In this video I’m taking you through a day in the life of a remote FAANG software engineer — digital nomad edition — while I’m posted up in downtown Vancouver. The big theme is that working EST while being out west is a game changer. When I log off, I still have real daylight and energy to actually do things after work, instead of just collapsing and calling it a day. I also show you the reality of working remotely without my “perfect” home setup. I’m on a laptop, so I have to get creative to keep good posture: I prop things up (I literally use a box) to get closer to that clean 90-degree working angle. I’ve dealt with elbow issues before from bad posture, so even when I’m traveling I’m trying to protect future-me. Work-wise, it’s a lot of the real SWE grind: debugging a new feature, trying to figure out why certain things aren’t working, and pushing to finish as much as possible because I’m heading into PTO next week. After work, I switch into tourist mode — walking around, grabbing food, and of course, boba.