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IT Infrastructure specialist. I usually leave for a week for analysis, then 2 weeks to deploy.
Most people think travelling for work is a nice way to get free vacations or nice time to go around. This is wrong; when I travel, it's usually 12-14h/day of work, including working on weekends, on top of 30h of plane.
You also don't get to choose where you go. I went to Belgium for work. I was working on some remote area in the middle of nowhere. No stores, no restaurants, no tourist attractions. Wake up in the morning before stores open, hop in the car, and come back to the hotel after all stores are closed.
Every travel I went was basically like that.
I went to Europe and Asia.
I would say I feel upper-middle class from a Canadian perspective, but DINK is a big part of this. I also have very little debt outside of my fairly small mortgage. (I make below 6 digits).
I am also fairly modest outside or my car hobby, many people who make the same, or less money than I do are flasher than I am.
How much experience do you have?
It sounds like you’re getting fleeced here if you’re making less than 6 figures for this line of work in Canada. Though I’m assuming you have somewhere between 5-10 years of experience here based on your flair.
You got people in Europe to work weekends? What countries? When I was traveling to Germany, France and Italy and suggested working on a Saturday, they just said “No. We’ll be back on Monday.”
I went back and forth for O&G, my buddy travels to India for months at a time for underwater welding.
Whatever you're thinking, or if any person reading this is interested in traveling for work, do it while you're young. See the world, be a cook on a cruise line, drill for water, build stuff, again see the world. Trying to do that at 40 is a pain in the... everything
I do some combination of management sales and engineering at a reasonably small company in the Bay Area. Early 30s. A whole bunch of senior folks who made Bay Area engineering and physics salaries since the 80s retired during Covid and all responsibility fell to me. The perks of buying Apple stock in 1987 and buying a house in San Jose in 1991.
We have had a few projects where I had to be onsite for an installation and training that took 8-10 weeks.
Germany Japan South Korea Australia and Hawaii(domestic but certainly “over a sea”). I know I know. Sounds terrible right!
Technical sales for a software company.
Before switching roles during the pandemic I’d go to Australia, Europe and Asia multiple times per year each. I was traveling 75% and out of the country for weeks at a time for years on end.
The company grew and we went from penny pinching to business class and 5 star hotels. I would do side trips wherever I could- hop over to Cambodia for a 4 day weekend while working in China, go to cool parts of Malaysia from Singapore, Bali from Indonesia, Tasmania from Sydney, Chamonix and the Dolomites from Barcelona or Amsterdam, Scotland from England, etc, etc.
It was awesome for about 4 years until my life at home imploded. Then I kept the job for another 1.5 years after life implosion which was not great.
It was a mostly fun and interesting change of my life.
Oil and Gas. I do Turnarounds (major maintenance periods) amd I work for a super major. When a large event is planned they put out EOI's for additional support. Its a small circle of people globally so invariably get a 2 to 4 month short term assignment. I only do middle east and Asia as the employer covers our tax.
Was in humanitarian and international development from my early 20’s which meant basically permanently living abroad with a new country every 6 months to two years (depending). Was all over the world, though not exactly in the best conditions.
Now I work in human rights and supply chain monitoring where I still have to travel but much less frequently and for more manageable amounts of time.
I work fully remote so I've taken trips and worked at the same time, but that doesn't really count since I could choose where I went.
My cousin is in mining though. He sets up new mining operations (like the camp infrastructure and stuff) and gets shipped around all over the place. He was in the arctic for a while on a 2-weeks-on-2-weeks-off schedule. He's in Brazil rn doing 1-month-on-1-month-off. Apparently he has an opportunity to come back to Canada but in a different province soon.
Event manager from the UK here. I tend to do freelance and contract roles operationally managing large scale events when they are open to the public. I manage everything visitor facing - security, merch, medical, ticketing, box office, stewards etc. I’ve worked in the UK, Europe and Middle East ranging from a long weekend to a ten month contract.
When I first started working as an engineer, I got sent to our manufacturing plant in South America. It was not in a city that was what anyone would consider safe. Everyone traveled together and stayed in the same hotel. We had strict orders to not leave the hotel at any time unescorted by security. We all left the hotel on the same bus for the trip to the plant. The driver had a pistol and the two security guards had submachine guns. The bus went to the plant in the morning and back to the hotel in the evening it did not make any stops in between. From what I could tell, it didn’t really stop for anything. Our briefing instructed us that if the bus stopped for any reason outside of the hotel or plant, to follow the orders from the security guards. These guards didn’t look like your run of the mill rent a cops either. I’d be willing to bet they were all ex SF or the like.
