Anyone work remote and need to join meetings on these apps from across the world? I'm looking for resources on how to do this and which countries will be more difficult. I don't want the people on the calls to realize I'm not in my home country
Anyone work remote and need to join meetings on these apps from across the world?
By "people" you mean your employer?
99.9% of the time this is the case
why are WFHgays so scared of just asking their employer if they can frick off to whatever country?
My employer has people all over the world and doesn't care as long as I make my meetings and do my job, even from Antarctica.
because there are pesky things like data protection laws that regulate how personal data can be transferred from one country to another
it might not matter to you but it matters to employers
people have lost their jobs and companies been fined for breaking data laws
i'm a contractor and i have been turned down for contracts based in my home country because i spend a lot of time in asia
Because in 99% of cases it's not legal (tax reasons, data protection laws, etc)
Even though these laws do not actually get enforced in practice your employer is not going to give approval for something illegal or against company policy.
But if you do it without being obvious then nobody will care. Small companies without draconian HR might let you get away with being open about it thouth.
>wfh is legal
>it just us ok??!!
Lmfao have a nice day before somebody like me gets their hands on your scrawny israelite shitweasel neck.
Because it's a don't ask, don't tell situation. If they know you are doing this, then they have a legal obligation to tell you to cut it out. If they don't know, they have plausible deniability.
Knowingly employing a person in another country leads to a whole host of legal issues, that 99% of companies would rather avoid.
Get on the calls inside under artificial lighting. No windows, and try to keep your workspace as quiet as you can. Best option is a personal vpn back to a server in your own house/a relative's house back in your home country. Ideally you have a work laptop which you use exclusively for work that only connects via ethernet (wifi ALWAYS disabled) to your vpn router. This setup is virtually bulletproof and will work so long as you don't frick it up somehow. Bonus points if you get your setup in a state that has no income tax.
Don't use a commercial vpn if you can help it, it'll only work if your IT department is lazy. Make sure to test the setup at home beforehand. Also don't listen to the morons telling you to ask about it during an interview, that's a terrible idea. Generally companies will only MAYBE be ok with week or two, max a month or so.
you sound like the sort of person who sees life as an endless series of hostile challenges
that's NUTS homie!
>Best option is a personal vpn back to a server in your own house/a relative's house back in your home country.
Yeah but if anything happens I'd be fricked asking my mom to fix it. I've heard people mention Azure.
>Ideally you have a work laptop which you use exclusively for work that only connects via ethernet (wifi ALWAYS disabled) to your vpn router.
How am I supposed to only connect via Ethernet when most accommodations are wifi-only? are you talking about some kind of hardware router. I'd considered using Google Fi and USB tethering.
>Bonus points if you get your setup in a state that has no income tax.
Yeah I'm going to get a mail forwarding service in SD or FL. I made this thread about it
Sadly the employer will be in a state with income tax so i'll still have to pay
>Don't use a commercial vpn if you can help it, it'll only work if your IT department is lazy.
So it'll show that my IP is a VPN? I was thinking about ProtonVPN. What about Google Fi?
Thanks brotha!
Google fi hotspotting will kill your data service in a 90 day window. I have it, lasts forever if you are smart about data thought.
>How am I supposed to only connect via Ethernet when most accommodations are wifi-only?
even my budget hotels here in asia have a ethernet port in the room to use lol
>So it'll show that my IP is a VPN?
Either RDP into an Azure box and go from there a 4gb/16GB box is like 120/mo+pub IP for like 5.
Honestly if you can't go with letting your IP be known to someone outside the US this plan is going to frick up. Most the time if I want to see if someone is working outside the US we just look at their phone/email stats. I don't understand why people are trying to jump through so many hoops that add points of failure to this lifestyle
>I don't want the people on the calls to realize I'm not in my home country
I use google hangouts/meets
it doesnt say what country you are in
just use a custom background and you should be fine
unless you are in an extremely different timezone where its light / dark where you are and not where they are no-one will notice or likely care
thanks. i'm more concerned about connectivity issues and lag. i don't want to keep dropping off or cutting out during calls. i don't want my video to always be pixelated or laggy. then they will start to suspect something. i guess i could just blame my "home internet" but that excuse doesn't seem great
i use zoom very frequently. i use teams and google meet when it is required by particular companies i work with but zoom is better. i can't remember when i last used webex.
looking at my zoom dashboard there isn't any record of where each participant logs in from. as this would be self reported anyway it is unlikely that it could be done (i guess they could track ip addresses but that is not exact). maybe there is a way for a corporate to do it, i dunno
as for lag, i am currently in the uk and i recently had a meeting with a customer in eastern europe and there were more problems than when i am in asia and have meetings with customers in western europe. i am in an office with fast internet in both cases. i guess the eastern europe people had shitty internet. anyway it's not really a problem as long as you're not using shitty wifi in starbucks or something. if it is, just switch to audio only for a bit. use one of the backgrounds if you don't want people to see where you are.
