Author:lecrab
Discovering The OFF Switch
by Servaas Schrama / Oct 6
I believe that a lot of people tend to forget about an important feature found on almost all electronics available today: the off switch.
I am not an employer, I am a mobile worker. My gear consists of a Macbook Pro, UMTS card with flat-fee highspeed internet and a Blackberry. I can work from anywhere on the planet with this gear. But what is much more important, I can work when I want. I get to choose the times, the hours. Obviously, there are a lot of hours of working, being busy online. But certain moments, I simply go offline and do something fun with the kids, or just relax.
I do carry my Blackberry when I am offline, but there are times where I switch off email, as 80% of my business communication runs over email.
I firmly believe that …Read More
Tricks From A Freelance Digital Nomad
by Servaas Schrama / Aug 18
I have been a mobile worker for two years now. Typically, I will work from home, sometimes from strange locations such as cafe’s or restaurants (hotel bars are often quite nice in the Netherlands) and regularly from a customers office. Europe is way behind on all of this and a lot of companies tend to not trust mobile workers.
My equipment consists of 3 things:
- A blackberry with BIS service
- A macbook pro
- A flatfee UMTS card
It all fits in my backpack easily. Oh yeah, there’s a car too, obviously.
Practically speaking, it is not all perfect. Most bigger companies offer citrix based access, which is workable. Companies still believe that all workers, including freelance workers such as me, should come to the office every day and work on customer delivered equipment. I don’t believe in that concept as I run my own company.
Most companies also offer vpn options, but often it is restriced to certain hardware and impossible to bypass. This makes things hard for mobile workers like myself. I have learned that companies here are not willing to change much in this respect, but if you make sure your conditions are setup to your liking, a customer will try and get you connected in a satisfying way.
In short, it is a war, but we’re winning slowly.
Join the conversation…
Collaborate with some of the leading minds in technology and define what it means to be a digital nomad. The community will collaborate to answer questions about:
- Security challenges of a mobile workforce
- Connectivity and access for nomad employees everywhere
- Ensuring productivity when employees are on the go