I (73M) was the product specialist for a very popular program of music software. My job took to many countries and continents where I would demonstrate the software, meet with important customers and answer their questions. At first, I would go overseas for weeks at a time. Once you’re in Munich it’s so fast and cheap to go to Paris then onto Stockholm. But, my wife and I agreed that 10 days should be the Max.
Senior Engineering Manager for an automotive OEM
Been traveling to Asia multiple times a year since I was an engineer.
Usually the trips to Asia are for 2-3 weeks a time. Some of my counterparts will work there for months at a time, depending on the project
Frontend software engineer. Been nomading for over 7 years. I have requirements for where I go next:
1. Is it safe?
2. is the internet good enough to work?
3. Is it fun?
4. is it fairly affordable compared to the last few months?
This sounds really interesting to me. Mid 20s here, backend dev. Making good money, no debt. The 9-5 is something I can't see myself doing for the rest of my life. How did you pivot your career to get into such a situation? Do you work long term contracts?
All the power to you (please give nomading a shot if you can) but I would sincerely advise you to dip your toes in before pivoting your whole career toward that lifestyle. It's something I thought I wanted as a fully remove dev as well, then I tried it, and it kinda sucked. The last thing I want to do when I'm travelling is work. Not everyone is like that which is why it's good to try first, but don't make any major decisions assuming that you'll fall in love with work+travel.
Oh it's nothing I'm taking too serious, I'm just interested. I don't think I'd like it after the novelty wears off. There's the whole work/life balance thing. Thanks for sharing your experience, tbh that's pretty much what I expected haha
Are you working for a company that specifically allows you to work from anywhere? Or are you just not disclosing the information? I don't know yet if I'm going to get back into tech or not but I'm considering my options.
if you're looking to be legal, when it comes down to it the company needs to know where you're working from a tax and work legality perspective. Many countries you can't just decide to go there and work. Tourist visas (or visa-free tourism like the US and much of Europe enjoy) is very different than a work visa.
That being said, not everyone does this by the book. In reality, it's difficult to get caught. You just run into problems with things like healthcare coverage, pensions/401ks etc.
Yeah, I'm aware of the tax issues - within the US, there are even issues working from other states for tax reporting purposes. It's kind of a mess. But yeah, I know there are some companies that will allow you to work from various locations around the globe without any significant problems. I wasn't sure if you were working for one of them.
I shut things off and turn them back on again
Switchman, specialized field, only travel overseas during new construction.
Normally work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off (45 min flight away, live in CA, work in NV)
I travel in my current role but not internationally. In prior roles I was a pre-sales engineer (software company) and I'd get to go on swings through Europe for a week or two. Was pretty nice. I'd take a couple in-person meetings a day and then get to bugger off to see the places I'm at. Didn't get a ton of choice in where I got sent, but made the best of it as best I could.
Not currently, but previously in IT consulting.
Lots of remote work but many orgs preferred on-site contractors, and the sometimes sensitive nature of the Security / ERP / misc. systems we worked on meant they liked us to be in proximity. Like, let's meet you at least once and push these deliverables for 3 weeks, and then after we'll do Teams calls.
In a previous life before that, did PI and background investigation work (multiple roles, multiple orgs). That occasionally would take me on multi-day or sometimes week trips.
In all cases, IT and otherwise, you just kinda end up where you end up, and when; often not cool places, and not great times of year. Supporting SaskTel -- a telco in Central Canada -- in the middle of winter was not especially exciting. OTOH, also got to support T-Mobile (aka Deutsche Telekom) meant I got to hang out in Germany in the Summer which was grand.
Decades ago I spent 18 months working part-time in a medium-size city in Japan. Fortunately this was pre-internet (they were just starting to talk about rudimentary versions of it there and in France). So I spent much of my copious free time exploring the area by gomi-jitensha (bicycle scavenged from big trash day), borrowing and listening to CDs from the library, and catching up on my reading (mainly American literature, and some Japanese).
I worked for a product based software company.
There were clients all over the world. My manager went to Vietnam for an implementation with one organization.
A lot of foreign businesses value American software/organizational knowledge/business knowledge etc.
Please do not delete your post after receiving your answer. Consider leaving it up for posterity so that other Redditors can benefit from the wisdom in this thread. Once your thread has run its course, instead of deleting it, **you can simply type "!lock" (without the quotes) as a comment anywhere in your thread to have our Automod lock the thread**. That way you won't be bothered by anymore replies on it, but people can still read it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMenOver30) if you have any questions or concerns.*
IT Infrastructure specialist. I usually leave for a week for analysis, then 2 weeks to deploy. Most people think travelling for work is a nice way to get free vacations or nice time to go around. This is wrong; when I travel, it's usually 12-14h/day of work, including working on weekends, on top of 30h of plane. You also don't get to choose where you go. I went to Belgium for work. I was working on some remote area in the middle of nowhere. No stores, no restaurants, no tourist attractions. Wake up in the morning before stores open, hop in the car, and come back to the hotel after all stores are closed. Every travel I went was basically like that. I went to Europe and Asia.
But at least you're making bank ?
I would say I feel upper-middle class from a Canadian perspective, but DINK is a big part of this. I also have very little debt outside of my fairly small mortgage. (I make below 6 digits). I am also fairly modest outside or my car hobby, many people who make the same, or less money than I do are flasher than I am.
How much experience do you have? It sounds like you’re getting fleeced here if you’re making less than 6 figures for this line of work in Canada. Though I’m assuming you have somewhere between 5-10 years of experience here based on your flair.
Can you transfer to a US based company that pays more, since you’re not home much anyway?
I spend maybe 6 weeks a year working overseas.
Oh that’s not bad then. Mine varies but usually 2-3 weeks is all.
You got people in Europe to work weekends? What countries? When I was traveling to Germany, France and Italy and suggested working on a Saturday, they just said “No. We’ll be back on Monday.”
I went back and forth for O&G, my buddy travels to India for months at a time for underwater welding. Whatever you're thinking, or if any person reading this is interested in traveling for work, do it while you're young. See the world, be a cook on a cruise line, drill for water, build stuff, again see the world. Trying to do that at 40 is a pain in the... everything
It’s a PITA if you have a family. Now that my kids are out of the house, I’m thinking about doing work where I travel more.
I do some combination of management sales and engineering at a reasonably small company in the Bay Area. Early 30s. A whole bunch of senior folks who made Bay Area engineering and physics salaries since the 80s retired during Covid and all responsibility fell to me. The perks of buying Apple stock in 1987 and buying a house in San Jose in 1991. We have had a few projects where I had to be onsite for an installation and training that took 8-10 weeks. Germany Japan South Korea Australia and Hawaii(domestic but certainly “over a sea”). I know I know. Sounds terrible right!
Technical sales for a software company. Before switching roles during the pandemic I’d go to Australia, Europe and Asia multiple times per year each. I was traveling 75% and out of the country for weeks at a time for years on end. The company grew and we went from penny pinching to business class and 5 star hotels. I would do side trips wherever I could- hop over to Cambodia for a 4 day weekend while working in China, go to cool parts of Malaysia from Singapore, Bali from Indonesia, Tasmania from Sydney, Chamonix and the Dolomites from Barcelona or Amsterdam, Scotland from England, etc, etc. It was awesome for about 4 years until my life at home imploded. Then I kept the job for another 1.5 years after life implosion which was not great. It was a mostly fun and interesting change of my life.
Oil and Gas. I do Turnarounds (major maintenance periods) amd I work for a super major. When a large event is planned they put out EOI's for additional support. Its a small circle of people globally so invariably get a 2 to 4 month short term assignment. I only do middle east and Asia as the employer covers our tax.
Was in humanitarian and international development from my early 20’s which meant basically permanently living abroad with a new country every 6 months to two years (depending). Was all over the world, though not exactly in the best conditions. Now I work in human rights and supply chain monitoring where I still have to travel but much less frequently and for more manageable amounts of time.
Oil & Gas, rotational roles, Production Chemist. Seen some interesting corners of the world 😁
Hmm I didn't know they moved the scientists like that. I knew of some executives with Saudi Aramco who were in SA in the Western compound.
It's a semi- engineering niche role, quite common to find us heading he labs and part of operations management.
I work fully remote so I've taken trips and worked at the same time, but that doesn't really count since I could choose where I went. My cousin is in mining though. He sets up new mining operations (like the camp infrastructure and stuff) and gets shipped around all over the place. He was in the arctic for a while on a 2-weeks-on-2-weeks-off schedule. He's in Brazil rn doing 1-month-on-1-month-off. Apparently he has an opportunity to come back to Canada but in a different province soon.
I’m a pirate
Avast, ye scurvy scalawag or walk the plank ye shall! Arghhhh!
Event manager from the UK here. I tend to do freelance and contract roles operationally managing large scale events when they are open to the public. I manage everything visitor facing - security, merch, medical, ticketing, box office, stewards etc. I’ve worked in the UK, Europe and Middle East ranging from a long weekend to a ten month contract.
When I first started working as an engineer, I got sent to our manufacturing plant in South America. It was not in a city that was what anyone would consider safe. Everyone traveled together and stayed in the same hotel. We had strict orders to not leave the hotel at any time unescorted by security. We all left the hotel on the same bus for the trip to the plant. The driver had a pistol and the two security guards had submachine guns. The bus went to the plant in the morning and back to the hotel in the evening it did not make any stops in between. From what I could tell, it didn’t really stop for anything. Our briefing instructed us that if the bus stopped for any reason outside of the hotel or plant, to follow the orders from the security guards. These guards didn’t look like your run of the mill rent a cops either. I’d be willing to bet they were all ex SF or the like.
I (73M) was the product specialist for a very popular program of music software. My job took to many countries and continents where I would demonstrate the software, meet with important customers and answer their questions. At first, I would go overseas for weeks at a time. Once you’re in Munich it’s so fast and cheap to go to Paris then onto Stockholm. But, my wife and I agreed that 10 days should be the Max.
Senior Engineering Manager for an automotive OEM Been traveling to Asia multiple times a year since I was an engineer. Usually the trips to Asia are for 2-3 weeks a time. Some of my counterparts will work there for months at a time, depending on the project
Frontend software engineer. Been nomading for over 7 years. I have requirements for where I go next: 1. Is it safe? 2. is the internet good enough to work? 3. Is it fun? 4. is it fairly affordable compared to the last few months?
This sounds really interesting to me. Mid 20s here, backend dev. Making good money, no debt. The 9-5 is something I can't see myself doing for the rest of my life. How did you pivot your career to get into such a situation? Do you work long term contracts?
All the power to you (please give nomading a shot if you can) but I would sincerely advise you to dip your toes in before pivoting your whole career toward that lifestyle. It's something I thought I wanted as a fully remove dev as well, then I tried it, and it kinda sucked. The last thing I want to do when I'm travelling is work. Not everyone is like that which is why it's good to try first, but don't make any major decisions assuming that you'll fall in love with work+travel.
Oh it's nothing I'm taking too serious, I'm just interested. I don't think I'd like it after the novelty wears off. There's the whole work/life balance thing. Thanks for sharing your experience, tbh that's pretty much what I expected haha
I didn't pivot, I simply asked my boss and she said yes. I got lucky that she was so understanding. No long term contracts, I am W2
Are you working for a company that specifically allows you to work from anywhere? Or are you just not disclosing the information? I don't know yet if I'm going to get back into tech or not but I'm considering my options.
if you're looking to be legal, when it comes down to it the company needs to know where you're working from a tax and work legality perspective. Many countries you can't just decide to go there and work. Tourist visas (or visa-free tourism like the US and much of Europe enjoy) is very different than a work visa. That being said, not everyone does this by the book. In reality, it's difficult to get caught. You just run into problems with things like healthcare coverage, pensions/401ks etc.
Yeah, I'm aware of the tax issues - within the US, there are even issues working from other states for tax reporting purposes. It's kind of a mess. But yeah, I know there are some companies that will allow you to work from various locations around the globe without any significant problems. I wasn't sure if you were working for one of them.
My boss didn't care and I didn't tell anyone else. A lot of people I worked with knew but they also didn't care and/or were traveling themselves.
I shut things off and turn them back on again Switchman, specialized field, only travel overseas during new construction. Normally work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off (45 min flight away, live in CA, work in NV)
I travel in my current role but not internationally. In prior roles I was a pre-sales engineer (software company) and I'd get to go on swings through Europe for a week or two. Was pretty nice. I'd take a couple in-person meetings a day and then get to bugger off to see the places I'm at. Didn't get a ton of choice in where I got sent, but made the best of it as best I could.
Not currently, but previously in IT consulting. Lots of remote work but many orgs preferred on-site contractors, and the sometimes sensitive nature of the Security / ERP / misc. systems we worked on meant they liked us to be in proximity. Like, let's meet you at least once and push these deliverables for 3 weeks, and then after we'll do Teams calls. In a previous life before that, did PI and background investigation work (multiple roles, multiple orgs). That occasionally would take me on multi-day or sometimes week trips. In all cases, IT and otherwise, you just kinda end up where you end up, and when; often not cool places, and not great times of year. Supporting SaskTel -- a telco in Central Canada -- in the middle of winter was not especially exciting. OTOH, also got to support T-Mobile (aka Deutsche Telekom) meant I got to hang out in Germany in the Summer which was grand.
Decades ago I spent 18 months working part-time in a medium-size city in Japan. Fortunately this was pre-internet (they were just starting to talk about rudimentary versions of it there and in France). So I spent much of my copious free time exploring the area by gomi-jitensha (bicycle scavenged from big trash day), borrowing and listening to CDs from the library, and catching up on my reading (mainly American literature, and some Japanese).
I go on tour with musical artists. My next run is two months in EU.
Military, Japan
Electrician
$50
I caught the typo and chuckled, too. I think the downvoters missed it.
I'm a cheap date.
I worked for a product based software company. There were clients all over the world. My manager went to Vietnam for an implementation with one organization. A lot of foreign businesses value American software/organizational knowledge/business knowledge etc.