Having lived in DC for a few years I realized that big city life isn't for me. DC is a great place to visit, don't get me wrong, but once I moved my stress level dropped by about 2/3rds. Maybe some people can get used to constantly being stuck in traffic, or everyone being unfriendly, but that's just not my style.

Bozeman was a great compromise from between big city and middle of nowhere. While I would consider DC to have a really good tech scene, Bozeman has quite a few tech related events believe it or not, and the development community is surprisingly large (somewhat thanks to Montana State and RightNow technologies). It gives you the chance to really get to know others in your area. For someone who doesn't like working for a large company, this is great. It gives me most of the benefits of a larger tech community, but without the stress of the city. I find myself going to a lot more events here because getting around is so much easier. (This one can be chalked up to DC's unique traffic situation, aka all bad - all the time).

When I moved I was worried that I would be left out of the global tech scene, and while a lot of my friends told me this would happen, I find that really little has changed. Most of my industry related information still comes through blogs and friends. All of which I communicate just as much as I used to. Some more in fact because I have more free time.

In DC I would have an hour commute each way (on a good day) to get to work. If you add that up, it equates to 500 hours of commuting a year. If you think of a day as 16 waking hours, that's 31 days of commuting a year.

Working from home in Bozeman means that my commute is about 30 seconds. So what am I going to do with my extra 30 days a year? For one take a vacation.

^ photo of Montana State University campus in Bozeman