Stories about people traveling around the world and working at the same time have been popular for about 15 years. As soon as a stable Internet appeared, companies slowly began to hire people without reference to their location. Some specialties are most suitable for this lifestyle. And being a programmer and generally working in the IT field is one of the best strategies for achieving this goal. In this article, we will talk about how to travel the world as a programmer. If you are not a programmer, but still work in IT, then we think you will also find it useful.
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So without further ado, let’s delve into some useful tips on how to travel the world as a programmer…
Check Visa Countries for Digital Nomad Accesses
Usually Far Eastern countries and Latin America were the most standard destinations for programmers and other IT specialists who want to travel and work. Most of these countries do not require any visas to stay even for a year, and have a low enough cost of living per month that can compensate for remote work in the IT field.
But recently, European countries have been actively joining such a program to attract IT specialists as Digital Nomad. And, if you want to live for a long time in Europe but need a visa for this, then take a closer look at this program. Even if you do not need a visa to visit these countries for a short time, you will most likely need a long-term residence permit to rent an apartment, use medical services, get car insurance, or buy some real estate on credit.
Digital Nomad programs invite people who have a certain level of income, which is far from the highest by IT company standards and allows them and their family to obtain a visa for one to three years. In the context of travel, this is a great opportunity to see European countries while continuing to work.
Choose The Countries in Adequate Time Zones
Of course, outside the context of remote work, there are no good or bad time zones. But when you’re choosing where to spend a significant part of your work year, think about how your main work time zone will intersect with the time zones of your clients and the headquarters of your company.
You will need to discuss operational issues either with the account managers of clients or with your PM specialist. Or give instructions to the team, and even if your company has adopted an asynchronous work system, then you need to interact with them for at least 3 to 4 hours of working time to efficiently resolve your issues, make any changes promptly, and do not slow down the overall process.
Of course, if you plan to leave your comfortable time zones for several weeks, then this is unlikely to greatly affect the results and quality of your work. But planning to work remotely so that you are out of contact with your clients and employees almost entirely during the workday is probably a bad idea. Only programmers who work on individual tasks in projects and release results weekly or bi-weekly can afford this. But there are quite a few such tasks, and anyway, to discuss them, you will then need to communicate with clients during some non-working hours.
Make a Work Travel Schedule in Advance
Many programmers complain that when they planned to travel and work around the world, they imagined their lives in a completely different way. They thought that they would have enough time to enjoy foreign cultures, go to different places of interest, and balance work and diving into new experiences.
But, most of the time they see a rented apartment or hotel room, sit on calls and sometimes go out to some local café to get a little feel for the flavor of the country. To avoid this problem a little, you need to objectively think about how much time per week you have for sightseeing.
You may even have to negotiate more flexible working hours with your employer. So, for example, traveling to see local attractions may require two full days, and it is better to leave on Friday. Try agreeing that you will work an hour longer during the week, but will work half a day on Friday. Then you will be able to see more.
How to Travel the World as a Programmer on a Budget
There is no one correct approach to how to plan the budget for such a trip. Someone plans to travel around the world for several years, but at the same time work so that they have enough money to support life in a new place, and so that they can see as much as possible. Then you don’t plan to save any money, you don’t plan on making any big purchases, you just pay for a few years of travel with the work you do.
If you plan to work from different countries for a long time, for example, over three years, then you still need to think about some savings, perhaps purchasing some real estate, or an emergency fund, which may be required to resolve health issues, visas, unexpected flights and the like.
And then you need to choose cheaper places to live or spend less money on entertainment, to get a balance between pleasure and strategic personal financial security. It all depends on your goals, your current financial situation, and the needs of you and your family. For more tips on budget issues for digital nomads – read this.
Wrapping Up
The situation of every programmer who wants to travel is unique since everyone has their own budget, salary, working hours, work areas, and vision of how they will work in another country. However, one of the pleasant bonuses when traveling to other countries is the opportunity to choose the most favorable place for you and your family to live. We hope our article will be useful to you and will convince you that as a programmer you have excellent opportunities to explore the world.
