Work From Anywhere blog: week 5; Interviewing and switching jobs on the road?!2

As the remote work gods would have it, I am completely switching jobs on this trip. Not just positions, but companies and industries. The whole change, start to finish, will have happened by the time we get home. From interview, offer, drug screening, equipment, you name it...all on the road.

Despite being in sunny Southern California, the past few weeks have been stressful. It all started when I got a call from a recruiter while we were in Tucson, asking me to interview. While I wasn’t actively looking for a new job, I’m always open to opportunities, so I said yes.

The interview would take place remotely, after we traveled another 390 miles and 7 hours to the middle of the desert, in Twentynine Palms California. I had my worries about connectivity, the RV resort, weather and of course the consistent fear of the unknown - and little did I know that almost all of these variables would provide obstacles.

When we arrived in Twentynine Palms, I was hopeful for a nice outdoor area the ladies could use, so I could have the RV to myself for the video call. Unfortunately, it was a dirt driveway (we would actually switch resorts two days later). The one beacon of light that I noticed immediately was the cell internet speed. I was registering download speeds of 180 mbps, which is like four times my home internet.

The real challenge came on the interview day. A wind storm had picked up overnight sporting 35 mph winds. Since the RV is over 12’ tall, it began to act more like a metal sail than a vehicle. This caused two problems. The first was that Kailah and the girls had to venture out into those winds, so that there wasn’t sound in the background. The second issue was that the RV was rocking back and forth, like a cruise ship on rough seas. While it was probably unnoticeable to the people I was meeting with, I felt like I was bobbing and weaving during the entire call.

Obviously this story has a happy ending, but I couldn’t believe the factors that stacked up against us. It was almost comical. I don’t know why I care so much about situations like these. I think I just pressure myself to put my best foot forward and started to feel like the universe was working against me. Long story short, the interview went well. I got an offer and it seemed like the right fit from my perspective, so I committed. It won’t change our upcoming plans at all, as the new company will allow me to be remote for another couple months.

What an incredible whirlwind of events (quite literally). It’s always stressful to switch jobs. From the interview process, to telling your current colleagues you are leaving, to “not knowing” how the new opportunity will work out - it just weighs on you. I have some time off coming up before I start the new position, so I’m excited to spend some time focusing on experiencing the Grand Canyon and working on our Nowhere On Earth brand with Kailah. I’ll check back in after my final week of work.

Cheers,

Kyle

Office and technical gear links:

HP Monitor

Lepow Monitor

WeBoost Signal Booster

Bose Q35 Headphones

Moonbeam Noise Dampening Curtains

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 5-6 GB / work day (tough week with video calls)

Click here for our WFA Gear Page

Work From Anywhere Blog: Week 4, coast-to-coast and WFA month in reflection!

We made it across the United States! What a journey it has been – it took us 24 total days, with three remote work weeks, to get here and put down our stakes in Oceanside, San Diego (where I’m currently writing this). I think most people, like us, have dreamed of making this voyage and now we can proudly say we’ve accomplished it. We fully realize that we are fortunate to have this opportunity, especially during times like these, and we are extremely grateful for that.

Reflecting back on this first month of living and working from an RV, I must say that it was more stressful than difficult. I think there is a direct relationship between these two however, as the stress produced a plan that made working easy. I was so worried about the trip having an impact on my job, that I left almost no chance for issues, or problems that couldn’t be solved. I’ve hinted at this plan over my previous posts, talking about how I’ve adjusted to this lifestyle, but this week I want to list them out specifically, so that others can benefit from what has made me successful. I recognize that there are other ways to approach this (and probably cheaper), but my goal was to ensure zero interruptions in my ability to work. I’ll link to all of the products I use at the end of this article.

So here goes…

Consult others: There isn’t much to say here besides the fact that I asked people who have done this before, how they did it and what they used to be successful.

Service and connection: This research was the most important thing that I did when Kailah and I were planning the trip. We would find an RV site we wanted to book, then use the address to enter into Verizon’s coverage map tool. If it was covered by at least 4G LTE (5G is a plus), we would then make the same check over on the Outly website for another resource. By doing this, we were able to make the determination of whether or not we could book that site, so that I would have adequate connectivity.

Cell booster: While I haven’t used it yet, I also took the liberty of purchasing and installing a cell booster from WeBoost. So far, this has been mostly used for peace of mind, as the aforementioned research hasn’t failed us (Remember my goal was to leave no opportunity for failure - this was just an added level of insurance).

My “office”: This was actually my first order of business because I needed to make sure I had a relatively low traffic, low volume area to take calls, focus, etc.. Since we own a class A motorhome, I purchased an 8’ curtain rod and floor-to-ceiling, triple ply curtains (manufactured by Moonbeam) to “seal” off the cockpit of the RV. While this isn’t a tremendous sound barrier, it provides less distractions and a barrier for a very curious three year old. Beyond that, we have a fold out desk that is built into the passenger side of the RV (with 110/120 volt outlets) that I use to support my 27” monitor, laptop, keyboard and mouse. The chair itself is meant to be very comfortable for long rides, so it works really well as an office chair. Is this whole setup “ergonomically” correct? Probably not, but at least I’m comfortable. In addition, I also purchased and brought a portable desk and portable chair (stored under our bed) for a secondary setup location in the back bedroom of the RV. This was probably unnecessary, but I wanted to give myself the flexibility, in case the cockpit office didn’t work out.

My technical gear: Beyond the laptop, keyboard and mouse provided by the company I work for, I also added some additional gear to make working easier. The 27” monitor I use is actually a standard desk monitor from HP , but I also have a Lepow portable monitor, so that I can work in other areas of the RV, if I want (links below). For calls, I use the Bose Q35 noise cancelling headphones. While a bit pricey, these things are incredible and I recommend everyone gets a pair (RV, airplane, home office - you name it). They reduce the extra noise around me for both me AND the listeners on the other end. The only downfall is that they easily pick up voices, which can be a negative when Selima yells from the back of the RV.

Usage calculations: While a quality connection is required, Verizon doesn’t just let you use unlimited data. Even though it says it does. After a certain threshold it throttles (or significantly slows down) your connection. This could be a major issue. So before leaving home I spent days and even weeks tracking how many GB I was using. I tested everything - heavy meeting days, meetings with a large number of participants, pulling large amounts of data - you name it. By doing this, I could order the number of hot spots and appropriate “unlimited” data usage plans from Verizon to fit my needs. (You can check your usage on a PC by typing “data usage” into the windows search bar.).

Backup funds: This one might get overlooked, but it shouldn’t be. We ensured that we had the money set aside to cover a house rental for any week where I didn’t have a quality connection. It essentially takes away any remaining risk I might have because I would have wifi at the rental. (We haven’t had to do this yet).

I hope this gives a glimpse into the planning and preparation that went into making this trip a success. I know from the outside it can sometimes look easy, or that I '“just lucked out”, but that is so far from the truth. We put in countless hours of effort and anxiety and it turned into a pretty damn good result.

Cheers,

Kyle

Office and technical gear links:

HP Monitor

Lepow Monitor

WeBoost Signal Booster

Bose Q35 Headphones

Moonbeam Noise Dampening Curtains

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 4-5 GB / work day

Click here for our WFA Gear Page

Work From Anywhere (WFA) Blog: Week 3 from Palm Springs, CA

This week was strange. We didn’t finish the week in the same location that we started, I worked through an RV-rocking wind storm and it was the heaviest video call days that I’ve had yet. With that being said, I think we can still chalk it up to an overall win.

We originally booked a site in Twentynine Palms, CA, but the resort didn’t meet our expectations (not family friendly, permanent trailers on the lot, dirt sites etc). So we booked another resort (Emerald Desert RV Resort) in Palm Springs (Family friendly, green grass, palm trees, etc). The interesting part about Twentynine Palms is that it is located in the desert and is relatively remote, but somehow I still had 180 mbps download speed (which is 3-4 times faster than the Wi-Fi in my house!). Now that I’m in Palm Springs, I’m back down to 40-50 mbps - which is fine for my needs, but I would have thought Palm Springs would have had better cell infrastructure. With that being said, there is a Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms and the military probably wants a reliable connection. Internet speeds aside, the move went pretty smoothly and since I start so early in the day (5:30 AM), we had plenty of daylight to drive and get set up. I’m really getting the hang of taking down and setting up my cockpit office.

The most eventful part of my week was definitely the wind. It was blowing at sustained speeds of up to 35 mph. According to a few quick Google searches, this is enough to cause entire trees to be in motion…which I can attest to. In fact, it was so strong that we couldn’t even drive to the second resort and were forced to stay put for another night in Twentynine Palms. I can vividly remember being on one video call, while the entire RV swayed back and forth. It seemed akin to being on a cruise ship during high seas. Good thing I don’t get sea sick. I use noise cancelling headphones and a digital background for my calls, so I’m not sure anyone on the other end even noticed the chaos.

From a technology standpoint, the big battle this week has yet again been usage. I’ll keep it short, but with long video calls (three, four hour calls), I’ve really had to be cognizant of my usage. To combat it, I’ve generally turned off incoming video and/or my video when possible to reduce data being sent and received. The incoming video has been extremely important in these large meetings because Microsoft Teams is trying to send me 15-20 videos at once. In reality, I can only ever see 4-6 on my screen at any one time, so turning off the video periodically isn’t a big deal. With this strategy, I’ve limited my usage to 3.3 GB per day, which is incredible for the meetings I’ve had.

I can’t believe I’ve been working on the road for three weeks. Its starting to become “normal” and much less stressful. And the best part is that it hasn’t impacted my job at all. In fact, I would argue it’s improved my perspective and rejuvenated me. This Sunday we head for San Diego and I’m really looking forward to finishing my work every day and walking to the beach…

Thanks for tuning in,

Kyle

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 3.3 GB / work day

Click here for our WFA Gear Page