Hello Readers!
This is my second-ever blog post! I want to try to be consistent and post at least once a month. I’ve finally come back from a 2-week trip to the Philippines. My mother and I went to bring the ashes of my grandma back to her hometown of Igbaras, which is located in Iloilo, Philippines. We thought that this would be the best place to let her rest, as she had dreamed of coming back to the Philippines while she was still alive. However, it was impossible due to her condition at the time. I am very thankful to my current company, Housecall Pro, for allowing me to work and travel at the same time, considering the fact that I have also just returned from a 2-week vacation.
In this post, I want to share my experience of working remotely from a different country. Especially when the lack of resources is apparent and also the fact that I was in a +15 hour time difference from my original work schedule. I’ll be sharing the pros and cons and some things you should consider while traveling and working abroad!
The Good
I consider myself an early bird. I usually wake up at 7 am and start work at 8 am. If necessary, I can get up as early as 5 am. So, when I decided to work remotely in the Philippines, I knew that my schedule would be a little wonky. Thankfully, my team lead was very considerate and told me not to work at midnight. Therefore, I decided that it would be best to try and work from 6 am to 2 pm Philippines time, which would be 4 pm to 12 am PST. This way, I still had at least 1 hour to sync up with my team and respond to Slack messages in a timely manner if required. Additionally, I had other team members who were really supportive during my time there, offering to come online later (8 pm their time) to pair up and catch me up on what was going on.
Working in the morning always gave me a productivity boost because not much happens in the morning for me, whether it’s in LA or here in the Philippines. Especially in the Philippines, even though all my family members wake up as early as I do, they also have a lot to do in the morning. Things start to pick up in the afternoon with gatherings and other activities. Anyways, because it’s not busy in the morning, it forces me to be productive, and that’s when I get most of my work done. Moreover, my performance doesn’t seem to be affected as much as I thought it would be, based on looking at my JIRA board.
In addition to that, my current team does a lot of asynchronous work. We don’t have many Zoom meetings throughout the week, only grooming once a week and standup twice a week. Instead, we have “slackup” three times a week, which is sort of like a standup but in Slack. We also have an unspoken rule of no meetings on Friday unless it’s a social meeting. Because of our team dynamic, this worked out well for me while I was in the Philippines.
The Bad
There are only two complaints I have about working in the Philippines, but these are based on my own experience as my family is part of a small town on a remote island.
- Brownouts
- Poor internet quality
In Igbaras, Iloilo, where I’m from, a small town near the mountains of Iloilo Island, brownouts are very common. Luckily, during my time here, I’ve only experienced seven brownouts, and four of them happened outside my work schedule. However, the three times it did occur, I was basically disconnected from work. I couldn’t access Jira, Slack, and GitHub, which are essential for any developer working remotely. Although I had LTE on my phone, when I tried to use it as a hotspot for my MacBook, it wasn’t enough to load a website in the desktop version.
Regarding poor internet quality, I think this is mostly based on my area. There’s only one cell tower quite far from the town. Additionally, the internet options available are either wireless, similar to what T-Mobile offers with their 5G networks or broadband up to 100Mbps. The problem with the wireless option is that if there are any bad signals or too many colliding frequencies, the internet suddenly drops or becomes very slow. With the broadband option, you’re essentially sharing the bandwidth with the entire town of about 32,000 people, with no back channel. I can really feel the difference in latency and speed between working at 5 am and working at noon. Towards the end of the day, it takes too long to get a response.
Things to consider when coming back!
- Portable Charger
- Long-term investment with access to the internet
A portable charger is something you really need to consider when visiting. It should be able to charge your laptop, phone, or any electronic device. Especially in Igbaras, Iloilo, where brownouts can happen very frequently. There were times when I didn’t charge any of my devices, and then a brownout would happen overnight, leaving me worried about how I would charge my devices for work the next day if the electricity didn’t come back up. Some locals told me that these brownouts can last up to 3 days. Luckily, this was not the case for me. Additionally, Philippine Airlines did not have a charging port on the airplane, and it’s a 15+ hour flight. So, if you plan on having long plane trips, do yourself a favor and bring a portable charger for your devices.
Regarding a long-term investment with access to the internet, before going to the Philippines, I discussed internet solutions with my dad for the town of Igbaras. He ended up getting two types of internet connections: broadband, which was directly connected to the internet, and prepaid internet, which connected via the phone towers. My priority list for connecting to the internet was as follows:
- Broadband
- Prepaid
- If both were failing, I’d resort to using my LTE hotspot from my iPhone. If that was also failing, I was out of luck and had to work offline.
Toward the end of my trip, I was looking for more internet solutions and remembered Elon Musk’s Starlink. I think getting something like Starlink in the Philippines would be worth considering, especially the Starlink Roam. With a one-time hardware cost of $599 and a $150/month pay-as-you-use model, it doesn’t seem all that bad, considering everything. Additionally, I don’t have to use this exclusively when going to the Philippines; I can use it when going camping or elsewhere, which could be pretty frequent in my life. Overall, something like Starlink Roam is worth considering when traveling and working abroad, especially in the Philippines.
Now, is this something I would do again?
Absolutely! I’m thankful for how the tech industry currently allows us to work remotely. It gives developers like me the opportunity to be with family overseas while still being able to work. I am truly grateful for that, especially since it has been over 10 years since I last visited my homeland.