[kfrz]

I'm sort of in it now. It is a struggle to find a good routine, but when you do -- oh boy do I love waking up at 5:00 am to do a morning 3-hour hike in the mountains, come back for a killer second breakfast and slam into code-mode with the energy of Zeus, then spending evenings either working if I want, or doing things in town, meeting friends, exploring, etc...

That said, it's the most trying exercise in discipline I've had. I DO NOT miss my core-work block, noon-6pm every day no matter my geography or Internet connection. I can backup repos to my laptop and work from a tree if I have to, but I don't not work. I even work on weekends, but it's usually catchup or personal projects (a bit less stressful).

I think it's overall rewarding, and allows me to slow down time by experiencing more new things.

[lonnyk]

> oh boy do I love waking up at 5:00 am to do a morning 3-hour hike in the mountains, come back for a killer second breakfast and slam into code-mode with the energy of Zeus

If you're by chance in SLC LMK b/c I'll be there tomorrow morning starting that routine!

[sbrother]

Hey, I moved to SLC from CA last month and I'm pretty much doing this :) Although for me it's more work in the morning, and then run/climb/bike/hike in the afternoon. Do you mountain bike by any chance?

[kfrz]

I'm about 450 mi due East of SLC! We've got both sides of the range covered!

[kzisme]

How did you get into that sort of lifestyle exactly? Seems wonderful!

[kfrz]

It's not easy. I've been freelancing off-and-on as a web developer/hired code-hand for almost three years now, with the express goal of becming location-independent.

I still have debt (student loans, but no CC), so I keep my lifestyle expenses as low as possible. Exercise, good food, and near obsessive focus on the things I care about -- tracking data, writing code and improving my overall skills.

It took me two years of living at my parent's house, and in apartments with too many roommates while working jobs that weren't directly related to my new career, but since Jan 2016 I've been 100% independent, working in Ruby and PHP, as well as doing some dev ops. Every day is an adventure!

My advice? Keep pushing forward, keep your head over your heart, and keep your good friends close. Don't be a hero! If you're working too many hours to stay afloat, you're not making enough money per hour. Simple algebra. Keep yourself at least 10-12 hours of "personal time" a day, for sleep, relaxation, time to enjoy your slow food.

If you have family or other "tie-downs" I can't really help. I'm a free-bird.

[kzisme]

I just enjoy hearing that it is possible for this type of career. I just graduated in the spring and have been working full time writing C# (I enjoy it), but I wish I had time to work on my own things.

The daily routine of waking up, work, go home, sleep - gets dull after a few months.

[timmaah]

Get a remote job and take the leap.. What else is holding you back?

[burkaman]

Not all remote jobs will be open to you keeping constantly changing and non-standard hours, right? I think freelance and self-employment would be more suited to this lifestyle.

[SyneRyder]

That still perplexes me about "remote jobs", some employers still expect everyone to work synchronously. That seems to miss the point of having distributed workers.

I've done a few stints of 3 months nonstop on the road, and when I had an employer we typically had weekly & monthly milestones, and no Skype meetings. Our communication was asynchronous (email back then). They'd often ask for smaller things 'ASAP', but as long as everyone understands that could take up to 24hrs, it works fine.

[I would lean towards freelance & self-employment when doing this, though. My income was supplemented by products I sold myself online too.]

[burkaman]

The point for the employer is access to a much larger pool of potential hires. Lots of people don't want to commute or move for a job. It doesn't always make sense to require synchronous work, but I can understand why some employers want a virtual 9-5 presence, especially if there's already an established synchronous team.

[SyneRyder]

Aha! The part about widening the pool of hires makes sense. I didn't really understand why employers would want remote workers but then not then allow flexible hours. I missed that being able to hire outside your local area is a big upgrade for some businesses.

[humanrebar]

> That seems to miss the point of having distributed workers

Not wasting 5-10 hours per week in rush hour traffic is a pretty big perk, even if the working hours are pretty much set.

[kzisme]

I would think you are correct, but I suppose it depends on the arrangement as well.