Thanks! Absolutely awesome tool. Could do almost all of the charts & metrics I need. I couldn't figure out how to do a chart that shows me the SUMs of something per day and per category. Also number "questions" in the dashboard could benefit from better styling (maybe center horizontally/vertically).
European mobile payment provider, but unlike the rest who are credit card based we support "normal" bank accounts, resulting in very low fees for merchants. We are well-funded and have traction in our country. Most of the brick and mortar businesses are integrated with us, and have large banks as partners.
Technology-wise we use simple and straight-forward frameworks and tools as dropwizard, hibernate, postgresql for internal and external APIs. JRuby and Rails for web portals and internal tools. We consume and provide a lot of APIs that come in all forms and shapes from soap, rest, files sent over FTP, etc.
You have strong skills in Java 7 or 8, write solid, robust and well-tested code. You are not afraid to jump into legacy code and refactor it if necessary. You prefer boring technology over the shiny new, and your implementation typically simplest way that works. At the current stage of the company you need to be self-motivated and find the work by yourself. Ideally you are also comfortable with Ruby.
We give you great flexibility when, how much and where you work. Timezones however should be European or Asian, at least in the beginning. You should commit to at least 3 days per week. Unfortunately we cannot afford silicon valley rates.
Skype has bad quality from e.g. Thailand. Google Hangouts none of my clients (including myself) understand or can use. Still looking for a reliable and proper internet audio/video solution. I wonder if there's better solutions.
One of my customers (maybe two of them) use WebEx. They're paying for it but WebEx has a free plan to make a call with up to 3 people. The web client requires Java but a native client was preinstalled into the Samsung tablet I bought 6 months ago. Quality is good. Screen sharing seems to be better than with Skype and Hangout.
By the way, I had too many problems with Hangout so I can't recommend it, even if today I had a four people conversation (audio only) and it was perfectly fine.
Most of our customers know how to use Google Hangouts or in case they don't, we teach them how to use it. We usually take care of setting everything up and the just share a link with them so they can join the call.
But you are right, sometimes Hangouts doesn't work as good as it should, so we use Skype as backup or even Hipchat for internal calls.
My suggestion for newcomers is a budget of 2000-4000 EUR month for comfortable living in Bangkok (depending on your level of comfortableness). The daily live of a 500 EUR worker is not the same as that of an expat (e.g. membership at a co-work space alone will set you back ~200$/month). Gyms are as expensive as in the west.
- ~800 EUR for a nice 1-br condo in a central location
- ~100 EUR el./internet/tv/3g
- ~100 EUR for transport (these motorbike taxis and bts rides are adding up).
- ~150 EUR for co-work membership.
= 1150 EUR fix per month.
Now with the rest you can go eat and drink. 100 EUR = big nightout, 50 EUR dinner and drinks, 20 EUR low-key dinner with drinks, 4-10 EUR just dinner outside.
Add another few 100 EUR for a visa run every once in a while.
Also don't forget that you're likely still paying for some stuff back home, insurances, etc.
For others wondering if 2K euro is really needed, there are plenty of 'digital nomads' living in Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok for $1200 a month. That's with a serviced studio and restaurants all the time.
* charge by hour (ballpark 70-150$/h). Give an estimate on how long it should take and maybe add a max budget.
* ask for 30-50% upfront. Only start working once the money arrived, this is fairly important, so you are not emotionally invested in the work you've done so far.
* if possible only release the code once he fully paid. Find a way to show him that it's working. They might be whining and crying, but be firm.
* Paypal, wiring whatever works best between you. Tell him what payment mode you can accept and give him the choice. Wiring is the safest choice for you (no charge-backs).
* I would ignore the charge by how much it's worth for your client comments for now. Focus on getting some experience first.
* I wouldn't worry about a formal contract too much. Send him in an email all your modalities (upfront payment, delivery when it's done) and have him agree by email. Verbal agreements by skype is not enough (people tend to forget...). Every agreement in voice, send it to him by email later on, e.g. "summarizing our call: bla bla. Please confirm that we understood each other correctly).
There's plenty of digital nomads building legimitate business or doing proper remote "work" (see my comment below). They tend not to be too outspoken, write blog posts, because they are busy, well, doing work. Most of these folks however don't travel too much anymore as they have found a home-base they feel productive in.
There is some selection bias, the people that are busy doing stuff, typically don't write blogs "How to live with 500$ in chiang mai".
to give you some perspective: i've been doing the "nomad thing" for 5 years, although I'm not actively travelling around much, and mostly based in an asian city. All my belongings fits into one suitcase and 2 duffel bags - 80% is clothes. I am earning above 100$/hour coding, typically as remote contractor with the occasional onsite visit, not simple CRUD-stuff, but interesting and challenging work. I usually do full-time contracting with one client exclusively for about 1 year. Two years ago I spent 3 months exclusively on open source work (that itself opened up very attractive work opportunities itself). My living cost is also pretty much the same as back in Europe, but I live a life in luxury here.
Most DNs eventually "settle" down, and stay in one place for a longer period (think months), and everyone seems to have their default city/place, where they often return to because of friends, they like the vibe etc.
What I found was the close friends you have at late 20ies, you won't lose them, when you go back and most probably you will go back at some point.
Re 1: There's quite a few digital nomad couples, or people who find their significant other. 2) Children not so. Re 3: These all exist, but it's not (yet) the majority.
Re: Horror Stories: I have not yet heard of something worthy the title of a horror story, and i am somewhat involved in the digital nomad community.
First one, was a classical onsite job, which i transitioned into a remote thing. Second big one was offline network, there too it started with onsite for a few months, now quite remote. It helped here being nomadic, as employees were already spread out geographically. I had smaller ones in between that i found online, but they were not fulfilling.
