Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Anything to do with the traditional world of get a degree, get a job as well as its alternatives
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Star*Bucks
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Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:27 am
Location: California

Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Star*Bucks »

Hello,

I am looking for career advice on how to get into a job working remotely. My current situation is as follows:

I’m in my early 40’s and I work in a job that requires me to be physically there, I don’t have a degree or certifications, and I am not in the tech field. My current salary is just above the national average, but I work a ton of overtime (usually) to get myself above the 6 figure mark annually.

My current employer has it set up to where we can not contribute to a retirement account so my ability to save for retirement in a 401k is gone and I have been making too much money to contribute to an IRA. That means I’m paying WAY too much in taxes and not saving in an ideal way for retirement. I have zero debt and my monthly expenses currently come up to under $2,000 per month.

My goal was to be able to sell everything I own and travel full time on 18k per year or in other words $1,500 per month. I am at a SWR of 3.67% with my net worth being almost 490k now, but I do not feel comfortable pulling the trigger because most of those funds are not invested in the market. Lots of that money is in assets like my home, car, and a personal loan I gave to my brother so he could pay off his home. I also have other funds tied up in CD’s at pretty decent rates of over 3%. I do plan on going back into the stock market when the next recession/dip happens and as money frees up (when CD’s mature, sell my home & car, etc).

I say all that to give context. I have had a difficult life growing up absolutely broke and working from when I was first legally allowed to at 15 with a work permit from high school. I did not play sports and rarely got to go out with friends. Life was still ok until the 2008/2009 recession which almost destroyed me. I have since gone from a big financial hole to where I am at today.

I want to find a job that I can do remotely. Even if the pay isn’t great. I mean at the least $1,500 a month I would do it, but more is always better. The problem is every time I search online it’s nothing but schemes, scams, and just a bunch of lies. I actually spoke to one of the IT Guys at work and he said the CISSP certificate is better than a Masters Degree currently and I could get paid well if I got that. So I was excited to hear that. I came home and did some research and found out that I can’t even say that I’m CISSP certified even if I pass the exam until I get 4 years of experience under my belt.

Working remotely would give me the freedom to start traveling/living in other countries and checking off all the bucket list items that I have while still earning the strong US Dollar.

I thought I would reach out here and see if anyone has advice on what you would do in my situation to find a job which allowed me to work remotely. Not necessarily a work from home job which I know are plentiful now because those jobs require you to be in country and I want to leave the states. In an ideal world the job would have a 401k, ability to allow me to work remotely, and ongoing job training so I can pick up new skills to make me more invaluable to the company and marketable to other companies. I’m willing to go back to school, pick up new skills, and take exams.

Any advice is appreciated and welcomed.

Thanks

MeloTheMelon
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by MeloTheMelon »

Well, I guess IT is the obvious field for remote work, and with a pretty good pay you could probably get away with working part-time and still making the 1500$ per month.

The other upside is that usually projects are worth more in interviews than a degree, and there are loads of online tutorials, courses etc. that are free.
One good example is Harvard's introduction to computer science called CS50. The whole lecture, lab-exercises etc. are available for free online, you can go through it on your own pace, and if you want to you can pay for a certificate in the end.

I might be biased, but I think programming in general is a great skill to at least know the basics of. Other than the job options it will also allow you to get into a bunch of different hobbies, or help you with other projects, automating things etc.

A good starting point is probably reddit's /r/learnprogramming

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Are you in a field that would allow you to return to some semblance of your current job easily after a hiatus?

You have enough cash to bankroll a year or two of travel at those spending levels quite easily. The experience you will have traveling while working would be quite different than if you're not tied to a job. This is something I learned first hand over the past two years. When you're working while traveling, moving around becomes much trickier with a work schedule. The type of accommodation you may find acceptable will also change if you need a quiet space with good internet to work.

Have you thought about working along the way while traveling? Check out;
https://www.workaway.info/
https://www.coolworks.com/
https://wwoof.net/

These may provide you a more immersive experience and way to integrate into an area, while providing free/low cost lodging and meals. There is a good chance you may realize that you don't have to go back to traditional work at all.

The freedom of slow traveling without the responsibility of being on someone else's schedules/deadline was extremely freeing, but after 6+ months the lack of structure and challenge definitely had DW and I thinking about picking up some sort of gig while traveling. Covid cramped a bunch of the options we considered, but those should be opening up as the world normalizes a bit.

