

Life of a Tech-nomad. - teemujin
https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/e8b4d21888a4

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ZirconCode
Sorry if I come of a bit harsh (personal bias, I'm aware), but here's my
input:

As someone who grew up in two different places (granted, they were strong
opposites), and as someone who knew many children whose parents moved a lot,
I'm warning you; It has a very negative effect on most children, loosing your
friends/peers and not being allowed to "invest" in them. As an adult you might
think, oh, well he can use Skype or e-mail then, and what's so bad about
making new friends. No. Eventually most of them stop making friends, or make
them very superficially. Your kids most likely won't have childhood friends,
friends they trust, nor close friends. And no, family (or you) is not a
substitute either.

> sacrificing the safety & comfort of a ‘normal life’ and just doing what it
> takes to make something happen

That's great as long as it's only your stuff you're sacrificing.

I do commend the bravery and spirit, but I'm strongly against including kids
in it.

~~~
xradionut
"That's great as long as it's only your stuff you're sacrificing."

My parents moved again and again then divorced and moved again and again. I
attended four different high schools and have no life-long childhood friends
nor a "hometown" nor many great memories of family. My siblings and I were the
casualties of their lifestyle and half of us are dead before 30. Our education
and many other advantages of a more stable life suffered.

~~~
teemujin
Sorry to hear that...

We moved at least every 5yrs - my dad was in the military... I also don't have
a hometown and went to plenty of different schools around the world. I don't
have any of the negative feelings about moving or not having a real
hometown... nor did I have any issues keeping friends long distance or
otherwise. Just to give you some perspective... not everyone has the same
experiences.

~~~
jcampbell1
I feel like moving with the military, or going to an American school in a
foreign country is less problematic than other situations. Starting at a new
High School in Norfolk VA is different from starting at a new High School in
St Louis. Going to college where you don't know anyone is not a problem
because everyone else is in the same boat. Military brats and expat kids are
much more receptive to new friends than their typical peers. If the new school
has plenty of them, the experience is likely not so bad.

~~~
teemujin
I think military kids are just taught to get over it - and not be
whiners...thats really my take. I went to plenty of 'offbase' public schools
where I was not only one of the 'few' military brats... but also completely
foreign ( I'm half-Asian - try doing that in the deep south? ). ;) Being
receptive is about learning to accept that shits changed and you either adapt
or turn into a hermit... its also about knowing that people are not that
different from each other - they just have different experiences of the
world... I accept people for who they are - not where they live or what they
do - or even for what the may not have experienced...and I usually find it
easy to make new friends.

------
cygwin98
_My “office” is a small corner of one of the bedrooms and consists of a 5yr
old MacbookPro with a broken fan._

I don't get this piece. If you're a developer, you should have the best
development gears you can afford. Why have it so miserable to make it more of
a punishment than a happy environment to work in.

~~~
kybernetyk
Hmm, besides the broken fan the machine is good enough for development work
under OS X. I have a 2009 MBP and only switched the hard drive for an SSD. It
runs XCode like a charm.

> If you're a developer, you should have the best development gears you can
> afford.

There's also the school of thought that you should be using the hardware
configuration you expect most users will be running and make sure your product
runs acceptable on it.

Giving the devs highly powered machines just removes them from what the
majority of users will experience. While most people still surf the web with
Core 2 Duo machines many webdevs have overpowered i7 rigs with gigabytes of
RAM. And that's why so many JavaScript loaded websites are unusable on
anything but the latest quadcore i7 systems nowdays.

~~~
cygwin98
_There 's also the school of thought that you should be using the hardware
configuration you expect most users will be running and make sure your product
runs acceptable on it._

This might have been true for desktop software development, but not in this
case. In the context of mobile apps, it's the testing devices might as well be
low-end ones, not the development machines.

~~~
kybernetyk
Are we talking about iOS now? I just replied to your

> If you're a developer, you should have the best development gears you can
> afford.

generalization.

~~~
teemujin
we do it all... mostly iOS / Android and Cloud based stuff though... its
interesting how people are worried about my set up... haha... I added those
details for drama...I guess it worked. My machine is old... but I can get
plenty of work done - and really its fine for Xcode and developing mobile apps
or doing cloud based development as well... its actually amazing how far these
machines can take you now a days....

~~~
stevenwei
I spent 2 years programming on a 13" Macbook Air while traveling...it was
doable, but I'm definitely a lot more productive now with a pair of 27"
monitors! (Still plugged into the MBA though.)

~~~
teemujin
:) yes big monitors are good! and more comfortable for sure... but I can't
really lug them with me thru the airports in Moscow...and I don't want to buy
one here and leave it to rot while Im gone... already have too much stuff in
storages.

