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I currently work at one of the big 5 tech companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon), at the main campus as a software engineer. I was wondering if any nomads work remotely for said companies and how you came to that arrangement. Working for myself or moving to a smaller company that has mostly remote work seems less desirable than maintaining access to all the resources I have internal to my company.
Iโm just curious, did you end up nomading? Iโm working for The Big Blue and Iโm leaving home this December. Tell me about your experience 
I donโt work for a โBig 5โ, but currently work remotely as a Software Engineer for a Fortune 50 (and have experience at a very well known, non Big 5, SV tech firm). If youโre concerned about advancing your career, getting a โBig 5โ on your resume opens lots of doors. Not to mention, I find the work way more interesting than โyet another CRUD appโ, and the internal resources are definitely a plus.
My company is huge with lots of teams/departments. Some teams are way more amenable to remote work, others are a bit more conservativeโฆit all depends on the manager. The team I work on is about 70% remote. Because we arenโt based out of a tech hub city, and our work requires specialized engineers, we were forced to open our hiring pool to remote workers. It works really well most of the time, but some things are just better when everyoneโs in the same room. For these things, weโll plan to meet in a central location every couple months.
I like to settle in one place for a year, and then move, so it isnโt much of a problem for me, but it definitely cuts down on the places I can travel. Western Europe and South America are ok, but Asia/Australia are just too far to make this feasible. Still have lots of options though.
Iโd absolutely stay at your Big 5, but start talking to other managers/teams and try and find a team that embraces remote work, and then try and transfer there after youโve proved yourself on your current team. If that doesnโt lead anywhere, after a year or 2 at the Big 5, youโll honestly be able to chose any job you wantโฆjust search for remote jobs that sound interesting.
Thank you for this advice! Been a while since Iโve signed on here, but thereโs a lot of good insight here. Iโm probably gonna stick with working at my company for a year or two, because of the job options in the future that you mentioned. I just donโt want to miss an opportunity to be nomadic which is perhaps easier to do the earlier in my 20s that I am.
I worked for Amazon for 10yrs as a program manager. They offered a few remote positions (US based), but were not open to me hopping around to various countries. The biggest hurdles for them and most other large corporations isnโt management or HR, rather legal and tax. They canโt sponsor your work visa in a country they donโt operate in, nor would they want to open a tax nexus in that country.
For what itโs worth, Iโve been out of the Zon for a year now and still believe it was a great decision to work for myself.
I worked for Microsoft, but not remotely. In order to go remotely, I quit my job.
However, you donโt have to do it. As long as they let you work remotely, why would you quit?
I know a guy from Amazon who is working remotely. He made it happen by becoming irreplaceable. Heโs the key to the project his team is working on and guys know if he leaves they will be in trouble. Thatโs why they let him work remotely.
As Tim Ferriss suggests in โ4 hour work weekโ, talk with your manager and ask him to do a trial run of working remotely 4 days a week (or similar) for two weeks. Prove you can deliver more from home than from the office and ask for more freedom.
I know someone who worked for Google and worked remotely for months at a time or took several month sabbaticals to travel. He had been with Google for 5+ years, and I think these were measures his manager took to keep him from leaving.
In my opinion, youโre correct about the scale of problems in relation to remote work. There might be some jobs out there that allow for both remote work and the type of problems youโre looking to solve, but they are much rarer than what you can find working on premises.
I have a friend located in Brasov, Romania, Romanian wife and family, works for IBM in New York. Great lifestyle and transitioned organically. Must live like royalty here. Why wouldnโt you work for a large international remotely?
Iโm curious why it seems less desirable.
To put it simply, I get to work on problems at a scale that isnโt really achievable anywhere else. Where you measure users in billions, data in petabytes, etc. Access to internal research is also pretty nice to really stay on the cutting edge of whatโs happening in computer science. The only disadvantage is having to be in one place.
I fail to see how this is not compatible with working remotely. Does your โbig 5โ have poor security, or inadequate resources available for connecting remotely?
While I left the corporate world a while ago, I have done plenty of remote work for some of the biggest companies in the world, and had access to anything I wanted whenever I wanted it. My decade of doing such work showed me that the corporate types want you working under any possible condition, which = working remotely when youre sick. Thus, anything available to you in the office is available at home (except perhaps your favorite stapler).
BTW there are many tech companies much larger than those โbig 5โ, those just have the biggest branding towards millennialsโฆ
Also, staying on the โcutting edgeโ of computer science does not imply one must be some sort of company man. Technical nomadism is the cutting edge of computer science. Your own research is the cutting edge of computer science. Working on open source projects is the cutting edge of computer science. Dont let yourself get brainwashed by corporate culture.
Interesting. Itโs about personal preferences then because for me being mobile far outweighs any of that. Personally Iโve never met someone working remotely for any of those companies and Iโve been doing this for quite a while.
Yeah, I have been recently hired so I may stick around for a while, but becoming a digital nomad is very appealing. Might be worth giving up the stability one day.
Hi guys,
After the Netherlands, the Bay Area, Colorado and being on the van life for 8 months, I am now in Sedona, AZ with a few other digital nomads. We are sharing a home here and are wondering if there are more like minded people in the area.
We do a bunch of hikes and campouts in the northern of Arizona. If you would like to connect with us, please do so :)
Val
My fiancรฉe and I are most likely moving to NYC (maybe DC) in August, and as a technical startup co-founder I'd love to meet new people that are also into startups. Would joining a co-working space be worth the money to do this?
I work for a big tech company that has an office in NYC, but it's mainly sales so I wouldn't be able to meet others that are related to any of my 9-5 work or likely into tech.
