Writing · · 3 min read
My year working abroad
Life & work
Originally published on LinkedIn.
Last year, my family of 5 moved to Costa Rica for a 12-month "working sabbatical". We had both become weary with the house, the kids, the grind of American culture. It was decided that Costa Rica would be the remedy these ills, or at least offer a little breathing room to figure out what's next for our family.
The following post catalogs a few key learnings, both personal and professional.
1. Be forthright.
This my top recommendation. If you're getting a new job, negotiate in clear terms with the hiring manager and your HR contact (this is what I did). If you already have a job you love, do that job well, propose it to your manager, and be ready to compromise. Get everything in writing, always. Respect the rules of corporations and the consequences if you break them. No cutting corners on this part.
Additionally, keep doing excellent work. Never let anyone forget why you're an irreplaceable of the team.
2. Don't burn the ships.
Do not sell your home, your cars, or otherwise attempt to liquidate. Sell as much junk as you can, but keep an outpost back home in case things change suddenly for whatever reason. This will increase stability in a season of life that will likely feel very unstable (more on that below). For example, we long-term rented our entire furnished house on Airbnb, lended car 1 to family, and sold car 2. In Costa Rica, we long-term rented a house in Airbnb, rented car 1 through a local dealer, and I bought a motorcycle.
A note if you're going to Airbnb your house: it's not all sunshine. For starters, you must be "minimalist" and have no qualms jettisoning all but the essentials. Then, you have to figure out how to manage the property remotely (not trivial). Lastly, you have to track everything and file your taxes correctly (also not trivial).
3. Prepare for pain.
Living abroad with a family requires high levels of teamwork, flexibility, and endurance. Even the most patient heart will eventually grow weary. Truly difficult moments will happen, perhaps regularly. All you can do is familiarize yourself with the culture ahead of time (e.g. we took a multi-month trip to Costa Rica to make sure we could handle it) and prepare yourself spiritually to take the sacrament of pain. Ask yourself: am I ready to open my heart to the adaptations this will demand? If not, the experience will not enrich you.
If so, the experience dangles the offer of sweet, sweet growth. On a very personal note, this year changed me as a person; I grew more into my roles as a man, a father, and a lover. I know where I came from and where I'm going, grounded and certain to an extent I never thought was possible. 10/10 Would recommend.
Conclusion
Everything else is details. Here are a few noteworthy ones:
- Align your work time zones as much as possible. This advice would disqualify most of the world, including Europe, but Central/South America is wide open!
- Central America has solid Internet. 300mbps up, 200 down if you're on fiber, at least where I was in Southern Pacific Costa Rica. Zoom works great.
- Stay discrete. Nobody needs to know where you are other than your management chain. I paid a networking team $500 to add a VPN router that broadcasted my IP from Virginia, just in case someone was snooping for the wrong reasons. And, as tempted as you may be, don't mention the monkeys during your stand-up.
- Explore which countries offer "Digital Nomad" visas. Otherwise you'll have to use a tourist visa and exit/re-enter the country every x months, which is no trivial task.
- Ask Google or ChatGPT for everything. Additionally, for the most tricky questions, there's probably a private Facebook groups where you can ask a human directly.
(An image appears here in the original article on LinkedIn.) They won't stop growing!
(An image appears here in the original article on LinkedIn.) Me and my bride, who single-handedly got us to Costa Rica and back.
(An image appears here in the original article on LinkedIn.) Rain is beautiful.