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jakobe
Does it have to be like this? Is it not possible to lead a startup and work
normal hours (≤8) and spend time with your kids?

I'm torn between thinking I'm putting too little time in my software business
(solo developer), and thinking that I'm spending too little time with my
family.

I don't want to believe I need to sacrifice my family life to be successful.

~~~
jacquesm
> Is it not possible to lead a startup and work normal hours (≤8) and spend
> time with your kids?

Absolutely. The problem is that if you go head-to-head with people that _will_
go all out there is a chance that they'll be able to outgun you with a similar
sized team.

In practice there are ways to offset for that depending on the situation, for
instance, you could have more experience, better quality people you're working
with, an established track record and/or a better launchpad.

So it's not just a one-dimensional (time put in) problem.

~~~
teemujin
It also depends on the talents of the team and individual in question... I
don't want people to think I'm advocating they dump as many hours as I do into
things... I'm just saying thats been my personal way of attacking things.
Everyone is different - Im sure there are people out there who can put in way
less time and get better results for their needs... this is just what I happen
to be doing to make things work. I'm a bit extreme normally anyhow.

~~~
jacquesm
Be aware that this can be a trade-off too. It may be that you can burn fast
but burn short or that you could burn a lot longer if you pace yourself. If
you take off before you reach the end of that runway then good but if you run
out of energy before you've reached a plateau of some stability then you could
easily lose it all.

~~~
teemujin
Yes - Im aware of that... thanks for the reply...Im getting to the stage where
some balance is returning to my life...I plan to take advantage of that and
reduce the overload by building a bigger team to help me. ;)

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ironchef
While I admire the guys's perseverance, I can't help but have the reaction of
"wow that is selfish". If you're working that much (for that long) it sounds
like you have very little family life.

~~~
teemujin
Ouch...I actually spend more time with my family than I would if I was working
a regular 9-5. We are together since I work at my laptop near them. But yes I
am busy a lot... thats the point of the writing I guess.

~~~
ironchef
"Spending time" doesn't actually mean you're really present though does it?
Not trying to sound harsh, but it's something I've examined a lot in my family
relations as well. It reminds me of the dads at the playground who are having
conversations on their cell phones while their kids are trying to interact
with them. They're spending time with their kids, but are they "there"?

Thanks for writing though. I think too many people think success will happen
within the first year or so and don't realize there are often pivots and
things don't often go ... as planned.

~~~
teemujin
Yes you are right.. I am partially absent during my time with the kids.. there
but not all there. I wish I could tell you I was the picture perfect version
of a dad... but Im not - and to me being a dad is an everyday struggle to get
it right...but that being said - my version of whats right and yours are
probably very different...My dad was busy all the time too - he flew choppers
in the Army... he went on TDY ( long term duty ) / he worked over weekends (
MEDIVAC )... he was busy as hell and yea sometimes he was grouchy.... but
dammit he was a great dad..and I love the hell out of him...he was real with
me...always... he let me know that the world is not all pretty smelling roses
and sometimes you get your ass handed to you... maybe thats why I am the way I
am now? dunno.. I hope to teach my kids the same kind of survival skills my
parents taught me... do what you must do to survive and succeed on your own
terms... be a real person... strive to stay honest and seek what is good in
your heart. Thats all I'm doing here... if I've sacrificed being a 'great dad'
\- well... hopefully my wonderful kids and wife will forgive me for trying...
my goal is to get to a place where I do have much more freedom and time with
them...and I'd never trade the time Ive had with them thusfar... being an at
home dad... even if it meant laptop glued to my fingers... has not been all
that terrible in my pov. cheers.

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dodyg
I left my hometown in East Borneo when I was 13. I now live in Cairo, Egypt,
which is my 7th country. I started my company in 2003 back in Chicago. I just
got married to an Italian woman three months ago.

Bottom line: What's normal is not the same for everybody.

~~~
teemujin
:) exactly... thats part of what I was trying to convey as well by saying we
are "nomads" \-- a wandering family.. but that doesn't mean its all bad.
cheers.

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cpursley
Interesting. I'm married to a Russian devushka and work with a Russian
developer similar to the author. Also considering moving to Russia part-time
(black sea area) if my startup gains enough traction.

~~~
teemujin
If its just you and your wife - then I'd say take a chance! :) I actually
enjoy my time in Russia...We even have a guy working with us from Ukraine so
its a lot of cultural fun for me anyhow. ;)

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redbad
This article is riddled with misspellings, typos, and grammar errors. :(

~~~
teemujin
thanks...do you want to edit it for me? I suck at grammar and writing.

