this something you recommend for singles?

I imagine you travel mostly by air, is that right? What airlines do you use?

By: Coleman

Coleman — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 22:09:21 +0000

As a software engineering student at University, your website has inspired me to travel the world and do as you do… at some point. I am worried about my loans though, I will be 30k in debt upon graduation, but I really don’t want to work 40 hours a week at a soulless corporation wasting my skills on projects I don’t want to work on. Do you know of any way I can pay my loans and still be a travelling programmer?

By: I became a digital nomad, it has it’s challenges – but it’s worth it! | Backpack Me

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 15:19:31 +0000

[...] And that’s why I say: Programmer’s it’s time to pack your bags! [...]

By: Ashray

Ashray — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 18:07:07 +0000

Hi Paul,

That’s a great question. Well, to be honest, manipulating wordpress sites is big business. If you can write a few wordpress plugins that are useful, that gives you a pretty great jumping off point as I know several coders who are making money doing this (they aren’t traveling coders though ;)).

I wouldn’t say that there are any essential languages as programmers have to pretty much adapt with the job at hand. Sometimes we’re writing something in high level languages like Python and at other times we’re debugging machine code. However, doing work on the web is usually sought after these days so if you pick up a web framework like RoR or Django then you could get some freelance gigs on the move. Alternatively, front end developers are also in great demand so if you get good at CSS/HTML+Basic Design then you could make some pretty pages for people on the move. There’s plenty of free lance work available however there is a high possibility of getting undercut in wages on sites like elance, etc.

Ideally, if you learn largely used tech like RoR or Django or Sinatra, you should be able to get a full time gig where you can telecommute. The folks at Buffer have several programmers who do this – for example. It’s an interesting lifestyle choice and very 21st century so don’t expect everyone to relate to it :)