gbchenry

Hi

I couldn't find any better title for my question. I'm posting here 'cause I'm swiss and I live there.
I'm a IT network engineer (30 yo - 7 years experience) and I work for a medium company based in Switzerland. Our customers (we are IT Provider) are 99% here and some just have a small branch office around the world.

I fly 3-4 times per year but not more and I'm looking for another job to basically fly more.

Here on FT I can see many SEN and some HON (well that's another level) and I was wondering if some of these HON / SEN work in the IT field as a network / security / system engineer. I know people working here in Switzerland and they don't fly, even working for bigger companies.

Here's my main question: do you know companies - not only in Switzerland - looking for people with my profile? I heard there are companies around the world which allow you to work from home because you have to travel alot. *I'm not looking for names* I just want your opinion regarding my question.

Thank you for your time.

airoli

I don't work in this field so I'm not an expert, but I have an acquaintance who is a network engineer for a large hotel company. He travels to new hotels relatively frequently. He (and the company) are US-based.

mbr

Honestly, I cannot really appreciate your request because I would wish I could travel a lot less. After several years on the road the whole thing is definitely not that shiny anymore.

Anyway there are several jobs in almost any industry where you have to travel. Typically of course you need to find a company which is operating globally and then your job would have to have global responsibility.

malmostoso

Consulting companies would be the obvious choices. I have a friend who spent the last 5 years on planes between Milan, Los Angeles, and Brussels. However, it's been all in economy so not exactly the glamorous life you imagine.

As others have said, travelling for work loses its appeal rather quickly unless you fly at the front of the bus. If you're young and don't have a family, go for it. Otherwise it's going to be a rather miserable life.

hcl

Welcome to FT.

If you are looking for a new job just because you want to fly more then: don't do it.

I'm a security consultant / architect. I have to fly "thanks" to the "consultant" part. I'm HON since 3 years. My previous and first job didn't have the travel part (well ok 4-5 times per year). I earn more money so I'm happy BUT flying is not that good: delay, cancelled flight, other passengers, tight schedule. Not to mention the fact you live in hotels.

My actual company is small (approx. 200 employees) and most of us are specialist (for instance I'm CCIE Sec, R&S and SP). Our customers pay the Biz class ticket and for Team Leader the company offers the First Class. Nice, but think about the first class like a SPA. Nice but if you go daily then you will get bored soon.

If you still want to fly then go for consulting or something like sales.

As the others already mentioned: pay attention: you may change your job -> flying alot -> in economy and trust me... if you fly 20-30 hours per week (long haul) in eco you will understand your choice was not the smartest.

Out of curiosity where do you live? In which part of the country?

weero

Don't do it - hog as much you can of this valuable currency and don't get sucked in to the frequent flyer cult. Standards degrade rapidly, frequent flyer privileges deteriorate at the rate of rotting mammoth, and the health impact is always negative.

Once you are 40 you will have seen the world and nothing might be more boring to you than traveling. I could not agree with mbr any more.

As for the IT - it is too homogenous a field, people can be readily drawn from the nearest location. What made me a million miler was the control software of medical equipment that constantly malfunctioned in the field. So it was basically my own failure that earned me millions of miles, not a special skill.
Looking back, I should have not regarded this as a privilege but as a sign to dash.

TPJ

I work for a large IT company and here people who travel most are Business Analysts (I am a BA Manager myself, with folks reporting to me from 4 locations), Client Delivery Managers and - as expected - Sales and Marketing Execs. Have you ever thought about changing your job role? Your IT background opens many possibilities...

oliver2002

This flying around for work was fun when 25-35, but nowadays at 40+ I just want to be back home on day 3 or 4. Been to most places, work pays for business class, hotels are nice too, but its not a vacation, the nice flight and hotel room are only a framework for intensive work conditions. Nowadays I insist on flying home on Friday evenings even if it costs a few hundred EUR more.

Concerto

Interesting thread, I get to learn about some of your skills and work rhythms. And it's a reminder that most of you sitting in premium cabins are on a pretty tight schedules and work jolly hard once at the destination. Some of you won't get to see much of the destination at all. I consider myself lucky to be able to pop into a Renoir exhibition, hike a trail in the hills, stop spontaneously for a cappuccino. It's not always like this, of course, but I reckon most of you won't have the time for such diversions.

In music, it's mostly economy travel, of course, but there are exceptions. For me it's irregular enough to still be able to enjoy it. I reckon most of the advice in the above posts is as good as you're going to get and comes from hard experience. It's just interesting reading about those experiences.

PetzLUX

@OP: you do not need a certain job to fly and become SEN/HON.
Personally, I do not fly for my job. It is all private travel. On 2-3 weekends a month I travel intra-europ. for city sightseeing, going to concerts,...
For holidays I go onto long haul.

So I do not have stress to be somewhere at a certain time. If my flight is delayed for an hour or two, I do not care. And (LX) HON Circle service takes good care of me in case of irrop.
I just love flying around. It is relaxing for me.
I have the freedom to decide when I want to fly, i.e. no flights this and next weekend.

And I like to do some "crazy" things:
A few years ago I combined a trip to NY to fly SQ21 EWR-SIN.
Combined a city trip to Glasgow in order to fly to Barra and land/start there on the beach.
Combined some other holiday in Scotland to fly Westray-Papa Westray.
Took a day off at the job to fly to Tokyo and back on a weekend to attend a birthday party.
Flying to Italy with friends for an evening and go out for an excellent pizza...

Concerto

PetzLUTZ is after my own heart! Those are great things to do and I reckon, if you are into flying like most people here are, you will never regret them. The crazy, or offbeat, things that one does tend to stand out as the most interesting and formative. For me, however, sometimes I really have to make sure I get there in time for a single rehearsal before the concert. There's been some real nail-biting moments with that, you can be sure!

fassy

But then you need a certain job which pays good enough to fly J on all of those trips... otherwise HON will be not reachable (even SEN will be a stretch). Or a good padded trust fund

I do consulting in Smart Grid Technologies and get around all over the world quite a bit but all in Y as long as I do not pay the upgrade myself (which I do now and then). Looking at the industry this is getting the norm. Even most of the guys as Siemens, GE, Ericsson or Accenture are traveling Y nowadays... only the leaderships teams enjoy J....

I usually just fly in a few days early and take a day or two off after traveling home to recover from 10 hours in Y. That way I also see and experience the places I'm going and meet a lot of interesting people all over the world. Some of them I call friends today.

weero

I do. When young, I used to enjoy traveling a lot and now I find all aspects of travel - with the single exception of take-off and landing - to be mostly boring.

The entirety what I learned from travel, I could have gathered with a week or documentary and youtube watching and merely believing the most blatant stereotypes. Overall a very sobering and disappointing experience.

I wished, I spent more time the lab and had more pets. The marvels of evolution and technology eclipse mankind's culture by so many magnitudes in my eyes that I regret having spent this much time and money on travel.

gru_muc

DON'T. You are very likely to regret it. Life has better things to offer than traveling for work. It get's just dull and annoying and even if flying first class and staying in 5* hotels the day will come where you will just prefer a homemade sandwich together with your loved ones over any caviar or whathaveyou. If you have the choice, dont't wilfully enter the vicious circle of a rootless jetset nomad.

A380*G

I would say go for it! All are unique and what brings joy to one may be failure for another.
All people giving advice from their own perspectives but surely there are people who love being on the road. Always.

Just because some of the guys here stating it's not worth it. Think about it: Why are they not changing job so they "do not need to travel"?

The only things you'll regret are the things you did not do.