Has anyone worked as an Engineer while living in a van?

brudgers · 3 years ago

I travel in a van for multiple weeks while working online but not as an engineer.

What to do on a sunny day is among my practical considerations. Vans in the sun get hot. Hotter in the summer. Hotter in the desert.

They also get cold in cold weather or just on cool nights. Handling a cold metal bodied laptop is unpleasant. Typing with cold fingers is quickly tiring.

So my advice is to take a trip in whatever vehicle you have and try to work from it and see how you feel about the process of learning to live on the road.

Because if you don’t like learning how to live on the road, every vehicle will be equally unsuited for your happiness.

The realities of sleeping, eating, defecting, and bathing away from home don’t change much between a tent and an RV. How will you deal with noise at night? What will you do for meals? What is your potty plan? Where does bath water come from?

And of course, where will you park tonight?

If you’re not ready to give it a shot with what is readily available right now, that’s probably a tell that the idea of being a person who does that is more attractive than the deeds of doing it.

And that’s ok. Good luck.

KenArrari · 3 years ago

Hmmm yeah that's a good point. I've slept in my car while camping and had a decent time. Working with a laptop might be harder but maybe even good for focus (with regular breaks ofcourse).

I had a mini-AC unit (basically just a fan that blows air through some ice water) which works pretty well as long as I have a steady supply of ice.

brudgers · 3 years ago

After writing what I wrote, I've been thinking some more and I would have said

  Life on the road is camping
  Tent, Hotel, Van, RV
  Doesn't matter
  It's always camping

Ice management is always a consideration.

Anyway, a tent large enough to stand up in will still roll up small enough to fit in the trunk. With a folding chair and folding table, it's an office.

But a folding a chair and a shade tree in is an office too if you learn to work with the laptop in your lap.

37.815104, -96.851884 is a place I once worked one morning in early June, 2017.

mtmail · 3 years ago

Related "Things I wish I’d known before fulltime RVing (2017)" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36407152 Note it's two pages of comments. I particular enjoyed the comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36408732 on how the prices increased in recent years.

Also "Ask HN: What are your tips for working offline?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36392391 with only one comment but it seems to be from a software developer.

clusmore · 3 years ago

Related: "A new chapter – full-time working from a van in a forest" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26284635

kjs3 · 3 years ago

I know a couple of folks doing the 'work from RV' thing (in very nice, recent vintage RVs), one couple who are on a good sized houseboat (on a very large lake), and a person or two who are on sailboats at least part time (fairly large...45'+). It seems to mostly work for them, tho even a big sailboat is pretty tight space wise (they're narrow). Given that, aside from the obvious challenges (Internet, etc.), my first thoughts are "a van is really, really small to live/work in for more than a couple of days at a time" and "depending on where you go, that van is going to either get really hot, or you're going to burn a lot of fuel to keep it cool". Perhaps rent a van for a week or two and live in it close to home to see if that works for you.

mattbgates · 3 years ago

Living in a van down by the river? Ha.

It's totally doable. I've met some people living out of their cars and hop into Starbucks or some coffee shop for a few hours to sink wash and work.

I have mobile Internet myself so I am always connected no matter what I'm at.. and I will say it's about 95% available where T-Mobile is. I have a solar panel and a power generator for charges to my laptop. I can't say I've done this full-time or as my lifestyle, but I am currently in the process of renting out three peropeties I own and just temporary living place-to-place wherever I feel like it. I do not have kids and am recently no longer in a relationship.

It really all depends on what your life affords you... you only live once. Live how you want to live and enjoy your life. I personally say GO FOR IT. Try it for a month. If you like it, you found a new way to live minimally. If you don't, you can always return home. Make sure you at least have access to several clean clothes, deoderant, baby wipes/adult wipes, water, and some food.

Depending on where you plan to travel, you may run into some parking restrictions, but for the most part, most places don't care. I know I've slept in a 24/7 Walmart parking lot in Texas and a cop woke me up. I also have heard stories about California no longer letting you sleep near/on the beaches at night though the meters stop around 5 or 6 PM and the cops are more laxadasical when it comes to where you park your car when the meters ain't runnin'. At least from when I traveled cross Cali and slept on a new beach ever night, it was allowed.

matt_s · 3 years ago

Kinda funny how a skit poking fun at something became a running joke about what could happen after a layoff and now people want to do it on purpose. And probably can and have fun with it. There are a lot of custom van builds content on YouTube so you could even make it really your own.

sgbeal · 3 years ago

Not a van, but i've been living in a boat, tethered to shore on a river, since 5 or 6 weeks. My FOSS contributions since then have lessened greatly but not entirely stopped. My phone provides the internet connection and any "real work" can be done on my trusty old laptop. It's not ideal, but it keeps me in touch until i'm back on land (in a few weeks) with proper internet, electricity, and a workstation.

KenArrari · 3 years ago

Don't phones throttle your connection after a limit?

sgbeal · 3 years ago

> Don't phones throttle your connection after a limit?

Mine does. i avoid videos like the plague, as they're the big bandwidth hogs. With just a little discretion, bandwidth goes a long way.

brudgers · 3 years ago

I am in the US and use ATT.

Throttling has not been a problem for me for several years.

If it became one, I would add a pay as you go phone to cover the gap.

mike47 · 3 years ago

These guys are accountants:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58025876