Tag: traveling climber

Jobs for the Traveling Climber: University Admissions & Test Prep. Tutor

Careers for Climbers (Series)

In this interview series we talk with people who spend their time traveling and climbing, while still holding down a steady income. From nurses to coders, writers to outdoor guides, we want to show that you don’t have to go full dirtbag to live the itinerant life. Because contributing to your 401k while seeing the world doesn’t sound so bad.

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Name: Jojo Yee

Job: College Admissions and Test Preparation Tutor / Advisor


Editors Note:

Jojo and I met on the internet via the Traveling Rock Climber’s group. I was looking for recommendations for climbing hostels, and Jojo reached out with her favorites: Stone Drum House in Shigu, China and Kezban’s Guesthouse in Geyikbayiri, Turkey. We got to chatting and I learned about her work, as well as her other projects, including her own excellent travel blog, her efforts with animal rescue and rehabilitation (@liberatewings), and forays into art.

Jojo getting back to it after a recent injury. Photo courtesy of Jojo Yee.


1) What do you do?

I’m a college admissions and test preparation tutor. I help students ready for things like the SAT, GRE, GMAT.


2) How did you learn about the world of test prep?

I have been teaching standardized test preparation since 2004 after university. I had taken the LSAT, GMAT, and GRE after my first degree in university, hoping to gain entrance into law school or graduate school.

At the time, I did not know that there were standardized test prep companies out there, as I guess they weren’t all that popular in Canada. It wasn’t until I moved to Hong Kong that I realized it was a thing and started teaching at the Princeton Review Hong Kong.

Since then, I taught the SAT, TOEFL, GMAT, and GRE regularly and realized that there was huge potential for me to start my own test prep company when I moved to Bangkok, Thailand.

I owned and worked [that] full time until we merged with another company, and then I took some time off.


I don’t just see myself as a tutor, rather a mentor to students. I try to be there for them even if it’s not questions that have to do with the tests.


3) What are some of the perks of the job?

I enjoy flexibility in my schedule now.

I have 3 dogs, a cat, and an animal rehabilitation project that I spend time and finances on. My income from my job funds my trips and other side projects like animal rehabilitation and donations to other causes.

I get to have at least few weeks off at a time, which allows me to either go back to Canada to visit my family or head out for a climbing trip somewhere in the world.

“Sometimes falling is the beginning of successes. I always have to tell myself to not be afraid of falling. Do what you can and let yourself get into the flow of things.” Photo courtesy of Jojo Yee.


4) What are some of the challenges?

I really need to prioritize and balance my schedule to accommodate the students with time away.

My responsibility is to my students and I make sure that I am here for them when they have questions. I’m no longer a “tutorial center” where students just come for planned classes, [so my work extends a bit beyond a typical classroom setting].

I like to ensure that the students are really ready for their exams, even if it means spending more time keeping in touch with them and following up to see if they’ve been practicing what we’ve covered in class.


You can always plan ahead to get more free time.


5) What motivated you to pursue these paths?

I didn’t have this kind of guidance when I was entering university, so it seemed to me that it was more a mentor program rather than a job. 

Even after I exited my tutorial school, I kept getting referrals from old students, so the clients just kept coming and I found that I enjoyed the new found freedom of managing my own schedule and teaching when I needed to.

If students needed to get in touch with me when I’m on a trip, all I required was the internet to access whatsapp or messenger to answer questions.

Hanging with Honnold. Photo courtesy of Jojo Yee.


6) How has your life changed since you started this?

It has been rewarding to see students get into colleges and universities. I am in touch with many of the students I’ve taught since 2004 and have seen them graduate, get their first job, get married, and even have kids. [Editor’s note: How cool!]

Sometimes, I get nice messages from parents saying they’ve noticed a change in their child’s behavior or personality towards school or life after studying with me. So I don’t just see myself as a tutor, rather a mentor to students. I try to be there for them even if it’s not questions that have to do with the tests.


7) How does this job allow you to travel and climb?

SAT and ACT exams happen during certain months. I’ll schedule courses and classes up ’til the test date and then I’ll have some free time to travel and climb until I have to start the next course.


8) What does a “typical” week or month look like?

Currently, home base is in Bangkok. My typical week varies depending on whether the students are on holidays (i.e., I’m busier: Teach everyday). Or if they are at school (I’m more free: Teach after school for a few hours and on weekends).

“Who love kisses?! Hahaha.. Getting some snuggle time in with Shakespeare at @liberatewings.” Photo courtesy of Jojo Yee.


9) What do you wish you knew when first starting out?

…Never really thought about that…


10) What is one lesson learned from your journey so far?

You can always plan ahead to get more free time. I’m working on that now…

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Thanks, Jojo!


You can see more of Jojo’s adventures on her blog, Consmos Wanderer, and her love for animals on her instagram account (@jojoyees).


Feature photo courtesy of Jojo Yee

Jobs for the Traveling Climber: Freelance Front-End Web Developer

Careers for Climbers (Series)

In this interview series we talk with people who spend their time traveling and climbing, while still holding down a steady income. From nurses to coders, writers to outdoor guides, we want to show that you don’t have to go full dirtbag to live the itinerant life. Because contributing to your 401k while seeing the world doesn’t sound so bad.

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Name: Jack Lyons

Job: Front End Web Developer


1) What do you do?

I’m a front-end web developer. That means I write code for basically anything you see and interact with on a web page.

Working on the front-end is fun because it’s really easy to impact the look and feel of a page just by changing a few lines of code. It feels more artistic because you literally start with a blank canvas with every new page you build.

