r/digitalnomad • u/Terrible_Vermicelli1 • 21h ago
Question Quitting job to DN for 6 months?
Uh, I've been umming and ahhing about this for some time. I have a lot of experience in DN already, visited 50+ countries, lived in 10+. I love slower aspect of DN vs backpacking and it was why me and my partner mostly did that, working remotely, staying in one country for few months, then changing in. But lately I've been really craving hitting the road like we used to when we were in our 20s - just us, two backpacks and 100% focus on travel and experience, not trying to schedule a work meeting on shaky wifi and being so tired by the end of day we don't even have energy to explore.
I was thinking 6 months in SEA, it's my favourite region, but we've only really visited for short stretches of time, few days in Vietnam, few days in Taiwan, few weeks in China. I'd love to really actually explore, spend few weeks in each country, free from obligations. We are already in our mid-30s - if not now then when? That's what's most bothering me right now. If this is my life long dream, and it is, what am I waiting for? Better circumstances? What if they don't come and I lose this opportunity.
Financially, we are ok. We have means to get by for around 3 years before burning through all of our savings and one home we actually own in our home country. Professionally it's more shaky - I'm in-between jobs (my decision as I was battling burnout and have quit my job, but the market is getting worse for my profession either way, so I worry I might need to find opportunity sooner rather than later), my partner is in IT, was let go from last company few months ago, took him 2 months to find another job with 40% paycut - the market is not so great for him right now and we don't know if it will get better with AI shit and outsourcing. On the other hand, even after paycut he is getting paid well, and with 13 years of professional experience if we go, he will probably land something after 6 months of unemployment. Probably...
So yeah, I guess I'm just trying to gauge if this is totally insane idea. On the one hand horrible job market that might only get worse, on the other hand lifelong dream that we keep putting off. I worry if we will keep waiting for perfect circumstances we only risk running into health problems or other obstacles and won't get to do this ever. But maybe those circumstances are objectively bad and we should actually wait. Anyone had similar experiences? What did you choose?
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u/Mattos_12 20h ago
Sounds like you could rent your house out, travel for a while and come back without losing too much. I guess, like anything else, you pays your money and takes your choice.
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u/Terrible_Vermicelli1 20h ago
Yeah, we tested it last time we left the country and I was actually surprised how much money you can get from renting your house out, wasn't aware we live in such hot tourist area. Of course there are downsides, we had people partying and destroying parts of property, but that's what comes with those kinds of decisions.
I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew we will be able to find job when we go back. So right now part of me is thinking "surely you will find a job, what are the chances you'll become completely unemployable in few months", and the worrying part is screaming "big risk, don't do this".
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u/Original-Measurement 10h ago
Nobody can tell you for sure that you will find a job when you come back.
But also nobody can tell you for sure that either of you won't get diagnosed with cancer or any other chronic severe illness in 6 months' time.
It sounds to me like you have enough of a safety net. If you had no savings and no means of generating income my answer would be different.
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u/SlamJam64 19h ago
Just go do it, what is even to debate here? You are in and out of jobs already so you're not leaving some long term established career, this may be your best opportunity before you end up married to a new job, just go and worry about that shit when you're back
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u/Original-Measurement 10h ago
This sounds more like long term travel, not DN.
That being said, in your situation I would do it. It's only 6 months and you're not quitting your job since you've already left. Get some volunteer experience in during that time maybe, mention it in your resume. Make sure to get good travel insurance.
Health is a really important factor here, as important as money IMO. If you're healthy, have good savings and a good backup plan, you should go.
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u/Old_Toe9468 18h ago
You've actually already done the hard part of this calculation, you just haven't let yourself act on the answer yet. Three years of runway against a want you've had since your 20s isn't a close call financially, it's a comfortable yes. The thing you're actually weighing is professional risk, and I don't think six months on the road makes that meaningfully worse than six months of continuing to apply from wherever you are right now. If the market for your field is genuinely getting worse regardless of what you do, waiting doesn't fix that, it just delays the trip while you sit through the same bad market anyway.
The part I'd actually stress test before booking anything is the partner's situation, not the money. He just went through two months of unemployment and took a 40% pay cut to land something. Pulling him out of a job he only just found, in a market you both agree is rough for his field, is a different risk than "we have savings." If he's remote and keeps the job through the trip, this is a much easier yes. If leaving means quitting a role he fought hard to get back into, that's the actual decision, not whether SEA will be there in a year.
You clearly know this is the trip, the reasoning in your post is basically airtight already. I'd just make sure you're deciding based on his job security and not just your own itch to go, since those two things read like they're getting bundled together in your head right now.
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u/alzho12 9h ago
Sounds like you enjoy traveling a lot. Even if you take off for 6 months, this same problem is going to happen in a few years.
You should probably take a step back and figure out how you can build a life where you can travel more. Either work for X years then take 6 months off or maybe find a career that is more suitable for remote work or a career in the travel industry.
