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Following up with my post on why I think the nomadic lifestyle is a perfect one for Gen Y, I’m sure you would hear or even have some doubts about it. This post addresses the possible negative opinions and stereotypes with this lifestyle, starting with that I have received whenever I gave a hint about my desire to live such lifestyle:
- “My status in a particular location usually do not go as planned. You go with the cards that you’re given.” -Anonymous
- While I partially agree with this statement with nothing going exactly as planned, I disagree with the total compromise part. Nothing would go 100% as planned explains why my list of destination places of short-term opportunities includes more than 2 dozen (!!) places. Going with the cards that I’m given sounds like total compromise in positive terms, or “sucking it up” in realistic terms. For example, if you’re in a place where the only types of jobs available are oil and gas (energy sector) related, and you totally dislike that sector, would you suck it up, adapt to the local demands, and stay in your current situation? This is where I highly disagree with the latter statement of the quote. Besides, from a webinar that I have attended at Brazen Careerist about Location Independence, one statement that the hosts, Penelope Trunk and Ryan Paugh, mentioned really applies to everyone: “No matter how happy you are about your current situation, you should always think about where you want to go next, and not get complacent. Then get the act together and execute the tasks that would get you to where you wanted to go.” For me personally, I don’t think complacency is an option, since there is no such thing as a desired stable job at least from the last time I have looked. Part of the qualities of a fitting nomad, although I do sense a generation gap here, as that person is not in the same generation as me. Gen Y’s tolerances are typically fairly low.
- Parental objection
- You’ve guessed it. Usually parents aren’t fans of their children wandering off different places for their careers. They presume that sinking most of the salary on rent is not sustainable in terms of preserving and building wealth eventually for a family. They think paying that money instead to a mortgage is better financially. Again, this only works if stable jobs are available in a given location. If they are not available (which applies to a lot of jobs these days b/c circumstances change very quickly), then trying to pay down a mortgage while unemployed is hopeless. This also explains the growing number of foreclosures in the United States. Basically boils back down to the overcommitment point that I was previously talking about in this post. Hence, I have managed to use the words “career opportunities” and “flexibility” to ease the parental criticisms. As long as I am able to meet their obligations somehow, I should be fine, which I probably have a better chance meeting if I live by my desired lifestyle.
- Challenges of finding opportunities abroad as a foreigner
- This is not an easy challenge to overcome, as I’m personally overcoming right now. Since this process would be repeating fairly regularly due to my desired lifestyle, I’m also finding out how this can be mitigated. I highly agree arranging to do free work that I’m absolutely passionate about as described in page 13 of Charlie Hoehn’s guide would help lead to opportunities facilitating this type of lifestyle. Once you’ve completed enough projects while making meaningful contacts, the sky is the limit. The world is the limit!
- Needing an unlimited bank account.
- Conventionally, people think in order to be a nomad, huge amount of funds is needed. First a lot of money is needed to move between locations, then the living expenses while finding opportunities. I highly disagree on the expense and method arguments. Firstly, I would never move to a certain place without working out the details on the opportunities. I would likely (and highly recommend) a modified version of the strategy in the link I have included in the previous bullet point, as it’s a low-risk, high-reward (rate and satisfaction) option. Secondly, settling down somewhere is even more expensive than living the nomadic lifestyle. For example, let’s compare the case of renting and paying a mortgage. If gone unemployed for a considerable period of time, mortgages aren’t easy to get away from (unless the house is closed or abandoned waiting for a foreclosure); if renting, it’s comparably easy to move to a place for the time being with low living expenses, as there are minimal obligations; also, there is more available/accessible opportunities b/c not of not being tied to any particular location.
- Homesickness.
- This is understandable. It is one of the most challenging drawbacks. However, if planned properly, this can be mitigated by planning sufficient amount of trips back home. That way, at least an attempt of a balance can be made.
What is your choice regarding the choice between the two lifestyles? Why? Regardless your choice, if you have the will and patience, you can always work out the details and execute it any time you want.
Stay tuned for some tips that I have gathered and enlightened in next post of this series! Meanwhile, feel free to drop me a line below or at blog@sysil.com.
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Comments
03.12.10
I'm totally nomadic. Perhaps not in the same way where I could pick up and move within a week, I'm more about getting a few months to have the next location figured out. Like you said, planning ahead actually is more rewarding. I do get somewhere and already think about my next location. It may seem like I don't give places a chance, but I've been on the move since I was born. There's so much to see, so much to experience, I can't imagine being in one place the whole time. Now, I will go back to the familiar, and that's where I get some consistency. As I keep moving, I get better at it, and I get to expand the list of locations.