Star*Bucks
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Star*Bucks »

MeloTheMelon wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:48 am
One good example is Harvard's introduction to computer science called CS50. The whole lecture, lab-exercises etc. are available for free online, you can go through it on your own pace, and if you want to you can pay for a certificate in the end.

A good starting point is probably reddit's /r/learnprogramming
Thanks for that MeloTheMelon, the Free Harvard Online Courses sound very interesting. I will look into it as well as the reddit group.
2Birds1Stone wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 6:30 am
Are you in a field that would allow you to return to some semblance of your current job easily after a hiatus?


Hey 2Birds1Stone, my job would love to have me come back with open arms but the problem is I would lose my decade of seniority and start from square one again plus I do not like my job. I loved the job when I first got it after 2 full years of unemployment and 1 year working a job that paid only $10 a hour due to the recession. This job literally saved me, but now I know I really dislike it. I am not against leaving for 6 months and coming back and working for 6 months but I would prefer to be able to stay away if possible.

I love the idea of slow travel as well and I don't mind working 40 hours per week from a condo. I'm planning on staying in SE Asia which already had inexpensive condo rental prices but now due to the pandemic I'm sure the deals are exceptional. My normal work day would include a workout in the gym located in the building and my bucket list of different foods to try can be checked off daily. Then for my days off I will go visit the national parks or attend events etc. This will give the feeling of actually living in the country.

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Seppia
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Seppia »

I would second what 2b1s is saying about the couple years off.
Otherwise, you’re not very far from being completely free.
You should be saving a minimum of 36k per year.
That’s just 6 years away from a 2.5% SWR assuming zero returns on your current 490k.

Or, if you could find a way to make 500 usd a month (which you should be able to do with some part time minimum wage job almost anywhere in the civilized world) you’d be there already.

Scott 2
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Scott 2 »

I think you can use the SSCP as a feeder into CISSP. Security and audit work though... It's mostly meaningless checklists and powerless nagging, especially at junior levels. Our team members were always on site and the auditors often travelled to us for days at a time.

What type of work do you want to do? "I'll do anything, so long as I can be anywhere" makes someone sound desperate, unskilled and unreliable. It also puts you in competition with the dregs of the international labor market. There's a reason call centers are outsourced to impoverished English speaking countries.

Could you parlay your experience into a project management, business analyst, or QA type role? Often those have a low technical bar of entry, but build on skills you may already have. IE - Relationship, logical thinking, high tolerance for tedium, etc.

What about an on premise job in a wealthy Asian city, like Hong Kong? Then you'd be close enough to travel nearby, while staying in a financially competitive labor market.

Star*Bucks
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Star*Bucks »

Seppia wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:24 am
I would second what 2b1s is saying about the couple years off.
Otherwise, you’re not very far from being completely free.
You should be saving a minimum of 36k per year.
That’s just 6 years away from a 2.5% SWR assuming zero returns on your current 490k.

Or, if you could find a way to make 500 usd a month (which you should be able to do with some part time minimum wage job almost anywhere in the civilized world) you’d be there already.
Thanks Seppia, 36k a year would be really easy to do. Below is my historical increases in net worth since I began to keep track.

Historical Annual Progress
2014’s NetWorth Increase $24,786
2015’s NetWorth Increase $43,912
2016’s NetWorth Increase $76,342
2017’s NetWorth Increase $68,122
2018’s NetWorth Increase $70,282
2019’s NetWorth Increase $42,274
2020’s NetWorth Increase $31,296

2019 & 2020 were completely dragged down by me having to pay the IRS a ton of money. It's a long story and I will not go into it here. I found out one of my closest friends had past away and lately I've been feeling the ever presence of my limited time on earth. I'm guessing that is why my desire to get going is magnified now. I don't make rush decisions though and I have worked too hard to leave myself in a vulnerable position.

My other option which I have considered is getting another full time job here and keeping my current job as a weekends only type of gig. The new job will hopefully have very good benefits and allow me to save for retirement and avoid taxes. That way my net worth can grow at a faster pace. Maybe I can do that for 3 more years and really retire in my mid 40's.
Scott 2 wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:47 am
What about an on premise job in a wealthy Asian city, like Hong Kong? Then you'd be close enough to travel nearby, while staying in a financially competitive labor market.
Now that is not a bad idea. I actually have skills which are in demand but in places like the Middle East and places I really don't want to go to. But I haven't looked closely at South Korea which may work as well. I'll look around. If I could have it my way though I would work from my laptop that way I wouldn't be tied to any location which would be the case if I accepted a job in another country.

