I still remember the day we talked for the first time about working remotely in my company.

It was early 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the office was an environment full of daily technical discussions between developers, software architects, and system administrators. It was fantastic, and I learned a lot while working as a consultant at Amaris.

Now, I miss those times, I'm not going to lie.

At that time, I was working as an automation tester for an Inditex brand.

I was part of the QA department, and the team leader, along with the Service Delivery Manager, Lina, were discussing with HR and the directors to allow the automation team to work remotely on Fridays, as our results were strong and the project wouldn't be affected.

I remember vividly saying out loud that we were going to have a “fiesta” day when I first heard the news. Immediately after, Lina corrected me: “It's not a fiesta day, you moron—you still have to work!”

But from home.

Then COVID hit, and the company sent us all home.

Other teams struggled with the move to remote work. Many great developers at Amaris, working within other companies, lost their clients for that reason.

Amaris tried to keep them on internal contracts. I was lucky to be working for an e-commerce project, but the talented developers at Amaris who were working with Vueling, for example, didn't have that same luck.

When the world started to move past COVID, I was 24, single, and heartbroken, feeling like I wasn't enjoying life as much as I could.

From a professional perspective, everything was going great.

I was leading the project team, working on the QA department's internal framework, and starting to contribute to AI research projects—all while working remotely.

I still went to the office a few days a week out of habit.

At that time, I was living at my parents' house, and going to the office offered a nice opportunity to talk to and learn from international colleagues.

Working completely remotely was something I only did while traveling with friends or other remote workers for a couple of weeks at a time.

I started traveling across the country and realized I could do all my work from anywhere. Then, when the opportunity arose to join the Amaris Digital Nomad program, everything changed.

The program allowed consultants to work remotely from outside the country for three months every year. However, this wasn't available for every project, client, or consultant.

I took the opportunity, and as my friend says, “I live life x4.”

It has been a while since that trip, and I truly feel like a different person since then.

The way I view myself, problems, opportunities, and fears has shifted.

Maintaining this lifestyle wasn't always easy.

I had so many experiences in such a short time that there were days when the only certainty was my tasks in Jiranot what I would eat, where I would work, or even where I would sleep.

After years of spending money, living fast, and having fun, I started to feel my age.

I realized that as I grew, new fears began to surface.

While traveling, I met and connected with people from all over the world.

All these people shared something in common: they were living their best lives, but many hadn't built deep connections, weren't close to their families, or weren't thinking about starting their own families.

I started to feel that lifestyle wasn't for me. It was a great experience, but I wanted to head in a different direction.

Securing my own place, an apartment in my hometown became my priority.

Does that mean I'm going to live here for the rest of my life?

Does it mean I'm no longer a remote worker?

Will I never experience another digital nomad visa in a new country?

Those are the questions that come to my mind quite often.

But here is what I know:

If I am proficient, add value, do my work, support my team, and manage a healthy lifestyle while spending quality time with the people I love...

Where couldn't I work remotely?