Journey into the Great North

Quitting a ten year career to take summer jobs in Canada

Most folks start out with summer jobs and eventually find themselves in careers, but I think the opposite is going to be more fun.

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Today marks the last day of my ten years, at SmartBear.
Worked on Swagger, was surrounded by curious people… and had a captured audience on Zoom calls, for my hilarious puns. It was great.

I’ll miss the daily interactions the most.
And so this post is for you, dear colleague, an invitation to follow my journey, that we have one way to stay connected.

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The Great North 🇨🇦

Adventure has beckoned. And Canada is where I will answer it.
Compared to my home in South Africa, it is close(ish) to the diametric opposite spot on earth (look up Antipodal towns!). Far enough away from home (30-odd hours) to feel like the expedition it will be.

When I land, I’ll have close to five-months savings.
No debt, and no kids.
In June 2025, for the summer months at least, I’ll begin my journey with a working holiday, starting in the east of Halifax, NS and heading west.
Taking odd jobs, that are social, hopefully more physical than mental, and most importantly, fun.

I don’t have it all figured out. For what I hope to achieve or where I will end up.

But I do hope to meet people, find love, get disoriented in the city, fish for salmon, see the northern wilderness, swim, sail and sometimes…
Sit in coffee shops – without a device to look into and just… sit.

Just sitting

Money 💸

Saving’s don’t last forever, even on a working holiday.
To keep me grounded, and for the sheer fun of it, the burndown of my finances is going to be tracked online, and I’ll play a game with myself.

It’ll be simple, when my savings drop to a certain threshold, I’ll have to apply for a regular 9-5pm job.
But… I’ll find ways to earn little bits, and every little bit moves that projected date, further and further out.

The game of moving D-day.
Maybe in the future, that day will be so far away it won’t even matter.

What’s it all for?

I hope it doesn’t take too much convincing that this is a hell-of-a-fun trip, but so is building something and taking roots.
If you spend any significant amount of time in a routine, you can lose a bit of yourself to it. When the lines become blurry between what you want, what makes you, you and what belongs to the routine.

I love tech and particularly software, it’s something I will inevitably be drawn back into. And my ambitions are not small. Life will find me searching out what is useful to others and turning it into a tool. If I find it along my journey, hell yeah, but even if I don’t… the journey will still be worth it.