03.12.10
As a child, I moved about 10 times before we settled down. My husband moved 17 times since beginning his career 10 years ago (Africa, England, N.A.). I've moved five times in the last three years. Not only has it been incredibly expensive, stressful, and eye-opening it has taught me that I don't want to do it anymore! I've lived in Miami, San Diego, Encinitas, Reims, and now Annecy and I won't move if somebody offered a million dollars. There is certainly a point in our lives and careers that moving for the sake of moving is no longer beneficial. It makes it hard to network (asides from our online presence) and difficult to take on a local market share if we're constantly on the road. I certainly think that moving and going to different jobs when you're young, unattached, and without kids is a great learning experience and helps you identify your real lifestyle desires. When you're at a certain point and your company won't pay to relocate your spouse, kids, pay off your mortgage/reimburse cost you're almost better off re-evaluating your current lifestyle and analyzing the current market needs that you can fulfill than picking up again.
03.12.10
I totally didn't anticipate my article to be featured, but I do enjoy the surprise. Secondly, Leslie, I think you misunderstood my point. I do agree that moving for the sake of moving is not the wisest idea. However, as a Gen Y without much responsibilities (and have no intention to tack on more unnecessary responsbilities such as kids, mortgage, etc.), I'm only looking for short-term contracts to maintain my freedom when the contract expires. I'm highly dependent on my online presence. I don't anticipate all the companies that I'm going to be associated with would be willing to pay for relocation costs, but at the same time, if I'm more financially successful in this day and age b/c of my ability to take advantage of being able to live this lifestyle (while finding ways to be a minimalist and cut down on costs), I don't think relocation should be a problem. I just don't want to be too attached to a place causing me to run into problems later. Those are my 2 cents.
03.12.10
Having been military, and moving every 2-3 years to different locations around the globe, as well as short term temporary duty in other places, I can say that, while it's easier and less expensive as a single person moving on the government's dime, it's still a real challenge in so many ways.
After being in for 14 years, I finally got tired of not having any "roots", a place I could call my own, to be settled and established, and to know thoroughly. The whole "toss your duffel on the floor and call it home" business, just took too much of a toll, physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.
03.12.10
I think this topic is really a question of personal preference. I think if one to feel safe by having a root, getting established, and a place to call his/her own, then this is not a good lifestyle. But if someone acknowledges about the fact that stable employment in one location and being stagnant at a particular place is completely not an option, then I think this is the perfect lifestyle. Can't have both wings and roots. Those with wings who love using it may argue otherwise. I'm not saying this is an easy lifestyle to live in terms of dealing with the toll of mental, physical, emotional, and financial abuse from travelling and constantly throwing the duffel on the floor and call it home. What I'm saying it may be worth doing if there is more toll dealing with getting absolutely nowhere in where you're located, or if you're just burnt out and sick of a particular place.
03.15.10
Stanley, I think in your case as my husband experienced as a single twenty something engineer, it's great to move and go where the wind takes you given opportunity - especially in an international setting. I agree with JRandom42 that even if you're unattached, the chances that you'll eventually get tired of moving for jobs become greater with age. Not to say that would be 2-4 years from now, perhaps eventually.
You do raise an important topic of discussion for professionals of all ages that mobility to go to the labor demand is important. It's like the industrial revolution with the move from the farms to the cities to find work. These days, career opportunities abound all over the globe and the ability to move to various locations is another positive attribute a professional can possess. That also poses the question are we able to maintain a simpler lifestyle in the event that we must move to meet economic/career objectives?
Good stuff, Stanley.
03.19.10
Hi Mr. Lee!
I prefer the nomadic lifestyle, I think it keeps you on your toes, and you definitely get a lot of experience. But it can hurt you when you're being considered against a more "stable" candidate.
I've lived and worked in Korea, Indonesia, east coast and west coast America. I had amazing experiences in each of these places, and wouldn't take any of it back.
People look at my resume and see holes in it where I was working outside of the industry, and in another country. I've rarely been unemployed for more than a few months, at yet, people are wary of my radical moves.
Hiring managers and potential supervisors give me an appraising look that says, "How long are you going to stick around?"
"Where do you see yourself in five years?" I HATE that question! I think next time I'll say, "On the moon, checking out the seedlings in my garden because World War 3 made the planet uninhabitable!"
GOD! It's SO IRRITATING to be judged on the standards of the Boomers. No one is giving out any gold watches these days! Who stays in one place when there are so few ways to get ahead in the same company over time? We all know they don't care about us! They only want more profits, and to use our energy up!
03.19.10
It's nice to hear another person who shares the same views as me. I do realize that hiring managers only care about the profits of the employer so that they can get their bonuses. I also know about the question of where I see myself in 5 years, as that would give me a clue that they are judging candidates on the standards of boomers. I think it's important that employers value candidates for who they are, even if the candidate prefers to live nomadic lifestyles like Mazarine and myself (etc.). Valuing and hiring candidates for who they are, not just looking for someone to sap the energy up for their profits, may actually be better off for them. I don't think there is such things as stable jobs anymore, and I think employers need to be able to acknowledge that whenever they see candidates making radical moves for their self pleasure and making ends meet. There is no such thing as climbing the ladder anymore in this generation.
03.19.10
I also hate that "5 years from now" thing...and I must never have answered it correctly, because I have never really been given a job that required that kind of interview. This is why I wouldn't mind if I could become fulltime freelance.
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