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Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

jamalx31.com

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Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#31

Post by bythckr »

digitalhobo33 wrote: post #25
zozin wrote: post #8

I get the sense that digital nomadism is akin to a multi-level marketing scam; the only people making actual money are the ones recruiting others to the "lifestyle" by advertising their blogs, books and guides (see OP).

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and…

a serious question, what "work" did you do?

I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer.

What types of business do you do being a nomad?

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#32

Post by austhrow743 »

bythckr wrote: post #31
digitalhobo33 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and…

a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?

Software development is huge with remote work.

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#33

Post by steveklabnik »

bythckr wrote: post #31
digitalhobo33 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and…

a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?

I don't know if I ever identified with "digital nomad," but I have traveled a lot.

Roles that are what is now called "developer relations" or similar effectively force you into an adjacent lifestyle.

Freelance development can often support this kind of thing.

Basically, any sort of remote job.

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#34

Post by JamesSwift »

bythckr wrote: post #31
digitalhobo33 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and…

a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?

It was pretty popular for online poker players when that was big

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#36

Post by ghaff »

bythckr wrote: post #31
digitalhobo33 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and…

a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?

In principle, any job that you can do fully remotely.

Having said that, you'll need a home base where you "officially" live and can legally work from--and, if you're an employee of a company (i.e. not an independent consultant), you probably need to be up-front about what you're doing and many companies may have issues with the legal ramifications.

That said, in practice, before the pandemic I traveled about a third of the time so having some sort of nominal home base in the US and otherwise being on the road really wouldn't have been that much of a stretch compared to my usual. I do marketing-related stuff for a computer software company.

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#37

Post by ghaff »

steveklabnik wrote: post #33
bythckr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a serious question, what "work" did you do? I am curious to know what kind of profession has the option to be a digital nomad. They only one I figured is being a journalist or a writer. What types of business do you do being a nomad?

I don't know if I ever identified with "digital nomad," but I have traveled a lot . Roles that are what is now called "developer relations" or similar effectively force you into an adjacent lifestyle. Freelance development can often support this kind of thing. Basically, any sort of remote job.

Similarly, I've never thought of myself as a "digital nomad" and actually do own a house. But prior to travel shutting down, it would absolutely have been practical for me to put my stuff in storage, ask a friend or family member to let me use their address as my home address, and live at least around the Americas or Europe as I saw fit. Given that I was traveling 1/3 of the time anyway, what's another 2/3rds?

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#38

Post by steveklabnik »

ghaff wrote: post #37
steveklabnik wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if I ever identified with "digital nomad," but I have traveled a lot . Roles that are what is now called "developer relations" or similar effectively force you into an adjacent lifestyle. Freelance development can often support this kind of thing. Basically, any sort of remote job.

Similarly, I've never thought of myself as a "digital nomad" and actually do own a house. But prior to travel shutting down, it would absolutely have been practical for me to put my stuff in storage, ask a friend or family member to let me use their address as my home address, and live at least around the Americas or Europe as I saw fit. Given that I was traveling 1/3 of the time anyway, what's another 2/3rds?

Yep, exactly.

What's kind of amusing/terrible is that while doing this I was almost always living in very high COL areas, while a digital nomad would be off somewhere extremely inexpensive. Oh well, money isn't everything.

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#39

Post by ghaff »

steveklabnik wrote: post #38
ghaff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I've never thought of myself as a "digital nomad" and actually do own a house. But prior to travel shutting down, it would absolutely have been practical for me to put my stuff in storage, ask a friend or family member to let me use their address as my home address, and live at least around the Americas or Europe as I saw fit. Given that I was traveling 1/3 of the time anyway, what's another 2/3rds?

Yep, exactly. What's kind of amusing/terrible is that while doing this I was almost always living in very high COL areas, while a digital nomad would be off somewhere extremely inexpensive. Oh well, money isn't everything.

I actually did this for someone who was basically living on the road for an aerospace company for a number of years. They shifted most bills etc. online and I kept my eye out for anything critical such as drivers license renewals and forwarded that kind of thing to her company's mail forwarding PO Box.

Re: Between Workaholism and Procrastination (2015)

#40

Post by steveklabnik »

ghaff wrote: post #39
steveklabnik wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, exactly. What's kind of amusing/terrible is that while doing this I was almost always living in very high COL areas, while a digital nomad would be off somewhere extremely inexpensive. Oh well, money isn't everything.

I actually did this for someone who was basically living on the road for an aerospace company for a number of years. They shifted most bills etc. online and I kept my eye out for anything critical such as drivers license renewals and forwarded that kind of thing to her company's mail forwarding PO Box.

Yeah. Some of it I was only able to make work because a partner was willing to work with me on the money side. In the long term it wasn’t fair, though.
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