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Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

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Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#21

Post by dewey »

bitL wrote: post #17
lm28469 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions That's factually false and incompatible with your previous statement. > could spend every month at a different place around the world

I don't see any link. You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship (i.e. nobody cares, unless you are useful in some way right away), and even those often get abruptly terminated…

I’m sorry that you obviously had a bad experience but as someone working in Germany I can’t really share your observations.

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#22

Post by chatmasta »

Have you considered incorporating in a digital nomad hot-spot country (Thailand comes to mind), renting an office in a co-working space there, and hiring multiple nomads into it at once?

It would be nice if remote companies provided co-working office space for their employees / contractors. And at that point, you may as well hire two in the same place.

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#24

Post by badpun »

bitL wrote: post #17
lm28469 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions That's factually false and incompatible with your previous statement. > could spend every month at a different place around the world

I don't see any link. You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship (i.e. nobody cares, unless you are useful in some way right away), and even those often get abruptly terminated…

> You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship

Do you consider these people you meet on the streets of Barcelona/Rio to be more than superficial "friends"? For me, a friend is someone who would give me a kidney - that's my definition. Everybody else is just people who are hanging out with me for as long as it mutually more convenient than not.

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#25

Post by badpun »

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #12
thiago_fm wrote: post #9

It's a hell to be a freelancer software dev in Germany. People can make much more money by doing that in London, which has proper/more flexible laws. I think you could hire a consultant. There are some great consultancies in Germany that might be able to have the professional you need.

As tax resident, it's a hell, but someone living and having existing business in Greece or nearby Belgium could actually work in Munich legally for up to half a year and do some nice tricks like paying the rent via the company.

Not exactly... From what I've heard, as long as you're staying in Germany (i.e. it is your primary residence) and you work there, they believe you should pay taxes there. The 183 days rule is more for cases when you have two comparable residences at the time (and you travel back and forth between them).

Of course, people try their luck and contract using their non-German companies, but I've read on some forum that at least one guy was prosecuted (as in criminal charges, not to mention the taxes owed + fines) by Germans for that.

A thing some people I know do is to fly into Germany every week for 3 or 4 days, stay in a hotel/airbnb, and then come back to home country (BTW, talk about carbon footprint of the tax laws...). This way, you have no residence in Germany at all, and also you're there for less than 183 days per year, so they really have no claim to your taxes. Of course, this "bedouin" lifestyle is not for the weak, and the company needs to be open to it (the partially remote work aspect) as well.

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#27

Post by vincvinc »

akg_67 wrote: post #3

Create a coworking space, offer space for meetups, promote to digital nomads, offer free/discounted use of coworking space to digital nomads. I saw this strategy working in Japan. Several IT companies have coworking space that can be used for ¥100 to ¥1,000 per day. You don't care about digital nomads in ROW, you care about digital nomads visiting your city, you need a way to find and connect with them.

Could you share a few examples of this kind of coworking space in Japan? Very interesting!

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#29

Post by bitL »

badpun wrote: post #24
bitL wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any link. You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship (i.e. nobody cares, unless you are useful in some way right away), and even those often get abruptly terminated…

> You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship Do you consider these people you meet on the streets of Barcelona/Rio to be more than superficial "friends"? For me, a friend is so…

If you go for a shorter stay in a city as a digital nomad (e.g. 1-6 months), then Barcelona/Rio and similar hold a huge advantage comparing to Munich/Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Hamburg, as you could actually have some great social experiences there in a very short time, but stand little to no chance cracking the "legendary" German "coconut personality". It's highly unlikely you'd meet anyone giving you a kidney anyway, but you'd have a higher chance in a less affluent part of the world where friendships operate out of existential necessity and mutual understanding that next time it could be you in troubles, than in developed countries with increasing shift towards "f*k you, got mine" mentality. It's also amusing to observe German tourists in poor African countries penny-pinching and depriving locals of wage for a service their family relies on just to "save a bit of money".

Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#30

Post by badpun »

bitL wrote: post #29
badpun wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship Do you consider these people you meet on the streets of Barcelona/Rio to be more than superficial "friends"? For me, a friend is so…

If you go for a shorter stay in a city as a digital nomad (e.g. 1-6 months), then Barcelona/Rio and similar hold a huge advantage comparing to Munich/Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Hamburg, as you could actually have some great social experiences there in a very short time, but stand little to no chance cracking the "legendary" German "coconut personality". It's highly unlikely you'd meet anyone giving you a kidney anyway, but…

I dunno, maybe I just don’t see that much value in those transient „great social experiences”. BTW, when it comes to noncommital interactions with people, I like to talk to people older than me, as they have perspectives on live not yet available for me, while the „bar scene” is dominated by similar and uninteresting twenty-somethings with relatively little story to tell.
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