Please critique my plan to become a software developer and move to a town with cheap housing in 5-10 years where I can work from home

[jbreyes777]

@kayvin Bio chem?

Have you looked at any jobs with fonterra in the south taranaki region? Housing is cheap, and the wages are pretty far above minimum with a lot of benefits, usually 4 days on 4 days off, Might be a way to leverage what you have to get the lifestyle you are looking for in a shorter time span.

 

[mathighas]

@kayvin I like your ideas. I have just changed career for health reasons and started a computer/Data science degree. It’s pretty full on.
I’m early 30s. I think it’s totally possible to do what you have planned.
Self motivation and drive will be key
Also try surround yourself self with people in that industry.

Google is your best friend to

My plan it similar ,in the sense I want to move to smaller town eventually.
I already have no mortgage currently due to working hard in my 20s.
I have a ton of info.
Pm me

 

[luvi]

@kayvin I shall attempt to provide a more positive opinion.
Firstly start looking at the FIRE movement and Mr Money Mustache.
Your numbers may be off, but the idea is sound and people all around the world are doing it.
As for being self taught. When I met my now husband he earnt minimum wage in a call center. He taught himself HTML, CSS and php. Made a website and stuck some projects on it. After about 7 months he got his first dev job. He then taught himself security and is now a senior cyber security analyst. It has taken about 8 years but he now earns a lot more than minimum wage.

 

[kayvin]

@luvi That sounds like a great success story! And yes, I'm definitely already interested in FIRE. Hence the reason why if my plan is successful, then any extra income that I make will be directed to cashflow-generating assets.

 

[tboss]

@kayvin Wife and kids have just entered the conversation…..

Oh, and what makes you think you will escape bosses and corporate meetings?

 

[kayvin]

@tboss I think having a wife who follows the same goal can actually make the process even shorter since you would be able to save more with two incomes and buy the one house jointly. But yes, kids are expensive and will definitely muck everything up.

Fortunately, I don't intend to have children of my own.

 

[brihaha]

@kayvin Do you have this magical wife who doesn’t want kids and has the exact same life goal of yours? Or are you delusional

 

[jermyn]

@kayvin There are several snags.

Entry level positions are always the hardest to nab because there are so many applicants. If we hit a recession you could expect a lot of companies to tap the breaks on new hires, but there will be just as many if not more people fresh out of uni looking for a job. So then you get entry level positions with hundreds of people applying. You know what the hiring managers do? They filter out the applicants who don't meet their minimum requirements... in terms of location and education. If you are self taught with no industry experience and living somewhere like Dargaville your application will be rejected again and again and again. Doesn't matter how nicely you write your CV, it's going automatically in the nope pile 95 percent of the time. Look at job listings and look at the job requirements, they are pretty much always going to say they want a relevant tertiary qualification.

You might think "why doesn't everyone work from home in the industry?", because it becoming standard only happened with Covid and lots of companies are trying to push people back into the office. I know at my company we are expected to do at least one day a week there. There are people who work 100 percent remote, but it's not usually something they offer to entry level people.

Third snag. Is this going to be something you are good at and are actually going to like doing? I'm not trying to be a dick here, i taught introductory compsci at uni for years and there are plenty of people who it doesn't click for and its not because they are stupid even if sometimes they feel like they are. Sometimes it's pretty much a conceptual block that just prevents them from thinking in the way the subject requires and it's like someone with dyscalculia trying to learn maths.

Fourth snag, you see all these hours for self directed learning and it's probably not going to happen. It takes an annoying amount of discipline for self directed learning and maintaining focus and motivation for long periods of time is really hard. Even if you put in all the hours you will often find yourself not absorbing it when the material is kind of dry and dull.

 

[brendanjamesstephen]

@jermyn You only (mostly) retain what you use anyhow.

