I've been working remotely for a remote job and contracting on the side for almost 2 years now. Although I'm traveling from country to country, sometimes, when I'm in the same place for too long, I'll still get bored. 

My full-time remote job is just like a regular job. My contracting gig (It's like freelance if you're not familiar with contracting) isn't that demanding. I only code 3-4 hrs max per day, sometimes even less, depends on my performance on that day. It's not another full-time job where I have to be committed because the management treats me like an external laborer. I don't get involved much in the business side of things, and most of the time I just have one minute standup a day. We have a scrum master who creates tickets with very clear specs, and I just nail them down one by one being like a specialist. I enjoy the money because the work is within my comfort zone and nailing a niche skillset sharpen my skill even more. They allow me to choose whatever stack I want, so I use the same stack I used in my main job, double win!

Since remote jobs, in general, care about the deliverables, and thanks to ChatGPT, I've never worked 80 hours per week in 2 years and doing fine coz their expectation is quite low.

That's one good thing about working for a foreign company. If you take 25k ringgit working for a Malaysia company, you will be squeezed 100% and take heavy responsibility. But since the local talents of an expensive country are expensive, they're fine if I perform at the mid-level.

I'm not sure how accurate WakaTime is. But these weekly stats are about right how many hours in total I code in vscode:


I've set a high goal for 2024: To make 1mil ringgit

I accepted the new remote job offer. It's not a great offer because it's just a mere 4k usd a month.

I did the math, and it's possible to hit 1mil ringgit total if I use the capital to invest. It lacks just 7% to hit 1mil. I don't have to worry about tax because I don't live in Malaysia. If I were to do it full-time in Malaysia, for 1mil income, I'll have to pay a 30% tax. 

Even though I know I can't save the entire 1mil, coz my living expenses will be at least rm 80k a year. But man, the 1mil revenue still looks like a nice figure to aim for.

I paid for the Calm app for meditation. I hoped it would help me focus more because I suspect I wasn't disciplined enough to maximize my output.

I bought a Jordan shirt (148 usd, the most overpriced cloth I have ever bought) for self-affirmation to convince myself that this plan is doable.

'Hell yeah, I'm an athlete solo dev who will make 1 million ringgit in just under a year!'

I thought about many aspects I must prepare for, like buying meal preps instead of eating out, which will save time, and staying closer to the coworking space etc.


Why it didn't work and why I called a stop after 3 days.

On the 1st day, it's the first day like every job... I set up my SSH, cloned the repos, and attended the first team meeting... and on the 3rd day, I'm ready to quit, lol! 

Adding up what I already have, my brain can't chill and take a normal break. I expected this, but it's worse than I thought. 

Earlier on, I thought I just needed to stick my butt longer in a chair. I signed up for a high-end coworking space - WeWork, to force myself to work harder. I tried working there for a week before the new gig started. WeWork in my area will close at 11:59pm, but I couldn't even stay until 10:00pm. It's just too demanding to work that long and still has the energy to work when you see people leave one by one in the evening. 

Switching contexts between many projects at once is dampening my mood. I don't have the drive to juggle between many plates. I can't code for 12 hours a day on vscode and work 14-15 hrs. My eyes are just too tired to code on 3 repos every day for different problems. It's like you finished some tasks for A and next is B, and there's still a C! Imagine you start working on project C at 8pm, but you were in the office in the morning. It's so tiring.

I need to sacrifice the quality of my work and focus on speed alone for the sake of getting things done. The entire coding experience is awful when there's no art in making good software anymore. Although many times when I see shit code in a legacy codebase, I just go ahead to patch things, but when you always have more things to work on in a day, you care more about completing tasks than using proper solutions.

My break time is so tight and I don't feel any leisure enjoying it. Before this, I can have a long lunch hour if I want or do the standup meeting in the train stations, then find a cafe to code a little. But with this new gig coming in, even a 15 minutes feels so expensive. I always have to watch the clock from the hour I wake up. I might need to work 6-7 days a week and have no time for other leisure activities. It's soul-crushing.

I asked myself what's the point of living this prison life while living abroad. This lifestyle will not allow me to continue to travel as a digital nomad. Each city and country will be the same when I don't have time to explore it. Also, a tight schedule would create an entirely new lifestyle. I have to drop the things I like to do. It's very different from doing a side project because you can skip it for a day or two. I find value in doing unproductive things like surfing twitter, reading junk on reddit, or watching some youtube videos for fun. Those things relax my mind and are a part of my life. 

I hike almost every weekend during autumn. Isn't it that experiencing life is the most important since life is so short?

I'm not exactly sure why I made this plan in the beginning. Maybe it was the allure of the number of 1mil. By doing intensive work for 2.5 years, I could be among the top 1% of wealthy individuals in Malaysia through sheer labor work without running a business. Maybe it's because I feel bored not being productive enough with what I have, but I'm glad I tested it out. It was a failed attempt, but I learned something.

Another point I realized is that the number isn't as significant as enjoying the moment. 1mil ringgit may sound like a substantial amount, but its value is way less because Malaysia is a relatively less expensive country. The top 1% in South Korea and Singapore have significantly greater wealth, and that's just 2 Asia countries. 

If I choose to live in Malaysia, I won't need much. A work-life balance job is good enough, and I'll find things to enjoy in my spare time.

I aim to make RM1mil a year. And why I quit in 3 days.

If you're a top 1% tech worker in Malaysia, this guide is irrelevant, and you're probably already a CTO in a MNC, making 100k ringgit per month, or an owner of your startup.


