

Ask HN: What are programming jobs that require travel? - cpolis


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Pyrodogg
Developer/consultants for government contractors.

My coworkers and I move to different project sites on time scales ranging from
1-5 years. We do government software and live on-site in the capitols where
we're working. Most developers move from one semi-permanent office to another
new client after the project transitions to a maintenance mode.

Experienced devs in particular sub systems might go on 1-3 week trips to other
locations to bootstrap or assist on large issues.

Devs are also a large part of our marketing department. A few are regularly
tasked with putting together demos for clients and delivering them on-site;
others help as needed.

Most devs also have the opportunity to attend career fairs to assist the
recruiters. I've personally attended 3 in 4 years. It's such a good
opportunity to be the face of your company and have the first round
recommendation on hires. Sure the management has the final say but they
definitely value our input.

My job is defined by travel, some stops are just longer than others.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, shoot me an email, I'd love to talk
with you about it.

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czbond
A lot of enterprise system integrators (eg: integrating big software products
together or into an enterprise's existing infrastructure) require travelling
programming consultants. Also, consultants focused on improving an enterprises
development process, and team.

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fredsanford
I have a small group of friends that work for big companies or consultants.
All of them in this group travel at least once a week, usually round-trip
(home<\-->work-site). The work-sites can change weekly to once every two
years.

This group of friends include HP, Oracle (formerly Siebel) and VMWare
employees/contractors. All of them that I talk to regularly dislike the travel
because of the big company horseshit that goes along with it. I've turned down
this work repeatedly because of the travel and the company crap associated
with it. Of the people I've talked to about it, only those with unstable or
shitty home-lives like the travel a majority of the time.

AFAIK, my friends that do not work for huge companies do not travel much
outside of conferences and the like.

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czbond
> only those with unstable or shitty home-lives like the travel a majority of
> the time.

I wouldn't go that far. If you're single, the travel is a hell of a lot of
fun. You usually have expense accounts and get to see parts of the world on
someone else's dime. I traveled 48 of 52 weeks a year for 6 years and loved
it. But my personality loves constant change. I liked being able to change
most of the people I worked with every month or so and solve new
organizational problems.

~~~
RogerL
Yes, it really depends on the person. By and large, though, I've observed that
your post's parent is correct - lousy home life, want to cheat, that sort of
thing. Living in a hotel is dreadful (IMO, of course), having none of your own
resources (I like playing guitar, woodworking, playing with my dogs, and so
on, none of which are particularly possible in a hotel) is draining, and I
don't really like endless rounds of bars and restaurants. So, a terrible life
from my point of view. The pluses - new cities, new people, etc., don't
compensate. I have a friend that travels all the time, and I'll get plaintive
emails about being in some hotel in some great city, such as Hong Kong, and he
has been working 15 hour days and crashing in his hotel room, while his wife
and kids and home and dog are half a planet away. I do not envy him.

To answer the OP: any kind of service/support role in the technical side can
give you lots of travel. Install this new server, or help clients get up to
speed, or debug this thingy onsite. But, be sure to figure out what this
entails: are you working 5 hours and then carousing in NYC (the vision), or
working 17 hour days in some dingy facility in the middle of Iowa? To make all
that plane flight + hotel + expenses + salary pay off, it's likely to lean
towards the latter.

I made a joke that is no joke to my gf from my hotel room a few weeks ago:
"you know those bar/restaurant/hotel travel scenes in 'House of Lies'? My trip
is exactly _not_ like that"

Which is not to dissuade you; plenty of people have great travel for work
experiences. It is just a suggestion to figure out exactly what you will be
getting, and to look inside yourself to figure out if it appeals to you.

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dyanisse
Developer evangelist. You travel to developer conferences, hackathons and
other events.

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tmoullet
ERP consulting and development. Think SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft, Dynamics AX.