I had a call today with 3 people and only at the end of the call did I find out they were from 3 different countries calling in.
Just change the background and have "office lightning" where you are. No orange hue lightning. Maybe get a ring light and put it on the bluest setting.
why does the hue matter? it's fine if it looks like a "home office"
Alternatively "Oh yeah my other camera wasn't recognized anymore so just using my built in laptop camera lol sorry."
Those things usually are 2-5MP, most companies really don't bother with anything that gets the job done.
Yellow light makes it look like home light at night.
Blue light makes it look like an office during the day
Just a) test your connection well in advance, b) be prepared to switch from crappy hotel wifi to your own mobile hotspot or vice versa. My company covers all my mobile costs, and mobile networks tend to be pretty good wherever I go. Hotel wifis range from bad to okayish, very rarely amazing, but I do test them anyway to have a backup. My personal phone also serves as a backup.
where have you done this?
>I’ve worked remotely in Thailand over teams. I told them I was there but they probably would not have known either way.
thanks this is helpful. you tried Ph?
>It’s not like there is significant lag with these apps going across the world.
that's basically what i'm trying to figure out.
>You realize these apps were designed for long distance communications, right?
if there is an issue it's likely due to the actual network than the app itself
I’ve worked remotely in Thailand over teams. I told them I was there but they probably would not have known either way. It’s not like there is significant lag with these apps going across the world. You realize these apps were designed for long distance communications, right?
If you work in tech your employer might know you’re in a different country just based off your connecting IP address and you’d need to use a vpn.
This is why you pay a few bucks more for a place with good internet and bring an Ethernet cable with you 3ft-1m is fine, lots of business hotels in Asia have jacks if you look for them. It's going to reduce your lag a lot by getting off wifi.
I use all those, lag is basically not noticeable as most our team is always remote so someones connection is always fricked.
>bring an Ethernet cable with you 3ft-1m is fine, lots of business hotels in Asia have jacks if you look for them. It's going to reduce your lag a lot by getting off wifi.
good tip
i use telnet
can you use a VPN to connect to the work VPN. Is there a way to do that?
I know this is about zoom but most remote jobs want you to VPN to the work network too. and they would know your ip
No you'd get a weird double tunnel issue, you could RDP into a VM at home or in Azure and then VPN from there
I'm not smart with that stuff . can you run a vm in azure and it's like having your own box completely and you install VPN software on it?
actually on second thought it wouldn't be doable anyway because most companies give you a work issued laptop or computer. in a situation with a work issued laptop, how would you hide your foreign IP when vpning in. is it literally impossible? can you plug it in to a intermediary physical device that will force the laptop work VPN to go thru another VPN?
you could leave your work laptop at home and take a lightweight personal laptop with you then remotely connect to the work laptop from wherever you are.
use gotomypc or something like that to connect from the laptop you take with you to the work laptop
the downside is you need somewhere at home to leave the work laptop switched on
Review your WFH policy and test the waters with your manager.
Depending on the resources you're expected to have, and the eagerness/competency of your IT/Security team, you might get easily found out.
There a lot of possible hurdles.
What happens if your laptop requires an unlock code (disk encryption) after being idle, restarted or shutdown?
An IPKVM-like solution would work better here.
You'd also have to make sure collaboration services work well (possibly some kind of passthrough for audio/video (webcam and microphone+audio)), and I think that could be a bridge too far (if your virtual device gets detected)
You can, you just need a StS VPN like Tailscale and you need to get a travel router with the StS VPN on the router level.
Yes you can, get a GLiNet travel router and setup a StS VPN.
