The Rise of the Digital Nomad

krou writes "The Washington Post has a look at the rise of the digital nomad, workers who have shunned the idea of working in an office, or working from home. Instead, they've taken the next logical step in the evolution of teleworking, and work wherever there is a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, using tools such as Facebook, Skype, and Twitter, to gain both primitive ('If I'm working at home by myself, I am really hating life. I need people.') and practical ('There is no hope for the road system around here.') benefits from this nomadic lifestyle. The need for contact with other people has driven some nomads to start working with others in public places and at strangers' homes. Other benefits from nomadic working include changing the scenery, and starting the work day 'long after many of their colleagues out at the cubicle farm have spent hours preparing for and getting to their workstations.' Coffee shop owners love the trend, and so do some employers, one of whom (an AOL manager), says: 'It's a win-win' because the employee in question 'is happy doing what he loves and from a business perspective, we gain valuable industry knowledge, contacts, and insights.'"

Comments

Ive seen these people

[Haffner]

Shunning traditional aspects of society? Check. On the cutting edge of some new trend? Check. Hang out frequently in coffee shops? Check. This should have been titled "Mac-Toting Hipsters Eschew Tradition to Look Cool, Again."

Re:Ive seen these people

[QuantumRiff]

Why pick on us? I just want to look different, just like all my friends...

Re:Ive seen these people

[mcgrew]

Leeches find new ways not to pay for things

Are you paying for that air you're breathing? Are you paying for that rain that waters your lawn and garden? It doesn't cost the coffe shop owner a dime for you to "leech" his wifi. IMO a "leech" would be someone who grabs a handful of ketchup packets at the fast food joint; that actually costs the business owner money. If I set up a wifi network, I'll not secure it; that would be selfish and I'd feel like an asshole. I just wasn't brought up like that.

I don't frequent coffee shops, but when I see someone with a laptop in McDonald's They're almost always at least having a cup of coffee.

Re:Ive seen these people

[RawJoe]

hey, I own a mac, and my friends say my dress is rather sloppy thank you

Re:Ive seen these people

[Anonymous Coward]

ha ha, yeah, let's make fun of his name, vaginal flatulence.

Re:Ive seen these people

[jonadab]

Yeah. I've been known to wear a plaid long-sleeve shirt with four pencils and three different colors of pens in the pocket, and whatever pants I found on sale for $5/pair at Gabriel Brothers, as long as they're within two inches of my size in either direction. Oh, and my shoes are black SAS (advertising copy, which I swear I am not making up: "Our shoe-making is fifty years behind the times").

And I've never owned an Apple product, a moleskin notebook, *or* a Blackberry. In fact, I don't have a cell phone at all, and most of my computer's components came from newegg.

On the other hand, I don't frequent coffee shops either. My employer is located three blocks from my house and has air conditioning (ahhhh!) and an underutilized T1 circuit, so I just go there.

What was all this buzz about nomadic lifestyle, again?

I do use Debian stable, though. Do I get cool points for that?

flexible ad-hoc projects is the wave of the future

[alain94040]

shameless plug: the digital nomad also cut loose all links with cubicle nation, including the employee contract. Instead, they work on agile projects, where groups of people can dynamically recombine online using stuff like online deals.

Digital Nomad

[Anonymous Coward]

Formerly known as bum.

Re:Digital Nomad

[Allicorn]

Latterly to be known as the "iHobo"

Re:Digital Nomad

[sxltrex]

iHobo: No coffee. Takes up table space at Starbucks. Lame.

I've seen these people too

[iamapizza]

If you're "using tools such as Facebook, Skype, and Twitter" in coffee shops for your job, then I'm afraid I've got news for you - dicking around on your Mac for attention does not actually constitute working. It constitutes "dicking around".

Also, who are you going to play table football with? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?

Re:I've seen these people too

[vertinox]

If you're "using tools such as Facebook, Skype, and Twitter" in coffee shops for your job, then I'm afraid I've got news for you - dicking around on your Mac for attention does not actually constitute working.

Unless you happen to be a spammer using the local wifi to spam people's facebook accounts.

Of course its not much as your dicking around as you're just a dick.

Re:Workation

[sunking2]

They need to make it sound cool like "Road Warrior", because sitting on your ass traveling requires a name sounds tough. As soon as you kill someone on your next business trip you shouldn't be able to use that label.