BEERG Newsletter 37 - Future Work: The rise of the nomad

Last weekend there was an interesting article in the Guardian/Observer on the attractions of digital nomadism, wandering around the world, working from wherever you wanted to work. As is always the case, the article had a photo of a young person at their laptop with a beach and bright, blue water in the background. Who would not want such a way of life? 

But such a way of life is available to the very few. First, you need work that allows you to work in such a way, which probably means you are freelance as most companies do not allow their employees to go wandering around the world, not only for management reasons but also because where their employees work can have legal and tax implications. 

Second, you probably want to have few family responsibilities. It is not that easy to be a nomad if you have school age children, or elderly parents that need your attention. 

Third, however, I am not sure it is necessarily that attractive a way of life. I am of the age and family circumstances where I can nomad around the world as I please but the attraction of having your own place, faults, and all, has a lot to be said for it. But I quite like the idea of being a semi-nomad. 

Maybe it’s time to buy a campervan?