But if you're a dev who, after years of working, still hasn't learned the kiss-ass skill to climb to the top (same as me), or you disliked the traditional career path, then my interview experience might offer some insights. At least I don't write this guide with just one offer under my belt.


How is it different than finding a local job?


For local jobs, you can easily land a few offers. What worked for me for local job hunting was networking. There was even a recruiter who got a commission twice for placing me. Since many local recruiters knew I was a serial job hopper, we always stayed in touch. Also, if your tech stack is shiny, people will approach you. If your inbox in LinkedIn is empty, and no spam from random recruitment agencies, something is not right.


But when it comes to an international remote job hunt, you're entirely alone. You might even be at a disadvantage because the West or more developed Asian countries might stereotype you as cheap labor (Some perceive Malaysia is just like Vietnam or the Philippines). I was once asked is it okay to be paid 2k usd a month. Bloody hell, my previous job was a lead developer, what were they thinking?  


There are many lousy companies that hire remotely coz they want to exploit the cheap labor from 3rd world countries. Your potential colleagues might determine your pay. I'm not trying to be racist, but If I see a company where the devs are full of Vietnamese located in Vietnam, I will not apply.


Since getting an international job isn't easy due to various factors like competition, stereotypes, time zones, etc., you need to learn to move past your unsuccessful attempts. If you're trying to become the next Lee Chong Wei, you'll focus on the training most of the time. But in hunting for remote jobs where you just need to succeed once in many attempts, your strategy should not focus on technical skills alone. Many developers are underpaid because they never explore opportunities and they simply don't interview enough. They lack sales skills. 

I've interviewed many developers who can't listen properly. I ask about the difference between A and B; they tell me what A and B are. Sales means you find a match between your core skill and what the company needs, that's where you squeeze the money. Some company is not willing to pay for x skill but still wants to hire a mid-level cheap labour to do x, then you don't want to fall into that trap. 


As a dev, you're like a product. You sell what you've got, which is your ability to do the job. But have you marketed yourself enough? Many developers accept whatever jobs come to them.

Sales = how you sell yourself in an interview

Marketing = how you reach to your potential employers 


If you want to find the best deal to charge for your service (selling your time for money), make a routine of sending out your resume? If an offer is below your desired rate, forget about it and move on. Repeat that with low expectations. What's the point of mastering so much only to get paid so little? Must you sell your time to the Malaysia market? I want to eat Japanese ramen in Japan, and I don't want to feel the price is expensive. The solution is to sell my skills to Australia maybe? What's the logic of not looking out and work for a Sdn bhd company locally? I don't need to know ks8 and know 5 different db technologies to get paid handsomely. Coz they're international buyers who want to pay for my html skills. There's an unfair dismissing return skilling up solely on your technical skills in the Malaysia market. Many Malaysia companies are too poor to pay for your excellent dev skills. And to me, life is too short not getting paid fairly for the time you've invested, especially when you have to burn your spare time trying to keep up in tech.

How about local Malaysian companies that expect me to master from A-Z, do mobile, web, db and DevOps yet pay me so little? I simply avoid it and happily give that chance to someone else. I will find buyers who are willing to pay the better rate outside of Malaysia.


Also, You don't need to be the best; it's not a competitive sport with only one champion. It's different from trying to be the next Lee Chong Wei. You just need to be good enough to get a job. You better be the best at handling rejection because there are many factors that you didn't get a job. Sometime you did very well but another person has done better. How do you avoid meeting that person? You can't. You need to keep trying. Timing and luck is important. You increase your chance of striking a remote job by investing longer time and making more attempts; Chong Wei had no choice but to train as hard as possible because the sport he's in can't rely on luck so much, he have to be better when he's on the court, as there were no two winners for one Olympic gold medal.


1. Be better than at least 80% of the local candidates from Malaysia in your technical foundation and learn how to articulate the technical terms. Communication is a basic expectation in an international setting. Although you don't need to be the best (we all know that Malaysia has a lot of mediocre developers who can't talk). You still need to raise your level if you haven't received any offers after a year of trying. I'm concerned that you might struggle to perform the job after you accept the offer.


2. Put more effort than the local candidates to reach out more. Throw yourself out there, including talking to those "wolf companies" who will try to exploit you, you'll still learn a thing or two. How much time and effort you want to invest is up to you. Make an effort to showcase your proof of work. It's not mandatory, but it's a plus since you can compete with anyone who can brags on their resume with just words.


3. Learn to be 100% better at ignoring ghosting and failures. Did you know that getting a few job offers at once is a Malaysia thing? In China, a single job attracts hundreds of applicants. Malaysians need to become accustomed to ghosting and losing job offers and pls don't cry baby. Get used to it. Teaching this skill is impossible coz you need to train through experience. I couldn't sleep after losing twice in the final round for a job that pay 100-200k USD per year. It was so close! But through that failing experience, I've improved and learned how to play the game better.


It's hard coz it's uncertain, and you don't hear many success stories from the public. Sometimes, when the macro environment is against job seekers, you'll feel useless looking at the number of openings. But in a bad job market, even those dev who lost their job in big tech companies struggle. At least in Malaysia, the rent is cheap, and you can chill while patiently waiting. Getting a remote job from a nearby developed country like Hong Kong/SG that pays a higher than many "t20 dev" local standards is doable. (coz we're still cheap labor to them compared to their local talents lol).

The strategy for hunting a remote job as a not so exceptional software dev

I have been a software developer since 2014 and have worked in startups and large corporations, mainly in Kuala Lumpur, until 2020.

I am currently traveling around and living as a nomad, working remotely on my laptop.

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