Focusing on one area or project, building something yourself is better than speed running a bunch of courses

 

[adefela77]

@brendanjamesstephen I'm going to partially challenge that. It's true that building something with your own hands is the best way to learn (and retain!) a new skill. But it's also important to know the foundations well (like algorithms and data structures) - it's not fun at all, but it allows you to not just cut code (most bootcamp graduates can do that), but to actually understand the tradeoffs of the different approaches. Being exposed to different ideas ("speed running a bunch of courses") broadens your horisons, and even if you can't recall how to use a certain approach, at least you know it exists and can look it up when the time comes.

In short, theory and practice complement each other.

 

[arniej]

@jermyn ^ this man devs, particularly re: self directed learning

 

[kayvin]

@jermyn I've finished a few introductory courses including "Automate the Boring Stuff", Harvard's CS50x, O'Reilly's "Introduction to Python", the Great Courses' "Introduction to Programming", Tutsplus' "HTML and CSS in 30 Days" (a bit outdated now), and several of the introductory programming courses on MIT OCW up to algorithms and data structures.

I'm currently halfway through Angela Yu's Web Development Bootcamp and the Great Courses' "Introduction to C++".

In terms of knowledge, I'm probably at the same level as a second year computer science student right now. There are some areas of computer science that I haven't got the faintest clue on (e.g. networking, computer architecture, good software engineering practices, anything related to math).

Generally, I find myself to be good at completing courses and understanding the main concepts but have little experience applying it to actual projects because so far I've approached learning CS quite casually and never really made it a top priority. However, from my limited exposure to the subject, I think I could develop my skills to an employable level if I really put my mind to it.

 

[tanyastark]

@kayvin " By the end of 10 years, I will have saved $300,000 in cash and should definitely be able to buy a house without a mortgage."

Um. What? Where?

 

[lostfornow]

@tanyastark I think he’s factored in a complete collapse of the housing market so after 10 years the inflation adjusted value of houses is down 200%

 

[my_name]

@tanyastark You can barely buy a house in the wop wops for that much now let alone in 10 years lol

 

[leepad5050]

@my_name This was my thought. What’s out there for $300,000 is going to full of compromises. Add 10 years to the equation with average house price increases (ignoring the last few years of rapid growth and just using average growth), and I think OP will be hard pressed to find anything habitable for $300,000.

 

[nanncy]

@leepad5050 A tiny house in the corner of a farmers land in like Grey or Buller? lol

 

[wc0476]

@my_name Houses in Morrisville are 900k and 50+ years old now lol. Maybe Patea would be cheaper?

 

[kayvin]

@tanyastark Technically, even $135k can buy you a (barely) livable house right now. (more pictures here) They're not common and you might have to wait a while for one to show up though. Problem is, these houses are in very, very isolated areas with no services nearby (e.g. Ohai, Nightcaps) or in heavily gang-infested areas (e.g. Murupara) so they're not really a realistic option for most people.

Right now, $300k should buy you a decent 2/3 brm house in a smaller town like Dannevirke, Taihape, or Gore that has access to the usual amenities and aren't filled with gangs. For example, here is a nice freehold one in Gore right now selling for $259k. If I were able to work from home, then this is the type of house and town I would be targeting.

Of course, this assumes that property prices will remain stable in the next several years rather than skyrocketing upwards as they did in the past.

 

[rezene12]

@kayvin It is doable in theory. In practice it may be hard. But you should try it anyway.

I had somewhat similar plans and aspirations. I arrived to NZ 5 years ago, started saving like crazy and upskilling myself. Now I am in the top 10% earners in NZ.

My plan was, now that I have experience and contacts so that working remotely is totally possible from anywhere in the country, to do something similar next year. Move to a remote area and work and live from there.

Plan was to buy with a small mortgage a house with a bit of a section. Save more by living there and eventually build/put a second house on the back and rent it out.

But then I found a partner and my priorities changed.

So I never quite made it to Ithaka, but I am probably happier now.

Life doesn’t often go as we plan. And that’s okay.

I don’t see anything wrong in you trying as hard as you can to save and improve yourself. Doesn’t matter where you will end up, the journey is what matters. You will gain experience, resilience and drive which will be far more precious than any money you can make.

“Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you are destined for.

But do not hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you are old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her, you would not have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.”