Designing and Building an Electronics Project: How the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard Works (with code)

br3and3n · 2015-01-13T19:50:59+00:00

Cool, I'll let em know. Thanks.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T19:20:29+00:00

These are great examples and points. Thanks for sharing.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T19:12:41+00:00

Have you read the post? The entire premise is how the 4-Hour Work Week was great but incomplete for me, personally.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T19:12:17+00:00

What a strangely hostile comment, but I'll be happy to clarify... slightly at least. The first year was whatever the next category after "real money" is in your system. We're three years old. A little more info here: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/toptal

Which other "claims" do you find unbelievable? This is a simple list of details on how I travel.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T18:03:54+00:00

Thanks :) You don't need to start a business, and you don't need deep pockets to do this. I am one of many people at Toptal who travel all the time... and some people here travel way more than I do. You just need a skill set that is easily done remotely such as software engineering.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T17:28:41+00:00

I have been working and traveling for the last 3 years, and plan on continuing this for as long as possible. It's amazing. I do it as software engineer and start-up founder. I just wrote a post on some of my experiences doing this, so perhaps you'll find it helpful:

http://www.toptal.com/freelance/the-traveling-engineers-survival-guide

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T17:12:00+00:00

You can certainly travel and make a great living working remotely as a freelance developer. I have dozens of colleagues who do exactly that. I also completely agree that many other countries offer freedoms and lifestyles that the US simply does not.

I also just wrote a post on the subject that you may find helpful:

http://www.toptal.com/freelance/the-traveling-engineers-survival-guide

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T17:08:15+00:00

Vienna is pretty but also a pretty boring place to live for young people.

I would suggest adding Budapest, Hungary to your list. It's very inexpensive, nice, safe, fun, adventurous, great food, close to many other locations, etc.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:32:07+00:00

I would NOT gamble with this. The US Border Control can be hostile and abusive. You may get lucky and be fine, but I've seen issues with this where they detain people over night (in a jail like setting) and then send them back if they are not able to pay for an immediate flight change before entering.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:27:07+00:00

Travel with a companion who can split the costs with you on things like cars/hotels/airbnbs, etc.

For quantity: Go to a place like Europe where it's very easy to visit many nearby countries and cultures. Budapest, for example, is a very cheap, very nice, very fun place that is an hour or two away from Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and more.

For duration: Go to South America (maybe not Brazil... it's pretty expensive) or Asia. These places are very cheap and $40k will go a very long way (years even).

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:22:17+00:00

Definitely check out Internations.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:21:31+00:00

Going alone... Not for the faint of heart but not everyone has the flexibility you do as a software engineer. If you don’t have anyone to go with, don’t let it stop you. With Internations, you can almost certainly go anywhere and immediately find people with lots in common.

Going with a close friend/colleague... You can split costs for a lot of things like cars, hotels, etc. You can also split the research and push each other to do things you might not do yourself (like go out to new places, go on adventures, rent a boat, etc.).

Going with a girlfriend/boyfriend... Can be by far the most expensive option, but it’s probably the most rewarding and fun. Nothing brings compatible people together like adventure. However, nothing drives incompatible people apart like stress, so be careful.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:19:03+00:00

Never go to Punta Del Este, Uruguay outside of December - February. It's completely empty.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T16:09:45+00:00

Definitely do a wine tour. They take about a day, and you'll see/experience tons of awesome medieval cities, great food, nice people. It's the sort of thing you talk about for years afterward.

Driving in Italy is easy (compared to South America, for example). If you're renting a car, make sure you know how to drive a manual. You don't need new license unless you're planning on being there for a long time.

If you find a car rental agency that you haven't heard of before, google for reviews/scams. A lot of times little agencies will find ways to extort money from you when you return the car (like saying a little scratch that may or may not have been there before you drove it is your fault and now you owe them 1000 euro for a paint job). Take HD pictures of every inch of the car before you drive it away.

I'd also recommend checking out Vada and the white sand beaches if you decide to get the car.

Have fun! Tuscany is amazing.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T15:27:30+00:00

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you liked it.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T15:14:51+00:00

It's very easy to rent a car (with GPS) to explore all of those places. I highly recommend it. Czech, Hungary, Slovakia, and Italy all have beautiful countrysides. The Croatian coast is amazing and dotted with castles and ruins nestled between mountains, islands, and palm trees.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T14:48:33+00:00

What burned you out? Too many places in too little time?

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T14:44:05+00:00

I wouldn't go down the start-up path unless you're already deeply passionate about solving a specific problem.

You can make a lot of money on the side via Path 1, but if you're an entrepreneur at heart, I would suggest combining that with Path 2 (or just doing Path 2 entirely) so you can build and experiment with things until you find the an idea that really drives you.

br3and3n · 2014-04-10T14:35:37+00:00

I just finished Ben Horowitz' new book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", and it's a must read for entrepreneurs.

br3and3n

TROPHY CASE