Hello! Welcome to “Location Independent, International Jobs,” the Wednesday series where I showcase stories from people who have become location independent, work internationally, and/or continuously travel. I’ve interviewed all kinds of people who all have slightly different takes on location independence or living internationally. Recent posts include Joney Talks, Ruby from a Journey We Love, Pete of Do You Even Blog?, and Heather.
Guest posters will be sharing how they became location independent or how they got jobs abroad, but most importantly, they’ll share how their lifestyle has positively or negatively affected their finances and how they got to the life they’re living now.
The reason for this series is to showcase people who have already achieved what the ThreeYear family is working towards: location independence and/or securing international jobs. Today I’d like to introduce Jalpan, a mechanical engineer by day and personal finance/investing blogger by night.
He blogs at Passive Income Engineering. Jalpan’s post tells us how he moved abroad, first for college, then for a one-year international assignment in Houston, Texas.
Let’s here the engineer’s perspective on international jobs! Take it away, Jalpan!
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I was born in India and moved to Jakarta, Indonesia with my parents when I was 6. I later moved to Singapore for college when I turned 17. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I’m 27 today and am single. I need to step up when it comes to putting myself out there and going on dates.
Jalpan spent a year working in the US, and made sure to site see while he was here!
Currently, I am a mechanical engineer by day and personal finance/investing blogger by night:)
My blog is Passive Income Engineering and its main focus is on building scalable and sustainable streams of income that can run with little or no time on your part. I am an engineer and write with an engineer’s perspective. I want to know how things work and make them work for me. That’s how I came up with the name.
How did you make the decision to move internationally?
My first move from India to Indonesia was entirely due to my parents.
For college, Singapore seemed to be the best option for me since their universities are recognized internationally and place well in international rankings.
I have always been interested in entrepreneurship and when I found out that my university had a work+study program specifically geared towards entrepreneurship, I was dying to go. It involved interning in a tech start-up and taking lessons in entrepreneurship at a partner university in Stockholm, Sweden.
Lastly, my one year in Houston was a training assignment from my current employer. It was crucial to my professional development and since I was single and loved to travel and experience new cultures, it was a total no-brainer for me.
Hello! Welcome to “Location Independent, International Jobs,” the Wednesday series where I showcase stories from people who have become location independent, work internationally, and/or continuously travel. I’ve interviewed some fascinating individuals who all have slightly different takes on location independence or living internationally. Recent posts include Mrs. Adventure Rich, Kerri, who owns a top-earning Etsy business, Steve from Think, Save, Retire, and Pete of Do You Even Blog?.
Guest posters will be sharing how they became location independent or how they got jobs abroad, but most importantly, they’ll share how their lifestyle has positively or negatively affected their finances and how they got to the life they’re living now.
The reason for this series is to showcase people who have already achieved what the ThreeYear family is working towards: location independence and/or securing international jobs. Today I’d like to introduce Jonathan, a Belgian financier and blogger who’s lived abroad for the past ten years. His story is really interesting, because he moved to Norway, then moved “abroad” to Paris for a year on a work assignment. Today he tells us why he took on that project and how it’s worked out for him.
Jon and I chatted via Skype and here’s what he had to tell us:
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I am from Belgium, and I lived there until I was 25. My background is in finance and business [there’s a unique business engineering degree in Belgium that combines engineering and finance, Joney explained, and he took classes in chemistry, physics, and math first and then eventually finance]. Then after my studies I wanted to start my career with a 6-month internship abroad (with the thought of moving back after the internship) and this led me to Norway. I found an interesting internship and I thought, “okay, let’s do it.” It was a 6-month internship and was the start of my career. I didn’t know much about Norway before going there. The internship became a real job, and then I got another job that sent me to France.
Jonathan from Joney Talks in front of the Royal Palace in Oslo, Norway.
How did you make the decision to move internationally?
The first step to go to Norway was to join AIESEC (pronounced eye-sec), the international student organization. And they give opportunities to students around the world to do internships abroad. I joined that community to find a job abroad [Laurie: they’re one of the largest student organizations in the world that I’d never heard of, and are in the US, too, for those looking for internships abroad]. I didn’t have in mind to move to Norway specifically, but an opportunity came along there and I took it.
