Category: freerangeprogrammer

Use the economic forces, Luke

Economic forces making previous way of life less attractive

Increased rents and real estate prices

Diminishing opportunities for creative career fulfillment for older tech workers

The commute traffic

Economic forces which make a nomadic way of life more attractive

Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare)

Telecommuting work opportunities

Airbnb allows more opportunity for travel or more semi-permanent rental

Uber and various ride rental systems replace the need for a car

Free or very cheap rent

Motorhome vehicle prices are relatively fixed nationwide and do not suffer the inflation of bay area real estate prices

Stronger US dollar vs. foreign currency (makes staying in other countries cheaper than staying in the Bay Area)

Other technological advances which make a tech nomad way of life possible

Cellular tethered wifi connection

Skype/Google Hangouts, github, cloud-based productivity tools

Solar power

Cheap gas/diesel due to fracking

Free Wifi at libraries, McDonald’s, and various other commercial places

Where we’re going we don’t need…

Overpriced San Francisco rents to earn a chance at a “unicorn” mobile/web startup run by 20-something hotshots with no previous history.

To be caught up in the inevitable bursting of the tech bubble once again.

To work super-long hours for no equity.

To study Big O notation so that I can pass programmer tests at a tech interview.

A lot of money since we’re reducing our expenses to match our income.

In place of all of that we have new experiences and gain so much more.

The luxury of time to spend with friends

Freedom of expression through self-motivated work projects

An adventurous, can-do spirit.

Learning and adaptability.

An open mind to new experiences and different cultures.

The ability to dictate how I live my life and spend my time rather than have all of those constraints dictated to me by responsibilities on whatever project I happen to be working on.

Financial freedom to lift a light anchor and drop it anywhere else in the world.

Bravery in trying to do something that could be considered throwing money away if I have the opportunity to make money, but decline to do so.

 

2015 – Where we’re going we don’t need…

2015 – Where we’re going we don’t need…

…a lot of things. But we do need roads.

Doc Brown came from the future, and now that future has come to us. And although Doc Brown had flying cars, Mr. Fusion and a world series winning Cubs team in his future, we in our future have a great many things that Doc Brown and his writers could not have envisioned. Those things have been thrust upon us so quickly that we have yet to process and adjust to the tidal wave of technological change.

Soon, will come the inevitable social change that stumbles behind technological change. No one really knows or plans the following social change. And so our society and culture meanders unplanned and unguided behind technological innovation like a drunken tech worker on Friday night stumbling towards the glow of his iPhone as Siri tries to guide him to his Uber ride.

One small social change is little ol’ me and what I’m now doing— wandering and existing as a tech nomad, roamin’ homeless, free-range programmer, cybergypsy, wifi surfer, or middle age crisis guy. Various changes have nudged me in that direction. Some forces are facilitating, others are powerful economic forces beyond my control. Let’s examine some of those forces which have nudged me in this direction. Will these forces affect others in the exact same way? I’m not sure, but I think it might because many of the forces are economic in nature.

I will touch on these subjects again here and there later and offer more tangible insights as they occur. But for those who are interested in this adventure or those who may inevitably follow due to social and economic forces of their own, this serves as a starting point of my assumptions and motivations. Things may not work out at planned, but that is why they call this sort of thing an “adventure”.

Join me on this adventure, and I will do my best to keep you entertained, informed, and thinking about your own life’s priorities and opportunities. I’m off to try new things and will report back here periodically with the results.

Ming