Leaving my 9-5 programming job and moving to a desk-free, “digital nomad” lifestyle has been the most amazing journey of my life. I’ve had the chance to take in new experiences, meet new people, and see some pretty amazing things, but it wouldn’t be possible if I wasn’t in front of the computer now and then, looking for projects and plugging away at a bit of code.
But having to put in some hours here and there doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Ever since I’ve gone mobile, I’ve had the chance to write, edit and debug code in some crazy places. Here’s my list of the craziest (and most awesome) places I’ve worked remotely so far.
Times Square
Often referred to as “The Crossroads of the World” and even the “Center of the Universe,” Times Square in New York is as close to the heartbeat of the world as you can get. Everything around you is buzzing and moving and unceasing. There’s life and color and sound everywhere you go. It’s really a massive assault on the senses.
You may wonder how anyone can focus at all in a spot like this, and the truth was that I wasn’t really fully invested in what I was doing at the time. I had a client I wrote a WP plug-in for email me (no matter where I am, I try to get emails pushed to my phone in case of disasters). Basically, he upgraded to 3.0 without consulting anyone, and the plug-in totally snapped. I had the laptop with me, so I just headed to the McDondald’s and cashed in on the free wifi, grabbed some fries and set to it.
An Ocean View Room in the Bahamas
OK, I’m admittedly trying to make you a bit jealous with this one, but one time, I took on a project developing a shopping cart widget for an e-commerce site during my trip around the Caribbean. I was traveling in the off-season, so I got an amazing deal at a room with an ocean view at a pretty decent hotel.
The one thing I worry about the most is “will there be wifi?” I was pretty pleased with the speed connection at the Best Western, and the room service was pretty decent too. I took a brief break from the screen to hang out on my balcony and watch the sunset. Highly recommended.
The “Chunnel”
After the long-haul to the UK, I wasn’t really in a hurry to get on another plane straight away. England was great and all, but there’s a big world to see, and I wanted to check out the Eurostar connection from London to Paris. In case you didn’t know, it heads down the tunnel underneath the freakin English Channel called “The Chunnel.” Come to think of it, it might just be me that calls it that.
Anyway, I had a client wanting a bigger job doing- I was in a team of people working through E-lance to build a database for his warehouse, and I thought I’d kill the time using the paid wifi on the Eurostar. I figured there wouldn’t be much of a view going along the ocean floor in a tunnel, and I was right- though I was a bit distracted once we surfaced near Calais!
So there you have it! There were lots more interesting places I’ve worked before, but those were some of my favorites so far. I think I still have some crazy ambitions to take my laptop on the back of an elephant or in a touk touk in India for the next part of the trip, so I’ll keep you posted!