Currently I work as a freelancer and have a variety of clients located all around the world. Every day is filled with different challenges and I like being able to switch between client projects whenever I like.


2) How did you learn about web development?

Back in 2014/15 I was travelling in China, teaching English in Hangzhou, a city just west of Shanghai. I was pretty miserable with my current situation: Teaching English wasn’t as fun as I thought, mainly because the working conditions were brutal. I really wanted to make a change.

The only reason I was in China was so I could climb at the infamous crags of Yangshuo (hands down, some of the best climbing in the world). After a few months of teaching, I quickly realised that it wasn’t a sustainable way to work and travel and so I started researching other options.

That’s when I stumbled upon the whole “digital nomad” scene. I would read blogs and follow all the cool kids online who were “living the dream” with just a backpack and a laptop.

I got chatting  with a colleague at my English school who had a background in IT. Funnily enough, he had a big fat book Chinese/English book on HTML and CSS. He let me borrow it and I immediately devoured it. For the next 6-12 months I just totally immersed myself in learning to code because I knew it would allow me the chance to create the lifestyle I always wanted: To work and travel on my own terms and without burning a hole in my savings.

Climbing “The First Full Moon,” 7a in Bali, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Jack Lyons.


3) What are some of the perks?

For starters, I get to create my own schedule. I can work early, late, from a cafe, at home, on the couch, at the library…

What’s more, I can pick who I want to work with and what I want to work on. I use a freelancing platform called Upwork that allows me to have a profile and be contacted by potential clients who need help. This means that the work literally comes to me and I don’t have to lift a finger to find new work. 

And lastly, I can save money even while traveling. This is huge for me, because I can take my remote career seriously and contribute to my pension, as well as personal savings and investments.

4) What are some of the challenges?

I know this sounds like a “first world problem,” but traveling in developing countries or rural areas means little to no wifi. While this makes for a relaxing getaway for most, this can be a seriously frustrating experience when I’ve got deadlines to meet.

Other than that, all general travel issues apply. Being flexible comes at a price.

5) What motivated you to pursue this path?

My dream has always been to be financially free and able to live and work wherever I want. Second to that, I love rock climbing and want to spend my days out at the crag rather than in the office.

I wanted a career where I could climb by day and work at night, or just take a day off whenever and make up my hours later.

To me, it only made sense that I’d need to find a job that would be online. Coding suited my personality well but I certainly could have gone down the path of a blogger / copywriter / online marketer and gotten the same results.

Jack and his wife in the famous bouldering area of Castle Hill, New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Jack Lyons.


6) How has your life changed since you started this?

Well, for starters, I no longer have to go to an office from 9 – 5 every day. I don’t really have a boss and I can charge whatever rate I feel is acceptable based on the project at hand.

I love the fact that I am able to see so much of the world and still have money left over. I thoroughly enjoy my work and need to pinch myself most days. I’ve lived in Europe, USA, Asia and travelled to over 30 countries. I’ve climbed in some of the most beautiful places in the world ( Greece, China, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, USA, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia).

7) What does a “typical” week or month look like?

It depends where I am. Currently I’m based in Boulder, Colorado. It’s nice to have a home base because it gives you time to decompress from all the travel. It also allows you to get settled and lock in when you’ve got some serious deadlines or big projects to tackle. 

When traveling or on a climbing trip I try to scale back my work commitments because I know how demanding and exhausting it can be. For example, currently I am on a two week road trip with my wife in Alaska. I decided to take the entire time off, which is very rare for me to do, but it was absolutely necessary because I had  been working on some big projects over the last couple of months. I needed some time out to recharge.

Coding is really, really mentally taxing. It requires a lot of brainpower. It’s hard to stay focused when your work environment keeps on changing. So I prefer to plan out my work schedule depending on where we will be and when.

Climbing in Moon Hill, Yangshuo. Photo courtesy of Jack Lyons.

8) What do you wish you knew when first starting out?

The matter of fact is this: Coding is hard and takes so so so soooooo many hours of dedication, practice and patience. It’s not for everyone and it can be an incredibly frustrating profession.

I think one of the best ways to accelerate your web development journey would be to sign up for a coding bootcamp (bonus points for an exotic location somewhere in the world). This won’t make you a coding wizard but it will help lay a solid foundation, to meet like-minded peers, and to have dedicated help from a mentor. 

Having a mentor helps a lot but you have to realise that no one is going to hold your hand out in the “real world.” You’ve gotta have grit and figure things out for yourself.

Know that there will be roadblocks, bugs, meltdowns and disasters – it’s going to be how you react to them that makes the difference. Keep calm, and know that you will figure it out. Just learn to do whatever it takes to get unstuck – even if it means paying an expert for their time. You’ll learn from your mistakes and grow rapidly if you have the right mindset.

9) What is one lesson learned from your journey so far?

Patience is an important “skill” that can be developed throughout difficult situations under high stress, commonly known as “stress inoculation.”

I’ve had so many moments where I just wanted to smash my computer and curse my code for not working. But over the years I’ve learned to channel this into a more relaxed state where I can work through the problems in a calm and focused manner (sometimes).

10) Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah! If you’re interested in becoming a digital dirtbag then check out my blog over at Medium: Adventure In My Veins.

There I interview other wanderlusting climbers who have built a lifestyle and a living around their digital skills. If you know anyone who you’d describe as a “digital dirtbag,” then please get in touch!

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Thanks, Jack!

You can learn more about Jack, his work, and his travels: