Ask HN: What startups enable international travel for employees?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5405168

by inquisitiveta • 13 years ago

1 1 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am a software engineer in the bay area and have been considering other potential options in terms of employer. One of my favorite things about start-ups is that they (can) give you exposure to experiences that are out of reach in a larger corporation. That being said, something I'm extremely interested in is international travel and would love for that to be enabled by my employer. What companies do you know of that offer this as a perk (if not job requirement)? An example would be a company that has foreign offices to which they fly you out for training, team building, etc.

johnfuller• 13 years ago

Start traveling now and then apply for work while you are abroad. Do freelance work while looking for employment to generate income to get you by while traveling. In some places, like S.E. Asia you can get by cheap enough that you may not have to do much work at all to stay even, depending on what your rates are, you truly could get by with a 4 hour work week. Freelancing is also great for generating leads which could turn into the sort of opportunity you are looking for.

Don't wait for the perfect situation. Start packing your bags and look for plane tickets today. My suggestion for a great place to start is the Philippines. You can buckle down in country for 16 months on a tourist visa before you need to do a visa run, English is an official language and flights to the surrounding countries are very cheap.

This is basically my story. I had plans on doing this, which I just kept pushing out farther and farther. I also barely had any savings, which is one of the reasons why I was pushing out my plans. Then one day my situation changed, I needed to find a new place to live and I received payment on a decent invoice. I really didn't want to find a new place to live in that city, so I used the invoice to buy a plane ticket, took care of the things I needed to take care of and left the country with just enough cash left over to take care of deposits for an apartment, utilities and probably less than a month (!) of regular expenses. As soon as I got into my apartment I went right to work and built up a bit of a cushion. I probably would never have made the jump if I didn't force myself to buy that ticket.

ETA: As a freelancer with a freelancer mindset, I never view any offer as true employment. With every long term gig I give myself a general milestone to achieve and then it's time to move on. I usually get a few offers for full time remote work every year without actively looking and then I uncover a few more with minimal ground work.If I set myself to seriously look then I would find a lot more. That's with agencies which do client work and the occasional start-up. So, the work is out there, you just have to plant the seeds.

Ask HN: What startups enable international travel for employees?

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