Dream of Freedom
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Dream of Freedom »

Maybe start a YouTube channel or 2. You have to get a certain amount of subscribers to monetize ads, but you can have an Amazon store linked in the description, sell teespring merch, and have a patrion right away.

There might be some room in the movie critic niche as there really only seems to be a couple of people doing it on YouTube.

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Seppia
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Seppia »

Scott 2 wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:47 am
What about an on premise job in a wealthy Asian city, like Hong Kong? Then you'd be close enough to travel nearby, while staying in a financially competitive labor market.
Working an on premise job in HK seems like a terrible idea to me.
You’d be competing with a lot of unskilled labor in a very lightly regulated environment and ridiculously high real estate prices.

Most bartenders in HK either live with their parents or rent a 40-50sqf “room” in a subdivided flat.

Hard pass

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Seppia
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Seppia »

Star*Bucks wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:28 am
But I haven't looked closely at South Korea which may work as well.
South Korea is a nice country and I LOVE being there (especially Pusan) but extremely expat-unfriendly.

- Most Koreans speak no English (even educated ones)
- There’s very few immigrants and the few are either American military, very well paid executives or third world country desperate people. This to say you’ll have few chances to find peers as a middle class random guy/gal
- after Japan and China, korea has the most racist population I know of
- weather in Seoul sucks: very cold winters (-20C), super hot and humid summers (+37C)

Positives:
- food is great
- incredibly innovative and culturally active place (think 80’s japan)
- everything works
- safe

macg
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by macg »

These have been mentioned before, but I will add my +1 to them....

IT likely has the highest % of remote workers. To jump into remote IT, there are two paths I would recommend looking into (or both).

First would be "transferrable skills" jobs, like QA, Project Management, Client Solution Consultants, etc. Jobs that you can do because you have done similar things before in other jobs.

Second would be programming. If you like programming - or, if you have never tried it, if you like logic - then just jump into the learning. I'd recommend Python to start, it's the most widely used right now, I believe, and you can always learn more languages as needed. Programming allows you to either find a company that you can specifically work for, or to be a contractor. this might tie-in with the thoughts of only working part-time...

Obviously there are a million other ways to get into IT, I am just highlighting these two because they are probably the simplest in your case.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Seppia wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:24 am
You should be saving a minimum of 36k per year.
That’s just 6 years away from a 2.5% SWR assuming zero returns on your current 490k.
How do you arrive at 36k a year?

The answer doesn't have to be 2.5% or 3.67%, there is a huge area in-between.

I would just suck it up for a little while longer until you feel the pull/push a bit more. If you get back to doing OT, you can drop that WR down to the 3-3.3% range within 12-18 months.

The work-while-traveling bit for some housing/food, 3-6 months out of the year would be my play in your shoes. If you use a 2-3% WR, your assets should grow on their own to get to a sustainable WR.

My shoes are very similar to yours, I was teetering with FI @ 3-3.5% WR and got married, which changed the numbers drastically. Now we're sitting at a ~5% WR combined......I don't see myself being able to pull off more than another 2 years of career type work.

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Seppia
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Seppia »

He said he “gets to six figures” (so I’m figuring that’s closer to 100k than 200k) and spends 2k per month

So I calculated roughly
100k salary
40% tax
24k expenses

Voilà

The 2.5% is for someone in the USA who wants to be safe, and closer to a reasonable target in Europe at today’s valuations.

In Italy it’s 24% tax on dividends (30% in France, Germany, Switzerland), plus American companies dividends get an additional 30% tax on dividends from the US government (15% if you own through an ETF), plus we have no 401k equivalent, PLUS we get a yearly tax of 0.2% of assets.

All in all it can add up to a 0.5-0.8% drag on investments in Europe Vs the USA which is huge.
You have no idea how great you have it there.


LiberateMind
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by LiberateMind »

I would second IT, as it has easy to acquire skills and lots of flexibility. Before spending time on acquiring the skills, look into the jobs, freelance jobs (Upwork, fiverr.. etc., ) internships , boot camps that should give you a good idea of where to spend your time.