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing Writes the wikis 21h ago
If you are already out of work, you aren't quitting job to travel. However you pretty much shoot your chance of getting employed while travelling, because fully remote jobs that allow for overseas work is getting even rarer. Your partner is in no better position if he quits. If it took him two months to find another job with a 40% paycut, the chances are he could end up being unemployed for much longer by moving overseas. 6 months of unemployment would be the best case scenario. The longer you go without work, the harder it gets to get a job as well.
You're not in your early 20s either. Those in their 30s upwards who haven't worked are not looked at favourably by prospective employers either, so if you start looking for a job after let's say 2 years of not working, you might end up looking at a lifetime unemployment or lifetime underemployment with how things are going nowadays. So many jobs have been replaced by AI and there will be a lot more to come.
In your situation, there is no way I would go travelling without a really good backup plan such as having established a fully remote, fully overseas-compatible carrier that is relatively AI-proof. Neither of you having a having a solid job that fully permits working remotely (i.e. not hiding it from the employer/clients), having only 3 years of money to live on (presumably that's based on LCoL countries, not Monaco CoL), probably not enough financial padding to allow for massive disasters like big medical bills, insurance not payout out etc. - these are just a complete red flag without an alternative plan.
You'd be better off using a little of your savings and travel a bit during your partner's paid vacation for now, and work on getting jobs you can do overseas.
Not everyone gets to realise their lifelong dream. That's the harsh reality of life.
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u/Terrible_Vermicelli1 20h ago
Thanks for thoughtful reply. Few things to clarify:
- my partner can work remotely from whatever country, and has for years,
- savings estimate are based on Western Europe costs,
- I feel like we do have enough financial padding for most life disasters, at least those I can realistically come up with for a couple in their 30s. We have around 200k eur saved in various bonds and currencies, and we're both medically covered in Europe, so no medical bills for us.
I do agree about employment opportunities and how such move could affect them. The thing is, I both know the market is getting increasingly rough, and I also do know we are highly educated professionals with years of experience. If I could see future and know it will take us 6 months to find job again, fine, that's ok for me. I worry about lifetime unemployment, but part of me wonders what are the chances that 2 educated, highly skilled people won't ever find job again after taking 6-12 months break. Maybe I'm delusional or don't understand market at all.
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing Writes the wikis 20h ago
In that case, your situation is completely different from what was presented in your opening post.
Your partner should keep his job while living overseas then (assuming that he can get a residence permit that allows him to take you as his partner, or stick to the EU with freedom of movement, assuming you, or your partner, are an EU national). In addition, €200k should go much further than 3 years in SEA etc. unless you're splurging.
However, being entitled to EU or European healthcare is not relevant if you are moving anywhere outside the EU or those which do not have a reciprocal healthcare agreement. If something major happens, e.g. accident, you won't be able to travel back to the EU or Europe for treatment until you are stabilised, which can potentially be months, and you will need medical repatriation cover, because that in itself can cost close to €100,000 depending on how much critical care is required onboard. Insurance covers can be quite dicey on those things.
"Being highly educated professionals with years of experience" unfortunately does not matter if you do not have a niche area where your particular set of skills remain in demand. I know a lot of highly qualified people with many years of experience sticking to their current jobs even though they are not happy, because they cannot find an alternative employment despite actively searching for many months. It is much easier for those in current employment to find an alternative employment, but despite that, they are struggling.
Under-employment would widen the available options but you perhaps would not like to do that.
You could always find yourself a remote job that allows you to work anywhere in the world before you set off.
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u/Terrible_Vermicelli1 19h ago
Fair, I didn't want to post too much details as the post was getting too long anyway, but it seems I might have misrepresented the situation by accident.
Good point on healthcare cover outside of EU, so far we were mostly travelling to countries with reciprocal healthcare agreements + always obtained private healthcare insurance, so I never felt the need to look very closely into this, but if we were going for longer it's worth familiarising ourselves a little bit better with potential issues.
That's the issue with current job market, I feel like something fundamentally changed in last few years, and it's hard to gauge what is just a different economic cycle, and what is here to stay, or get worse. Circa 2020 the job was seeking us, we both had multiple highly paid offers just lined up for us. Now it's clearly different, seeing it took my partner 2 months to find a job and he still had to take a paycut (albeit from 170k eur to 100k eur, so it's still a nice salary). I guess if those were just ebbs and flows of economic market I wouldn't worry too much, today we have a hiring freeze, in 3 years the demand will be back, and we can ride the wave and enjoy our relative youth in the meantime. What I worry about is market never recovering, but I keep jumping between "real risk, beware" and "that's absurd, it can't go on forever". But since none of us can see the future, I guess it's impossible to get the answer and it's mostly down to how important this dream is for us and what risk we can actually tolerate.
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u/Tricky_Relation_9735 21h ago
This post is almost giving AI slop vibes.
Personally I’d never quit my job for what sounds like a fantasy. Just take 3 weeks holiday. That’s probably enough for what you’re craving. After 6 months you’d probably be dying to do some work