10: Dylan Wolff on Becoming a Location Independent Web Developer

Around 2 years ago, Dylan Wolff made a decision to challenge himself and go after a completely new career as a remote web developer. An internal auditor for years, he decided that he wanted to learn a new skill and travel the world. Today, he works full-time as a location independent developer for distributed Ruby on Rails consultancy.

I've previously featured Dylan's story on my website in my inspiring nomads blog series and most recently on my YouTube channel where we answered viewers questions on becoming a remote web developer.

In this week's podcast, we go deep into Dylan's story, how he learned web development, how he scored his first job and how he now travels the world, working remotely.

Talking Points

[01:40] How Dylan came to the realisation that he wanted to work remotely and travel the world and the steps he took to make it happen

[5:38] Starting from Square one and becoming inspired by Pieter Levels

[11:16] Making the choice to pursue web development and finding a firm that supports remote workers

[14:12] The resources Dylan used starting out and his top tips for finding the time to code while working full-time

[23:49] Knowing when you’re ready to look for work and his first experiences entering the workforce

[34:49] The challenge of working solo

[36:49] How Dylan managed to score a job that allowed him to work remotely from the get-go and what he would have done if it hadn’t been that way.

[42:59] Travel experiences as a digital nomad and plans moving forward

[45:59] How Dylan balances work and travel and dealing with multiple time zones

[51:18] He favourite locations in the world to work from

Links Mentioned

Pieter Levels

Hastag Nomads

NomadList.com

Slack & Basecamp

Treehouse, Code School, Code Academy

Thinkful

Michael Hartle - The Rails Tutorial

Pimsleur

My first public vlog - Moving Out to Travel the World

Our video together - How to become a developer

J Space - Jeju Island

Nick’s Blog Post on finding your own rhythm

Dylanwolff.com