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The Rise of the Digital Nomad

Posted by kdawson on from the must-be-jelly dept.

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.'"

4 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ive seen these people by mcgrew · · Score: 0, Troll

    Erm, have you seen the masthead of this site? Except the coffeshop part it describes almost all of us here.

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  2. Re:Ive seen these people by spiffmastercow · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well, I'm certainly no hipster, but I can see the advantages of their software. The combination of a unix environment with the "just works" design principle and a standardized user interface is compelling. Of course I would never actually purchase their 400% marked up hardware, but I don't mind buying a copy of OSX and using it to build a hackintosh. If you like unixy OSes and aren't ideologically motivated to use only FOSS, Apple is the place to go.

  3. Re:Ive seen these people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Mac cutting edge? Read your specs! Your about a year behind the infamous PC. Mac's suck and so do their fanboys.

  4. Re:Ive seen these people by Talderas · · Score: 0, Troll

    So there's only about 6,000 or so Linux users and everyone else in the world uses a Mac?

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    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork