How can a software developer become location independent?

Question

I have been playing with the idea of working from wherever I happen and want to be.

Every now and then there is a need to change the scenery. So far I have done that simply by finding a job and relocating from country to another inside Europe. Luckily, this is pretty straightforward inside EU for an IT professional with some experience. But still I go to the company office every working day except occasional days when I work from home. This then dictates my current location because commuting between countries is usually not feasible.

There are companies which have taken this further. At least Expat Software and Art & Logic are geographically distributed and have a virtual office. Traditional telecommuting is common but it usually requires an office visit every now and then.

So, in order to be able to be totally location independent I could:

• Become an entrepreneur running a MISV
• Start contracting and find clients without need of frequent meetings.
• Join a company that allows me to work remotely and covers traveling expenses in case I am needed in the office.

Other options? Any location-independent developers here?

Answer 1

You could also develop software products and online services where business is done via your website and you might never need to leave a sunny beach somewhere. Granted it will take more time to get established but its a nice way to do things.

Answer 2

Similar to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/214357/how-to-make-a-living-by-programming-from-home

Answer 3

I don't think it's possible to be completely location independent. I believe it's important to know people and maybe even more important is that people associate your name with something (maybe an old project or product).

I would recommend you to get your name out to the public - start a blog or something and work as a freelancer.

Answer 4

As Christoph said, there's no better thing that meeting people and being able to discuss things face to face. If you've been on a presentation skills, there's a rule that states that 70% of the presentation is down to how (e.g. body language) you deliver it. If your clients aren't close then communication can become a problem. Don't undersestimate what impact this will have on things like feedback. It's also a problem if you're in the UK but you have to support something in New Zealand: most of the problems will arise when you ought to be sleeping. This also then challenges your personal life too.

Answer 5

In any of the cases, you need the infraestucture to be able to work anywhere. So it's more feasible if you are working for a company and the company provides you everything (a VPN, conference calls service, repositories and task trackers accesibles everywhere...). If you work as a contractor, your mobility is always going to depend on your client infraestructure and the way they work.

And I think that you cannot expect to have few meetings, is very good for the projects to have frequent (once each couple of weeks at least) meetings face to face with the involved parts, what in this case means lots of flights :)

Answer 6

If the development process your company follow is very strong enough to give a feeling of 'very close team' then working location is irrelevant. I think Agile is giving that opportunity of tight tracking of what everybody is doing at a given moment.

Answer 7

Maybe I am looking for something totally different but I am a bit clueless so I need to poke around.

I think the discussion thread from tvanfosson's answer gave some ideas at least. Reputation of being able to deliver and established network of connections seem to be then the key factors.