>Get on the calls inside under artificial lighting. No windows, and try to keep your workspace as quiet as you can. Best option is a personal vpn back to a server in your own house/a relative's house back in your home country. Ideally you have a work laptop which you use exclusively for work that only connects via ethernet (wifi ALWAYS disabled) to your vpn router. This setup is virtually bulletproof and will work so long as you don't frick it up somehow. Bonus points if you get your setup in a state that has no income tax.
>Get on the calls inside under artificial lighting. No windows, and try to keep your workspace as quiet as you can. Best option is a personal vpn back to a server in your own house/a relative's house back in your home country. Ideally you have a work laptop which you use exclusively for work that only connects via ethernet (wifi ALWAYS disabled) to your vpn router. This setup is virtually bulletproof and will work so long as you don't frick it up somehow. Bonus points if you get your setup in a state that has no income tax.
THIS is the way. Also make sure you have a killswitch setup and a UPS for your server on site.
-Are you saying that this framework is bulletproof, and that the only reason why it's 'virtually bulletproof' is the execution?
I'm going to throw out some reasonable questions.
Assume this execution is perfect, where the ghost of Stanley Kubrick personally oversaw your lighting, cameras, and your meeting room.
-Using your laptop located in Japan, how are you going to access the work laptop located in Wisconsin?
-Using your laptop located in Japan, how do you get your webcam and audio get to the work laptop located in Wisconsin?
-I don't think this laptop needs a Common Access Card, but drive encryption is incredibly common.
What happens if the system requires pre-boot interaction?
-What happens if you're given a work phone that is customized and deployed with a hardened MDM profile?
-Or, what if you're provided with a crappy work phone with a SIM card?
I got an interview for a remote job tomorrow. What are some questions I should ask to get an idea how strict they'll be about my location?
This is what I was planning:
>What kind of hours are expected? Will they micromanage?
>Will I get a "work laptop" or can I use my own?
>VPN?
>How often will I need to visit the office (1-2 times/year?)
just ask directly. there is no point beating around the proverbial bush about it and then discovering there is some restriction once you have taken the job.
I don't mind asking "how strict will you be" but I'm hesitant to tell them I'll be outside the US
If I had a bunch of great options, I might tell them i'll be in SEA or whatever, but I only have like 2-3 good remote job opportunities without making a major career change so I don't want to blow them.
it would be even worse to take then job then find out they have restrictions about working location, or go travelling then lose the job because you have inadvertently broken the restriction.
the chances are that unless it is a government job or you will be handling confidential or personal data (and then possibly fall foul of secrecy and/or data protection laws) that they won't be all that bothered if you are overseas part of the time, as long as you still meet your work commitments of course. but there is only one way you are going to find out
it is better to be up front about these things otherwise you end up in the same stupid situation as the op of this thread
>SEA
LOL NO
As a DN who had a coworker who told them this, DO NOT SAY SEA. Say some place like Japan, Norway, Portugaul, or Korea. Holy frick. SEA has a stigma about it to being PAAAAARRRTTTTAYYYYY.
You're trying to show yourself in a light where you're just going to be working abroad for the sake of seeing shit on the weekends. You will get shut down with a solid NO if you are just some data entry or HD idiot going to ask the boss to work on a near 8-12hr time difference in a country where you may or may not be wasted or have reliable internet and power.
My conversation with my boss
>Hey going to be traveling over the next few months, keeping my normal 9-5 per my home timezone you need anything from me other than days off about this?
Nope.
>cool thanks
Seriously do not tell them more than they need to know, make a point no hours will be changing, and it will be business as usual. If your company has issues with shit like Geo-IP's you might want to ask WHY first, is it because your company is legally bound to info staying within X country? Data privacy laws are no fricking joke. An Azure VM to remote into is great because it has an out of band management system+east/west coast locations allowing you to cut lag down+big ass internet+IP for whatever country.
He has some of the more sound advice ITT DN isn't a party though it provides it at times and is really nice
>SEA has a stigma about it to being PAAAAARRRTTTTAYYYYY.
yeah maybe if you're some kind of greasy mouthbreathing loner who has a reputation for staring at womens' breasts and disappears for a few weeks at a time and then comes back with a suspiciously itchy crotch and is reluctant to share any pictures from their trip for some reason
for normal people it's just another part of the world. i'm from the uk, i spend about half of my life in asia. i have property and business there as well as in the uk. there is no stigma about it.
> i have property and business there as well as in the uk. there is no stigma about it.
