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Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

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Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?

#1
Here's a real problem that no one seems to have solved yet: In my company, we would need temporary help with a certain technology for a few months.

Freelancers in my city are fully booked. Yet I don't want to hire somebody remote because the job requires people to work closely together in the same room on a regular basis.

I know there's a ton of "digital nomads" out there, travelling through cheap countries like Thailand, working from nice beaches.

But my city (Munich, Germany) is also very lovely, especially in summer. I cannot find any "marketplace" where digital nomads hang out, waiting to be attracted by an amazing company like ours. The typical freelancer marketplaces like upwork don't seem to cover my search requirements.

Questions:

- Am I simply missing a marketplace?

- Or is this an opportunity to take?

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

#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.

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

#5
I would expect that most people who are "digital nomads" are doing so because they can do their work from anywhere, not because they're looking for a job. If the lifestyle of "work on a laptop while traveling the world" appeals to someone, they're probably not looking for a job that requires staying put and working in an office for a few months.

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

#7
Digital nomads, not remote... Doesn't compute.

Why would any real digital nomad that could spend every month at a different place around the world want to get stuck in Munich in subpar and overpriced housing with only 2-3 months a year of bearable weather and deal with German tax bureaucracy (need to have at least 2 clients in parallel or be forced to register themselves as a single person business with all the increased taxes and no corporate veil), not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions?

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

#8
post #2

Yet I don't want to hire somebody remote because the job requires people to work closely together in the same room on a regular basis. Does it really ?

For the sake of everyone involved, I suggest a company is remote either entirely or not at all. So if everyone else is in the office, I would consider being in the same room a requirement.

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

#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.

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