Checkout boot camps with income-sharing agreements as well (https://www.meratas.com/blog/where-to-f ... -education). IT opportunities in the company where you are already working is a good bet. You can transfer from there to remote jobs once you have some experience under the belt. Go for generic skills if you want flexibility and for specialist ones if you want high pay. Work from home is going to be a norm in future especially for IT sector.
One good example is Harvard's introduction to computer science called CS50
+1 on this suggestion by MeloTheMelon

chrisreads
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by chrisreads »

I switched to IT back in the fall and got an IT support job working remotely but it wasn't a job I could have traveled with. They sent me a desktop computer and it only worked with a wired connection. I also had to agree to have a certain Internet speed and a quiet environment. IT is a broad field and I'm sure there are plenty of jobs that could have been done from a coffee shop but just something to keep in mind if you do decide to go the IT route.

Another thing to consider is that everyone seems to want to travel now. RV, boat, and even cargo van sales are through the roof and prices are higher than they've ever been. My guess is that in a year or two, all of the people that bought these things will have realized how much work they are and they'll be looking to unload them. If you can stick with the job you have until then you could probably pick something up to travel the country in at a big discount and maybe just do some part-time gigs on Upwork or something to support yourself. Also, remember that some foreign countries aren't accepting travelers right now so foreign travel could be difficult.

On the other hand, life's short and something could happen over the next two years that keeps you from ever being able to travel so if you're really unhappy then go for it. $1,500.00 a month of freelance writing jobs wouldn't be too hard to come by. You could do them overseas and you wouldn't have to worry about matching up with a U.S. company's time zone.

white belt
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by white belt »

Star*Bucks wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:23 am
I want to find a job that I can do remotely. Even if the pay isn’t great. I mean at the least $1,500 a month I would do it, but more is always better. The problem is every time I search online it’s nothing but schemes, scams, and just a bunch of lies. I actually spoke to one of the IT Guys at work and he said the CISSP certificate is better than a Masters Degree currently and I could get paid well if I got that. So I was excited to hear that. I came home and did some research and found out that I can’t even say that I’m CISSP certified even if I pass the exam until I get 4 years of experience under my belt.
CISSP is a mid/senior level IT management certification, so not something that is useful to get your foot in the door in an entirely new career field and also usually not a role that can be done remotely. My best advice is to look at job listings and see what kind of certifications they are asking for (common entry level certs that come to mind are Security+ and CCNA). IT help desk support is a common entry level position and there should be some remote work opportunities. Your best best is to continue to talk to people you know in the field to get a way forward, earn certification if necessary, and start applying to jobs.

chrisreads wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:50 am
$1,500.00 a month of freelance writing jobs wouldn't be too hard to come by. You could do them overseas and you wouldn't have to worry about matching up with a U.S. company's time zone.
Do you have any evidence for this? I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that the competition is probably pretty fierce for people looking to make $1500 a month on freelance writing gigs. The US is full of underemployed liberal arts graduates who are trying to live such a lifestyle.

chrisreads
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by chrisreads »

It definitely is a race to the bottom price-wise but I've done more than that a month before and I do about $1,200 a month now and could definitely get more if I needed it. There are a lot of writers out there but there are also a ton of people who want to get rich making blogs without having to do any of the writing. Find a few people who want weekly content written for their blogs and you have yourself some work that you don't have to regularly hunt for.

The only issue I personally run into is that I get burned out pretty quick so I can't write 10,000 words a day as some other writers can. I can't even write 5,000 a day for more than a few months without getting burned out. I also don't have any high-paying specialized knowledge so my rate is only 5 cents a word. If you can get 10 cents a word writing articles on fin-tech or law then you could write 2,000 words a day and still make an average income. It is harder to find higher-paying work though.

On the other hand, when I wrote articles for 2 cents a word a year ago the sky was the limit for how much work people were offering me but it wouldn't have been worth writing all day just to make a below-average income. It might have been different though if I weren't living next to a major U.S. city.

I'm seeing most people offering 3 cents a word for U.S. writers now. That would be 50,000 words a month, which would be less than an 8-hour workday if you wrote every weekday. If $1,500 is enough to make his dream of traveling and working remotely come true and he doesn't mind writing, it could be worth it.

Salathor
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Re: Help Getting A Job Working Remotely

Post by Salathor »

chrisreads wrote:
Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:54 pm
Where/how did you find these $0.05/word writing gigs, and what qualifications did you advertise to get them? My wife makes ~$0.40 per word, but she's doing a pretty specific type of business writing that I don't think I can duplicate, but some remote writing work as a side gig has interested me before.

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