The Digital Bedouins and the Backpack Office

PetManimal writes "The laptop and wireless revolutions have led to the rise of a new class of digital 'Bedouins' — tech workers who ply their crafts from Starbucks and other locations with WiFi access. Another article describes some strategies and tools for embracing the Bedouin way of life, and even having fun: 'If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock. In other words, you can travel for fun and adventure and keep on working. You can travel a lot more without needing more official vacation time. I've done it. In August I took a month long vacation to Central America, backpacking from one Mayan ruin to the next, and I never officially took time off. I submitted my columns, provided reports and other input, participated in conference calls and interacted via e-mail. I used hotel Wi-Fi connections and local cybercafes to communicate and Skype to make business calls. Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.'"

Comments

Mayans?

[Paolo DF]

So, mayans had developed wifi technology? ;-)
This explains a lot...

Re:Mayans?

[iminplaya]

Yeah, but they're gonna have big trouble with the Y2K12 bug.

I think that's pretty rare.

[Morinaga]

I'm not sure about anyone else but that sounds like one of the worst "vacations" possible to me. Perhaps his type of work lends itself to productivity in such an environment. I wouldn't be as productive and more importantly I wouldn't enjoy my vacation all that much. I see the appeal and relative productivity of sitting in a cafe or park and getting work done but to really travel and sight-see?

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[SoTuA]

I agree - I took 'vacations' where I was supposed to keep in touch via laptop (email, skype, etc) and it made it for me impossible to create the mental disconnect that is the requisite of proper rest during vacations.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[SydBarrett]

That would sound awesome except for that whole working part. I guess some people can't really enjoy the tropics without a LCD screen in your face or banging away like a crazed badger at your blackberry while shoving fistfulls of Pocky into your eat-hole.

Either work or dont work, stop half-assing it already. You dont travel to someplace nice just to do the same shit you do at the office because it's like going to England just to eat at McDonalds. You updated some dohicky from India just the same as you could from home. That's really fucking impressive. Be sure to tell us all what you DIDN'T do there since you dont have the will power to PUT DOWN THE FUCKING LAPTOP ALREADY.

You are just wasting your time. Even though you are getting paid, you are stuck someplace great that you cant enjoy fully since your bizarre nerd ego demands that you never stop working at all. I bet the grankids will love that story of how you were deep in some jungle when you BRAVELY REPLIED TO THAT IMPORTANT EMAIL. Wow, dad! Tell us again how bad the signal strength was!

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[flyingsquid]

I'm on the other side of the spectrum, in that I prefer to travel for work. I feel that my interactions with the culture and the people are a little more genuine when I have a real reason to be there, other than to take pictures of the cute little brown children and pose in front of old buildings. Trying to live a normal, day-to-day existence in a foreign country, versus doing the tour thing, gives you a better appreciation of what the country is really like, I think.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Do You Smell That]

Assuming your post isn't a joke (it is modded funny, afterall)... Recently my company sent me to Holland for 2 1/2 months of training. Never having been outside the US before (Canada totally doesn't count), this was an incredible opportunity. All the benefits of vacationing in a foreign country (when you're working, you still get weekends off and have the right to use sick days... accruing more of them all the while), but without having to worry about moving in, finding yourself a hotel, etc. Plenty of time after work every day to go out and mix with the locals, and you're in town long enough to actually find your way around and pick up a bit of the language and culture. If you look at it from the point of view of "I'm doing my same job, just from a much cooler office" instead of "I'm on vacation stuck doing work for the man", you'll feel much better about the whole thing. Then again, the more I think of it, my situation is nothing like that in the article... in his case, the vacation was his idea. :sigh: Time to go home.

Need better infrastructure

[cyberbob2351]

I've tried this lifestyle as a daily campus activity, and I have noted the following observations.

• Laptop battery life still sucks. Someone start working on a solar solution :)
• Even on campus, good WiFi hotspots are few and far between. We need hotspots that permit ssh tunneling, and encryption that works...Cell phones with internet hookups are probably the only option if you are backpacking Mayan ruins...
• The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's
• You lose lots of weight when you are out and about, seeing as how you don't have a home food supply to compel you. A major plus.
• The public environment can be quite distracting, especially when you know people that always come and speak to you. Try and find a lonely corner, and suddenly finding a power supply and/or internet link can be challenging.

Meh

[Stanistani]

>Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.

If I just make myself a mug from a coconut, I'm there. I've got the cube next to the window.

*listens to the howling of middle management*

The Right Kind Of Job

[Tackhead]

> 'If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock. [ ... ] Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.'"

If you really have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock without the hassle of air travel, without the pain of the sunburn, with a slightly-modified version of the coconut, and yes, even with the howler monkeys.

I call it "reading Slashdot while sitting in a meeting".

Re:Woof

[Stanistani]

Or even a Prairie Dog.
From Wikipedia:
"In companies that use large numbers of cubicles in a common space, employees sometimes use the term "prairie dogging" to refer to the action of standing up in one's cube to look around or converse with another employee in an adjacent cube. This action is thought to resemble prairie dogs standing in the openings of a burrow."

Re:Missing the point...

[Dunbal]

Interrupts cost, both in computing and in social relationships.


      Nah, just push your wife on the stack, clear the registers, and pop her off when you're done and jumping back. Of course the script kiddies won't get ANY of this ;P

You rang?

[bedouin]

Hi.

McDonalds in England

[Slashdot Parent]

You dont travel to someplace nice just to do the same shit you do at the office because it's like going to England just to eat at McDonalds.

In fairness to McDonalds, the cuisine at your local neighborhood McDonalds is far superior to anything purporting to be British food.