Techy Jobs on the Water?

[bklumpp]

Anybody think there's a market for computer, networking, or data security specialists for boaters or marina's?

[denverd0n]

Maybe a little bit, but I would bet you could make more money doing remote support and/or telecommuting jobs. As a DBA and software developer myself, this is my hope some day!

[betachz]

Yeah same here. I'm a graphic designer and web developer... hoping to continue the business i've owned for the last 10 years as a home based professional and translate that over to working on the boat. It's just me and some outside contaractors who do the work, so shouldn't change much being on a boat vs. home office. One of my big things is having enough of an internet connection while on the hook (as I don't want to live in a marina) to facilitate my business. I expecting a draw down in my business as I venture fourth but would like to still bring in some income as it SEEMS this should be possible.

I've also thought about offering my services to the boating community, marinas, people who need signs, and business/boat cards, etc... Not sure though, if there is money in that.

My goal is to have an average income of about $2k/mo. to support our life aboard.

[bruce in oz]

Originally Posted by betachz

My goal is to have an average income of about $2k/mo. to support our life aboard.

dinkum $2k/month liveaboard? my dream was to bum around the planet on my yacht fixing computers. i've pretty much lived that lifestyle for the last 5yrs or so. i always thought if i maintained $50 per week income i could survive and for most of that time i did, yachties tend to barter more than pay cash for computer repairs or training, when no expense is involved. i've helped out plenty who paid with home brewed beer or spirits and other worthwhile goods, fresh bread is a favourite.

five months ago (to the day,tomorrow) my uninsured yacht & i were shipwrecked, i hitched 3500kms picked up a programming job, bought myself a new yacht and next month leave this mine site for the yacht's maiden voyage and my return to bumming around the world fixing computers, on my $50/week budget.

attitude maybe, but i would have to be extremely extravagant to need $2k/month, more extravagant than i've ever been, even when earning over $20k/month (not now).

[Roaring Girl]

The cruising budget debate is never settled!

There are always endless debates about data costs while on the hook. Where are you planning to go? The answer might be very different if you were leaving the Indian Ocean for the Med, for instance.

Also, if it's a biz cost, that offsets a lot of the grief. We pay for a vodafone dongle in the Med because we have found it reliable, good coverage and good backup. That makes up (and more) for the additional cost that we incur as opposed to local sim-only dongles which then have to be set up and haggled through. But we are using it for biz purposes.

OTOH the vast bulk of our traffic is docs and pdfs. If we were hoping to transmit big data packages I might want to explore a satellite connection or something like that (getting outside my comfort zone) which very few cruiser yachts have, though superyachts do, and it might meet your needs. Once you've got that, you could be anywhere and working away and your only constraint will be generating the power to support your laptop!