Why I Work Remotely

In short, it helps me balance.

I primarily work from my home base in Bozeman, MT, but I gain much inspiration from the flexibility to travel and grow my hobbies. I may string together several weekend trips with neither a reason to return home nor a reason to take several weeks off for the entire duration. My portable office setup fits in a single suitcase and allows me to work from cafes, friends’ homes, or any place my mobile hotspot allows.

With modern collaboration tools such as Tandem, Slack, Google Meet, and Teams, there simply is no technical reason to require everyone to be in the same location (or even time zone) at all times. And even a good VPN or remote desktop can overcome data security concerns.

Coding in the park on a beautiful Montana day.

Working while traveling does not decrease my productivity. If anything, it increases it. For me, fresh experiences—taken in moderation, and when my workload and funload are both in balance—provide inspiration and creativity to approach my work with new ideas and renewed motivation.

I do not mean to overstate how much travelling I do. Working from the road is a perk that I love, but much of the time, I am simply most comfortable working from the familiar surroundings of my home.

These are my preferences; I understand that others have different reasons for working remotely or have great reasons for preferring to work onsite. I have spent quite a bit of time discovering how to balance my priorities of work, travel, and hobbies. I understand the difference between working nomadically and taking a vacation, and I know that sometimes I must focus on work and will not be doing extracuriculars regardless of my location. I live in the 21st century, where the office need not be in a single location.