The Anthropology of Software
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The Anthropology of Software |
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April 27, 2006 Tropical island life for a software developer Working in the software industry has great potential for allowing one to go and experience the tropical island life. As a programmer you might find an opportunity to work on an island like I did, or as a Micro-ISV owner and/or independent consultant who just needs Internet access you could write your own ticket and spend your days with a laptop at the beachside bar. In the latter case, here is my recommendation: go for six month stretches on a tourist visa rather than officially moving there. As someone who grew up with the moderately cold winters of southern Ontario, Canada, I always thought it would be great to live on a hot tropical beach somewhere. I'd been working as a C/C++ programmer in Virginia for 5 years after college when the opportunity presented itself.
In 1996, a co-worker at the office circulated a posting he had found on the Internet for a C++ programming job in the Carribean. At first, like everyone else I said "wouldn't that be amazing!" but did not seriously entertain the idea, even though I was one of the few people who was unmarried and relatively free to make such a major move. But a week later the idea was mentioned again and I decided to shoot off an e-mail. That led to an interview with someone from the Holland-based company, and then an expense paid week on the island of Curaçao to check it out! When you emerge from the plane in Curaçao you are invariably greeted with a warm blast of air. Before you descend the steps to the tarmac you see the small airport backed by a bluff -- a cliff or escarpment covered in green bushes and topped by cactii. People watch and wave from the upper level of the terminal as the passengers make their way inside. I remember looking up and wondering if one of those people was my future employer.
In fact my future boss Ruud did meet me there, and he organized a wirlwind tour of the island that week. I stayed at a hotel in Otra Banda which happened to have some sort of modeling convention going on so there were gorgeous women constantly coming and going or being photographed by the pool. The software company office had floor to ceiling glass on two sides overlooking palm tree filled residential neighborhoods. Needless to say I was convinced the island life was for me. Back home in Virginia, people were pretty amazed that I was going through with it. There were a lot of preparations. I had to disentangle myself from my job, ship my car, end my rental lease. I could barely believe it was going to happen.
For the first month in Curaçao, I shared a nice new condo with the other new hire, Attila. The place had it's own incredible swimming pool. We had loaner cars from the company and we began getting acquainted with all the things to do on the island, not to mention our new jobs. In the meantime the customs bureaucracy with our cars being shipped to Curaçao from the US turned out to be really awful. It tied up our cars for several months in endless wrangling and numerous fees that eventually involved what in hindsight must have been a bribe to finally get our cars out. Probably the most important skill for survival on the island is the ability to relax and go with the flow. For me at least, this is way easier said than done! But we managed :) Attila posted a lot of great information and pictures (some of them mine) of this charming little paradise island just off the coast of South America at Attila's Curaçao Page. Attila and I eventually got our own places. I found a nice roomy apartment; he rented a great house and we planted a row of palm trees in his yard. I'm not going to tell the whole story of my time in Curacao, but I wanted to tell something about it after reading a couple of discussions: Living "The Life" on a tropical island? and See the world while working in IT? From there I came across this loud warning: Bali, Thailand or anywhere in the tropics is fecund, incredibly fecund. Things grow. Fungus grows - everywhere. Bugs grow everywhere. Everything is green. Computers are not green. Modern appliances are not green. All the conveniences we enjoy in the middle latitudes rust or fail in the tropics. Expect many difficulties maintaining your equipment and lifestyle. Not true of Curaçao! I have lived in places like that too, but Curaçao is basically a desert island. Things do grow there, but not like in the wet tropics. The rain comes in short drenching showers, one minute it is dry and sunny with only a few clouds, then there is pouring rain for 20 minutes, then it is sunny again and everything is dry in 10 minutes! The ants will find any food you drop or leave out, but in general you are not overwhelmed by critters and growing things like you can be near a rainforest.
Though it is not your lush tropical look, the dryness of the climate has benefits. But there are other detractors to keep in mind:
But the little inconveniences are entirely outweighed by the attractions and the general overall amazing experience of island life.
I stayed for 15 months. It was an incredible time in my life, but ultimately it had to come to an end. The Washington D.C. Virginia region called me back with all its activity, commercial efficiency and job prospects. There is only so much relaxing in the sun that an ambitious northerner can take!
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