

Do any software development people here work from really remote locations? - irishmanirl

I was just reading about of the most remote spots on the planet that is inhabited, Pitcairn island in the south pacific, only has 50 people living on the whole island.<p>Personally I have always envisioned living somewhere remote, like this, on a small island, up the mountains or in a lighthouse - well away from other people, ideally somewhere with a moat &#38; drawbridge.....well maybe the drawbridge is a bit far...but I want the moat! :-)<p>I'm a software engineer (Ruby) so in theory at least as long as I have a reliable internet connection I should be able to work from almost anywhere.<p>Just wondering if there is anyone here who lives / works from such a remote location &#38; what their experience has been like?
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eengstrom
Meaning remote enough to have at least two methods of connectivity? Yes.
Constantly. Even used my early windows smart phone to run performance tests
through HP's performance center while on vacation in Paris (no ide, only web
controls).

Being remote can be very hard for most people. It took about a year before I
was able to handle discrete paid work and personal life. As a self-employed
consultant, I learned some very valuable tricks and techniques for being
highly productive.

Test yourself for a at least half a year if you can before deciding on
something like this. As mentioned, stepping out of your normal social life in
addition to changing work (where many of us socialize) is a really hard
adjustment to make.

Without changing work habits, preventing procrastination and finding a sense
of accomplishment without physical direction and feedback most people will
fail miserably.

For remote and travel related work:

1\. Always have a spare power supply and uninterrupted source 2\. Always have
at least TWO methods of connection, even if 1 is dial-up, test it frequently -
know where your nearest source of reliable internectivity is and how long you
need to get there 3\. Your customer and employer will only accept
internectivity issue problems as an excuse once - after that they won't trust
you, which will limit your options and may end your remote work, making it
worse for everyone else 4\. Create office hours and keep them, regardless of
time zone, at first try and match your co-workers when possible - for the
first 3 to 6 months, treat your personal life the same as you would in an
office - don't stop work to do laundry or go shopping "just because you're
home" - especially if partnered with someone who "has a real job"...

When I got started I found it most useful to spring out of bed, start-up the
computers, feed the cats, make coffee, get into sweats and get to work. I
stopped for a shower and lunch and shifted gears. Over time my day ended up
being over by 2PM wherever I was, getting more work done than I ever had in an
office, being more creative and still have time in my day to solve problems,
question the universe, garden, learn cooking and French... and excel in life.

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randombit
I'm not quite on Pitcairn Island, but I live and work in rural Vermont, and by
far the biggest problem with it is precisely the lack of a reliable internet
connection. Right now for me, the only viable option is satellite, which is
horrible (225 MiB/day download cap, 800 ms ping times). I'm currently
investigating a T1 line, which will be expensive, but (slightly) cheaper than
renting an office in an area with DSL access. (Moral of the story here is
clearly to not fall in love with a girl who owns a house on the end of a dirt
road...) I'm sure many (though certainly not all) other remote locations are
as bad; so don't make assumptions on that before you pull the trigger on a
specific area.

Another factor of living in the middle of nowhere, especially after living in
DC and NYC, is the technical/social isolation is pretty intense. I'm about 10
miles from Dartmouth, and there is small tech culture there, but it's not like
there are monthly Lisp or Scala or security meetups. Or even a student ACM
chapter, for that matter. No matter how you slice it, it's hard to replace
quality in-person interactions with online. IRC and mailing lists are great
and useful things, but being able to hang out drinking coffee with someone
while you sketch out ideas in a notebook is pretty damn important too. (There
are plenty of interesting people out here, but most programmers, especially
the good ones, will of course gravitate to urban areas, so the population of
tech people out here is near zero).

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sagacity
>Personally I have always envisioned living somewhere remote, like this, on a
small island, up the mountains or in a lighthouse -

(Even at the risk of sounding childish, I say) Me too!!

And you know what? At 48, I think that day is fast approaching for me. :-)

In the past decade or so, I've pulled a few (short, days/weeks) stints at it
and just loved it. Some of the remote locations from where I've conducted
various business activities online:

* Various Himalayan retreats (in India and Nepal)

* Cruise ship sailing between Singapore and Malaysia

* A port town of Nigeria

* Beach resorts in Goa and Mauritius

* Cruise ship on Nile (Egypt)

Although I enjoyed working from all of those places thoroughly, my personal
destination of choice is the Himalayas; waiting for the day.

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nudge
I don't know about isolated spots, but there are at least a few people on hn
who travel the world while running their startups. Lionhearted
(www.sebastianmarshall.com) is one.

