Digital nomad: More freedom on the job

The global avail­ab­il­ity of the Internet has opened up pre­vi­ously un­ima­gined op­por­tun­it­ies. Equipped with a smart­phone and laptop, digital nomads can work from almost anywhere in the world. Find out what it means to be a digital nomad, which jobs are suitable for the lifestyle, and what its ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages are.

Digital nomads make use of the fact that the Internet is available globally and tap into the technical pos­sib­il­it­ies of working in­de­pend­ent of location or working hours. In theory, a digital nomad could be working from a different location every day or alternate between home and travel, work from a café, from a coworking space or from a hammock on a Medi­ter­ranean beach. The only re­quire­ments are Internet access, in some cases software or ap­plic­a­tions, and a power outlet to charge laptop and smart­phone devices.

Many people decide on the digital nomad lifestyle seeking more freedom and an improved work-life balance while trav­el­ling and dis­cov­er­ing new countries and cultures.

To round out our digital nomad defin­i­tion: the term ‘nomad’ ori­gin­ates from ancient Greece and refers to ‘roaming’ and ‘grazing’. Nomads are by defin­i­tion not sedentary but wander from one place to the next.

Most digital nomads are self-employed or re­gistered freel­an­cers and tend to work for a wide variety of clients. But there are other ways of becoming a digital nomad:

• An employee can work remotely as long as the company allows it. In the wake of new work and agile working, many companies allow their employees to attend the office tem­por­ar­ily and grant flexible working the remainder of the time.
• Company founders who manage their own company (tem­por­ar­ily) can do so from a distance.
• Operators of online shops or sellers of digital products can work from anywhere.

If you’re unsure whether life as a digital nomad suits you, you could test being a ‘part-time nomad’ first. This works if, for example, you’re self-employed part time and only want to travel a few weeks or months of the year.

Generally, any job that can be done online or using a computer is suitable for digital nomads. The less dependent you are on others, the more flexibly you can organise your working life. The following jobs are par­tic­u­larly well suited for digital nomadism:

Whether you’re im­ple­ment­ing apps, websites, shops, or other software, as a pro­gram­mer not only are your skills in high demand, but you are often able to work by yourself. Col­lab­or­a­tion tools for agile working fa­cil­it­ate co­oper­a­tion with col­leagues.

Graphic designers tend to work alongside app and web pro­gram­mers. But designers who primarily work in ad­vert­ising or pub­lish­ing can also work as digital nomads.

If you earn a living as a writer, editor, or freelance copy­writer, it’s fairly simple to work in­de­pend­ent of location. Bloggers, for example, can be digital nomads. Life on the road could even provide material for the stories you publish online.

Many forms of coun­selling and con­sultancy work well remotely. The Coronavir­us era has led to a sweeping change in thinking when it comes to distance coaching or con­sult­ing. One thing to keep in mind is that personal contact is very important, so it's a good idea to match your time zone to those of your clients.

Whether it’s con­trolling news­let­ter campaigns, search engine op­tim­isa­tion, or managing social media profiles, all of these tasks can be handled easily from anywhere in the world.

A job as a virtual assistant is great for those changing careers. As a virtual assistant you’ll be managing emails and ap­point­ments, mod­er­at­ing meetings, and over­see­ing other or­gan­isa­tion­al tasks. Depending on your previous education, you can also take on other tasks for a team or an in­di­vidu­al.

One special task of a virtual assistant could be ac­count­ing, for example. This could be done on behalf of or as support for a tax con­sultancy or in­de­pend­ently. Apart from deadlines that can be planned in advance, ac­count­ants are rarely tied to a certain location.

If you enjoy working with numbers and math­em­at­ic­al cor­rel­a­tions, data analysis might be the right role for you. As a digital nomad in data analysis, you could examine data, create models, and test hy­po­theses for customers globally.

Another sector to explore for digital nomads is eCommerce. Online shop operators can work anywhere as long as they have someone to ship the goods or manage their stock and warehouse for them. Smaller online busi­nesses such as selling e-learning courses or other digital products are also highly flexible.

Not a true online-only job, yet often ideal for digital nomads is to become a pho­to­graph­er and live wherever your shoots take you. You’ll need a laptop and Internet con­nec­tion to post-process and share your finished photos.

Reports from those who have worked as digital nomads for quite some time show that this way of working has plenty of ad­vant­ages:

• The high flex­ib­il­ity of jobs creates a strong sense of freedom and self-de­term­in­a­tion.
• Digital nomads can focus on what’s really important in their work and achieve results more quickly, because time is too valuable for tri­vi­al­it­ies.
• Besides working, the focus of this lifestyle is on trav­el­ling and exploring new cultures. It broadens personal horizons, and strengthens important ‘soft skills’ when col­lab­or­at­ing with others.
• In practical terms, long commutes and costs for office space and equipment are saved – a big plus for employees and employers alike.
• Digital nomads tend to maintain a min­im­al­ist lifestyle and often have sig­ni­fic­antly lower living costs.

As at­tract­ive as life on the road sounds, there are plenty of dis­ad­vant­ages to consider before you begin toying with the idea of joining the Internet nomads:

• Not all jobs are suitable for digital nomadism. In­dus­tries or people who work in close contact with others are usually tied to a place of work and fixed working hours.
• Not everyone is made for the freedom of digital nomadism. Some people will miss their friends and family after a while, while others fail to remain organised and motivated.
• De­cent­ral­ised working or fre­quently changing clients means you rarely get to know your col­leagues more per­son­ally. Maybe you only ever com­mu­nic­ate with them in writing. This can weaken team morale and com­mit­ment – a fun­da­ment­al challenge with virtual teams.
• As a digital nomad, you depend on Internet access and equipment to function smoothly. Where this fails, jobs may take longer to complete, or you may miss deadlines.

The decision whether life as a digital nomad is right for you is highly personal and should be weighed carefully and, where necessary, must be discussed with your employer.

Please note the legal dis­claim­er relating to this article.