Yet you don't understand the context in which the post is referring to. GJ. My post was more for the remote tech worker who's looking to DN and is going to basically live out of a 10/day hotel and is talking to his boomer boss about working abroad. SEA is a big no no for people to mention.
Everyone at my company knows I go to Thailand. Every time I ask for vacation to go there they approve it. Most people don't even know the difference between Thailand and Taiwan. Unless you're a total social autist, if you tell your employers you're "traveling" they're going to ask where you're going. And if you start lying and say shit like Japan then that opens up a massive can of worms that can be impossible to close. Oh you're going to Japan? Steve went to Japan last year? Where in Japan are you going? Take lots of pictures anon!
Just tell them you're going to Thailand with some friends. Or if you're ballsy like me just tell them you're going to Thailand to frick the shit out of your Thai gf.
>rent an apartment in Portugal ($800 a month, expensive luxury apartment)
>get up at 10am, roll out of bed, get a quick breakfast from local pastelaria
>quick 2 hour surf sesh
>get home, have lunch, relax for a while
>log on to work at 2pm, do some bullshit meetings, work for 2 hours
>log off at 5, go grab dinner at a local spot
>hit the bars/clubs, pick up a qt Portuguese woman
>pass out at 2am
>repeat
it's impossible to lose if you do this
know anything about portugal D7 visa?
Check this out: https://everybithelps.io/portugal-d7-visa/
From what I've read it's fairly easy to obtain, maybe a bit tedious, but the process will likely take several months. It only requires that you make about €7,200 per year, but that is supposed to be (in theory) passive income. For the most part they accept digital nomads as well.
I believe Portugal is also starting a new, specifically digital nomad visa in line with Spain, Germoney, Malta, etc.
Thanks. My plan would be to put $100k into an immediate annuity and use that ~$1k/month income for the D7, then spend the minimum 6months/year there for 5 years to get the passport. Ideally I'd like to spend less time there. I'm sure you can sneak into other EU countries without them realizing you're gone but probably not outside
ITT:
Probably going to lose your new job due to crappy implementation, taking a mile when given an inch, shitty advice or a combination of all.
>NNNOOOOOOO YOU HAVE TO TELL MR SHEKELBERG EVERYTHING YOU DO
I checked the board again, and this is still SighSee
You might as well have said
'New work laptop will come with CompanyX security software. Is this going to frick me over somehow?'
If you don't reasonably understand what work devices are capable of, if the IT/Network/Security team is decent, and if your manager is either tough or forced, you're gonna have a bad time.
>what work devices are capable of
can you elaborate?
>if the IT/Network/Security team is decent
how to mitigate this?
>if your manager is either tough or forced
thankfully this shouldn't be an issue
>you're gonna have a bad time
maybe but i'll accept the risk. worst case they fire me
I don't know which anon you are, but here goes...
Work devices (and to a lesser extent, services):
-Does your device require pre-boot authentication?
-What collaborative/meeting software is being used?
-Do you have a corporate phone?
Does it have an MDM?
Is a SIM card used?
Some IT/Network/Security teams don't have an incentive to rock the boat, especially if there aren't periodic reports/audits.
Perhaps your new organization doesn't have a security team, or the IT team is just a guy in logistics handing out laptops.
If the new guy (you) causes waves during probation, it's all the more reason for your manager to cut the line.
If you're getting job offers left and right, go for it, but at that point, you might as well dig your heels for a remote role that fits all of your requirements.
Lastly, ask a more appropriate board, and if you're worried, get the advice of someone in Security/IT/Network (preferably in that order) with a similar company.
Based on the last line, there's a good chance you want to hear what you want to hear.
>>what work devices are capable of
>can you elaborate?
modern corporate it security can do pretty much anything. they can log how much time you spend on the computer and what you do while you are on it. including installing any software, what websites you visit, who you email, where you are, all that kind of thing. google activtrak for an example. but this is one tool, most companies will combine it with others
however not all companies go to those lengths. but most companies will have some kind of security policy that you will have to stick to or risk losing your job. most people who work in IT for long enough know of someone this has happened to. as an example i worked for a company where someone emailed a screenshot from an internal application to their own personal email address so they could look up something after work and their contract was terminated.
>>if the IT/Network/Security team is decent
>how to mitigate this?
don't work for a company that goes to such extreme lengths to monitor their employees
New work laptop will come with SentinelOne security software. Is this going to frick me over somehow?
digital nomad in croatia here.