If co-working spaces, post covid of course, aren't a good way to meet business starting people in a new city, what is?
Does anyone ever travel to any Islands like Bermuda, Barbados, Barbuda and St. Kitts & Nevis?
I am planning to travel to Mexico City next weekend and stay for 7-10 days there. I wonder if cafes, stores and other places like these work? And if cafes work, do they work as usual or only for take away&delivery? Will be very thankful if someone can help here.
I am new to working out of coworking spaces. My business entails a lot of video conferences. I haven't chosen a specific coworking space yet but generally, what are the potential solutions for this? I have a microphone and headphones but still fell like it may be inconsiderate to take the calls anywhere in the coworking space. For a solo person, what are some general solutions? Are there usually options to rent a private room by the hour with just enough room to set up my microphone and laptop? Sidenote: any coworking space recommendations in Florianapolis, Brazil would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Hi there, title says it all. Canadian nomad hoping to find the city/town in Portugal with great, consistent surfing, a solid coworking spot, and a fun group of young nomads. Please recommend!
Hey Nomads, would love to know any thoughts here.
Top of the list are currently Tenerife, Lagos/Ericeira (Portugal) & Malta??
Would love to know if anyone can vouch for these at this time of year.
Beautiful beach would be the dream. Basically European Bali! I'm sure something many of us are searching for.
Thanks a million. Much love.
Leo
I'm in need of a tax advisor who understands "our" typical situation. I'm all good on being legal on taxes at this point, but as I'm doing more investing and there's more compliance and KYC and such, it's getting more complicated to deal with this topic. Not living in my country of citizenship, company in another country, resident in yet another country, banking in a different country ... you know how it is, a pile of red flags.
Would be great to find a good tax advisor to sort things in a way that makes my situation as "explainable" and easily dealt with as possible. Any leads?
Hi guys ! hope you are doing well.
I would love to get your feedback regarding the best insurance for digital nomads. i'm traveling around Asia since 1 year and for next 4 or 5 years. Would love to buy an insurance to cover especially :
- health
- laptop, phone ...
- Flights
We are hoping to travel later this year and we will be working remotely - how do you ensure you get good WiFi in places such as in India where the signal isn't always great? Do you have any tips on where to go/ what equipment you have to get?
Transactional Attorney with a focus on US Immigration. Burnt out doing the law firm thing. Trying to leverage skill to get on this digital nomad tip. Love the traveling experience, hostels, seeing new places, new cocktails etc etc.
Hoping to see all the cool stuff people are working on while they live an extraordinary life.
My interest in DN lifestyle started when half of our company have been taking 1 month for remote work @ Ko Samui. It was truly cool but we observed quite some communication challenges. Communication seemed just โriskierโ when online.
What were your worst situations caused by misunderstanding while communicating online with your teammates? What do you do to avoid misunderstandings?
Hey Nomads!
Iโm looking for an international health insurance (no travel insurance) for my nomadic life. It should cover the basic services and at least be accepted in the EU (itโs ok if itโs not accepted in the US as Iโm aware they rarely are). Nice to have: enter into a contract online. Anyone got a good experience or a recommendation?
Thanks in advance!
Hello everyone! Iโm new here and probably this is a very newbie question, but it doesnโt leave my head.
How do you, nomads, pay your taxes? I mean, if youโre constantly traveling, how are you going to pay taxes for a certain country if you are going to stay there a short period of time?
Or do you return to your โoriginal countryโ and then pay them?
By the way, this forum has very nice cool formatting features! 
Hey guys, this was my first year as a Canadian nomad.
As far as I know of, Canadians donโt pay taxes if they do not live in the country for 6 months.
But Iโd like to talk to an accountant or someone who does Canadian taxes specifically for expats and nomads to get clear on the rules and for help on my return coming up.
Does anyone know someone who specializes in Canada who can help? Iโve seen plenty of US recommendations but none for us canucks.
Thanks guys!
I just landed as a n00b digital nomad in Mexico City, and I am wonderingโฆ Where are all the international digital nomads hiding around here? I have been to several coworking spaces (Selina etc.) only to find A LOT of local Mexican workers and businesses. Donโt get me wrong, that is all fine, but I was hoping to meet some international nomads! Any advice?
Thereโs been a lot of discussion on this recently.
Nomads usually stay in hostels, hotels and short-term apartments. But itโs all not very optimal.
Iโve heard people suggest getting funding and building a network of houses you can stay at for a subscription price (e.g. Bruno Haid is working on that).
I donโt want do physical stuff, so Iโm thinking of building a platform around making housing better for nomads.
What are the housing problems nomads face? And how can we solve them with products/services?
I vaguely remember hearing about such a service before, but Iโm drawing a blank on the name. Basically I left my tablet on a connecting flight in Europe, right before my main flight to Thailand. They have my tablet and are willing to ship it out for me, but people have warned me thereโs a big risk of it getting โlost in the mailโ if I ship something expensive like that to Thailand.
Iโm wondering if thereโs a service or community, where I can find a nomad whoโs in Europe/heading to Thailand soon, so I can have it shipped to them in Europe and pay them to ferry it down here for me? I met someone in Budapest a ways back who had built something for this type of use-case, but I canโt remember the name of it. Any help would be appreciated!
I have seen a lot of posts from different people across the world, but not even a single post from someone in India, who has been a nomad, either living within the country or traveling to another one.
Would definitely love to hear stories from such people. We are a couple traveling as social nomads who are trying to bridge the gap between the rural and urban societies in India. We have started out very humble and do not have much resources, so looking out for help from the community.
Ankit & Rishika
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