Travel and Remote Work

I have had a fully remote job in tech since October of 2022. Job security is not guaranteed these days in my industry, but no matter what happens I will prioritize remote status over other factors like compensation and benefits because of how it complements my lifestyle.

As a bit of background, summer of 2021 I left teaching and got my first job in corporate training, which lasted about a year until they called us back into office. Then I job-hopped to a fully remote software company where I still work today. We were recently acquired by a Japanese tech company that mandates in-office work, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll still have a job with this company as they don't have an office in Atlanta.

That being said, it's been a good run and I like the work that I do. Hopefully I could cobble together other remote gigs if I am laid off. 

The best part of this arrangement is how I can throw my laptop in my bag and hop on the road without using up all of my vacation time.

I worked from my mom's rental in Malaga, Spain for a week. In the mornings I would walk around the markets, and then log online in the afternoons and evenings.

I could work from my mom's porch in Spain

I spent a month in Burlington, VT around my wedding and designed an entire learning pathway for our platform engineering team during that time.

Gotta bundle up the animals when we work from Vermont

I take an annual "working retreat" with my husband to a cabin in the Appalachian mountains. You'd be surprised at how good the wifi is in some of those AirBnBs!

I've also worked from my mom's house in south Florida and my friend Sarah's farm in Wisconsin.

My laptop setup at the Wisconsin farm

Vacation time I can save for proper holidays, like my trip to Sicily next week, or my first cruise coming up this December. I absolutely do take time off, but this remote arrangement has made it so much easier to facilitate my vagabond-ish lifestyle without disruption to my team.

As a knowledge worker, my work happens wherever I'm at with my computer and an internet connection. I do not need to be sitting in a cubicle under fluorescent lights to build an eLearning module or produce a software tutorial.