I have been asked - “What is it that you do that allows you to move 2500 plus miles diagonally across the country at what appears to be the ‘drop of a hat’”? First, not as “drop of the hat” as it may seem - some personal and private information was kept private until we were ready to share it.
Back to topic… I have been self employed as a computer programming consultant for just over 22 years. I develop custom software, i.e. software for business “problems” that require something not doable by existing software packages. I started 22 years ago with dBase II - then Paradox and then into SQLServer with Delphi front end. The new and current platform is .NET with SQLServer using VisualStudio. I also work with Dreamweaver-HTML/CSS/JAVA/Php/MySQL for web and blog work.
I’ve worked with a department of UCLA since 1991 through 5 or 6 or 7 iterations of software that manages data for UCLA Capital Programs department, a department that oversees construction and renovation on the Los Angeles campus. I started working with UCLA when I lived in Los Angeles and continued when I moved to Montana in 1994 and also during the 7 months I lived and travelled in my motorhome in 2005. Some of the time the UCLA work has been enough to be my only work, but much of the time I also do work for other clients - smaller projects and currently some web and blog work. My love and expertise, though is database: design, flow of data, programming the front end for data entry, querying and reporting.
The work is transportable. With the internet, Wi-Fi, cell phones, aircards, group meeting software - it has become easier to work from anywhere. I’ve worked primarily from a home office since I started so I’ve developed a routine for working on my own. Even more important, I truly love what I do and feel fortunate to have been able to do this type of work from my “home” - wherever it is!