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am a software engineering student who happens to be working in the industry already. I have a lot of traveling experience but I lack any work from home experience. I am currently considering an offer from a company who would have me work from home. my definition of home is wherever i can do my work and have an internet connection. so for example a coffee shop or a bus ect.

I have the travel bug quite hardcore right now. I was wondering how kosher it is to say book 2 week to Paris or Tokyo or wherever it may be, and sit outside a cafe or in a park and write code for an employer not based in that country. my house is located stateside but my home like I said before I feel is anywhere I have internet and a place I can do my work.

what is the typical vibe from employers, is there problems involved in this? have any of you done this before?

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  • If your company has a culture of expecting results and you get your work done, it shouldn't matter where you get it done.
    – Brian
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 22:04
  • Thanks for the info! basically I want to be working for 1 employer and work wherever I want to be. I would assume that if i get things done and do it well then there should be no worries if the employer is okay with me working while being out of country for a few weeks.
    – castaway2000
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 22:33
  • I do this very frequently: I live in Canada. My wife lives in the USA. Neither of our jobs requires continuous physical presence. So, for many weeks per year, I work, literally, from her office.
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 0:38

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This depends almost entirely on your company. However, there are a few reasons why a company happy to have you work at home may not be OK with having you work from anywhere:

  • Internet access. At home you can arrange a solid Internet connection pretty easily. Sitting on a park bench in Paris or on a bus in rural Laos, not so much. Also, a connection might suffice for downloading code, but not for (eg.) a decent-quality video conference.
  • Safety. What happens if your laptop gets stolen? Now you're offline and all the super-confidential info you had on your laptop is lost or, worse, sold to the highest bidder. Health insurance and getting sick is also a concern.
  • Ability to contact you. If you're always in different time zones, changing phone numbers, offline on planes or buses or whatever, the home office may have trouble getting in touch with you if something urgent crops up.
  • Legal issues. Paying people working in third countries on tourist visas is a bit iffy, although most of the onus falls squarely on you.

I'd start by proving you can get the job done at home, then work your way up to shorter or longer trips once you've proved yourself.

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  • Thank you, I really appreciate this response. it gives me some guidance on how to approach this with my employer. I am not planning on being hardcore nomadic just somewhere else for a short while. you get the answer for this
    – castaway2000
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 22:38
  • My company allows working from home as long as you guarantee availability. If for any reason I can't work from home I MUST go to the office. That could be difficult if you are on the other side of the world ;)
    – algiogia
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 10:53
  • I'd also add the minor consideration of time zones - if you're travelling long distance and will be more than a couple of hours out of sync with your normal office, will that cause any problems for your availability to the rest of the team?
    – Joe Lee-Moyet
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 13:08
  • @castaway2000 Legal issues is a big one for you, even if it's not necessarily a problem for your employer. If you intend to spend your time in another country writing code that you're being paid to produce, in a lot of countries you wouldn't be allowed to travel on a tourist visa or under a visa waiver scheme. If you still want to do it, and your company is okay with it, the travel.stackexchange.com site is a good place to find information on what visas you'd need. You could always lie to customs, of course, but that's probably not advisable.
    – Anthony Grist
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 15:02
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Companies differ, but I think most companies view working at home as an reasonable option because they have the expectation that you have established a reliable working environment at home. You should be able to work a full day(whatever that means) without risk of technical issues or significant interruptions.

So, while you are working in this cafe in Paris, how are you guaranteeing that you have a reliable internet connection, that the waiter isn't pushing you out because you've been holding a table for too long, that the mom with the screaming child won't interrupt your phone call?

In a nutshell, most companies assume that your work at home environment is as "workable" as your office environment, but just happens to be in your home.

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    Incidentally, my home office is more "workable" than the low-wall cubicle office with all the sales/project people talking and laughing loudly non-stop every day...
    – Juha Untinen
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 8:23
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My definition of home is wherever i can do my work and have an internet connection. so for example a coffee shop or a bus ect.

That may be a reasonable definition, or may not, but more important would be the definition your employer uses.

I was wondering how kosher it is to say book 2 week to Paris or Tokyo or wherever it may be, and sit outside a cafe or in a park and write code for an employer not based in that country. my house is located stateside but my home like I said before I feel is anywhere I have internet and a place I can do my work.

That isn't a definition of "home" that most people would use.

Perhaps the time zone differences wouldn't matter, and you would always have a reliable internet connection.

what is the typical vibe from employers, is there problems involved in this? have any of you done this before?

A trusted remote worker on my team had to move. His internet connection in his new house took longer than anticipated. He ended up working from a Starbucks.

He told me his plan ahead of time, and since he was a great worker, I approved the plan.

For you, since you aren't yet employed at this company, the only reasonable thing to do is ask ahead of time. You might get permission, or you might not. But wouldn't it be far better to know ahead of time, rather than assume one way or the other?

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    I agree with knowing a head of time but I was more interested in knowing issues that could arise in this situation. I think the first person put it best. "start by proving you can get the job done at home, then work your way up to shorter or longer trips once you've proved yourself." on the assumption that the company is okay with this situation. Thanks for all the input! I really appreciate it.
    – castaway2000
    Commented Feb 11, 2015 at 1:31

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