Being a digital nomad is a whole new way of living and working that was not possible before a stable internet connection and portable computers. And like most new things, it brings a ton of new opportunities as well as obstacles. So here are some of the most important ones you need to know about.
Traveling and people
Most people think of travel as the best thing about being a digital nomad. After all, it’s not like you can simply get up and visit a whole new country whenever you want. But working as a digital nomad, you absolutely can. This is one of the biggest opportunities this lifestyle has to offer. See the world while you make money.
Another opportunity that arises from traveling and seeing the world is meeting people of all kinds of backgrounds and cultures. If you live for an interesting conversation, then being a digital nomad will give you tons of opportunities to learn about other people’s perspectives.
However, it also poses a challenge. Many digital nomads struggle to keep long-term relationships and friendships due to the constant traveling. Additionally, there is a lot of administration connected to moving from country to country like visas, taxes, and healthcare. So while the opportunity of seeing the world without missing a day of work is great, it comes with some hurdles.
Career and job opportunities
Many people might think that being a digital nomad would hurt their career options. After all, what employer would want an employee who can just leave? But in the digital age, things are not so straightforward. Having experience talking to people from all over the world is a welcomed soft skill in international companies and showing that you can both source your own clients and keep to deadlines even when unsupervised shows a lot of initiative and self-management skills.
But it’s not just your CV that can be strengthened by your digital nomad lifestyle. There are tons of people who freelance or are able to work remotely that travel and they tend to be very open to networking. Who knows, maybe by moving to a bigger city and engaging with the digital nomad community there, you might be able to find projects you never even heard of before.
With that said, there is a steep level of entry to being a digital nomad if you don’t have a full-time position that lets you work remotely. Programmers and public relations specialists might have an easier time finding clients, but for many teachers, translators, and other freelance positions, it can be a rocky journey before they find some stability. Before becoming a digital nomad, you need to already have a job that lets you travel or clients whose projects you can depend on. Traveling is expensive so you need to think ahead.
Language and learning
Digital nomads aren’t in it just for the money and traveling. Being a digital nomad can also be a great way to learn a lot more about the world. Visiting museums, courses, or even schools (like traveling for a university degree while you work) is a great way to make your experience stick with you for much longer.
However, you will run into some problems and the first and most famous one is the language barrier. Switching countries often means that you won’t have enough time to learn the language of any of them so a lot of the time, you will depend on translation apps and expat or digital nomad communities to help you out. Language is easily one of the biggest challenges that you will need to deal with when traveling as a digital nomad.