[itake]

I worked at a small startup as the only senior back end engineer.

I bought my plane tickets to Asia for a 6 week trip and I told my boss 2 weeks before my trip that I wasn't happy living in the bay area. I loved my job, but I wanted to live anywhere else.

Rather than fire me / have me quit, he let me start working remotely keeping California time.

[chrisan]

Similar story for me, only my wife accepted a new job outside California back in 2008.

I was in a small place, we both liked each other, and I simply explained my situation. Been remote every since

[pjc50]

This is probably the easiest one, although it only works for small companies: if you're both indispensable and likeable, you can get a lot simply by asking nicely with the very distant implication that you might leave if you don't get what you want.

(Of course, someone will cite "The graveyards are full of indispensable men"..)

[pthreadses]

This was essentially my route as well. My wife got a two year postdoc position in Germany. I actually gave them over a month of notice, since I had a rather unique position and I knew they had trouble hiring me. After a few weeks my boss confessed they weren’t sure what they were going to do, and I actually hadn’t put any thought into finding a new job, so we agreed on me doing remote.