Like I mean literally, or do you just say I travel and work remotely, or do you just prefer to present yourself as a tourist and don’t talk about the work part?
“Traveller”. “Digital Nomad” is a pretentious title.
Traveller sounds way more pretentious to me.
It does? That’s not the intent.
I would only do so if I intentionally wanted to come across as a self absorbed wanker. The rest of the time I just present myself with my real name and if asked, my profession.
I can’t stand the terms digital nomad and expat.
If someone asks I just say I work from home. Sometimes I just tell people I’m retired if I think they’re gonna want to talk about work or whatever.
The other day I was having a conversation with some boomer I had just met. I told him I was working during the week, and then he made that huge smile and said “oh, so you’re also a digital nomad like me!”
Was a very nice guy, but I cringed so hard.
The term does feel cringe, but it’s also the best term there is, so why not use it?
It’s a valid term and you guys are both DNs. I might not use the term with locals but I’ve definitely referred to it in conversations with people who are DNs.
Not sure how I PRESENT but I don’t describe myself as that.
The conversation doesn’t actually come up much, even when I was much more socially involved with locals.
If work comes up, I just say I make software.
If they specifically end up asking about being a digital nomad, I say sure.
no, i just say web developer
here in Bali most people are accustomed with the idea of Digital Nomad
so when i rented an apartment, my landlord asked what do you do for a living ?
i said web developer
he replied “you work remotely aren’t you ?”
i smiled and say yes
I almost always say I work for a big company that lets me work in Europe; but I’m taking most of the time I’m here off.
why would it be negative to say you are a digital nomad?
In most countries you are working illegally on a tourist visa. Obviously you don’t tell anyone, you always are simply a tourist if anyone asks.
Well it’s a pretty wanky thing to call yourself let’s be honest. Better to be discreet about it as other commenters have mentioned.
Once, to an apartment manager, when I was taking over an abandoned lease and needed to give her a “fits in the box” sort of answer about my source of income and why I wanted to assume a lease so near its end-date.
“I do many things depending on what my clients need, from web design to Excel back-end work to odd programming jobs but it varies,” wasn’t the sort of answer I think she wanted to hear.
I’ll say I’m a software engineer working in web3. And then they’ll ask what is that, and I’ll say blockchain/crypto. Then I’ll say because crypto is a global software system, I work with people from all over the world and can work from anywhere. Then the conversation usually goes into something like “Ohhh, like Bitcoin? I had a friend that invested in some” or “Oh I own some Bitcoin”, or “Oh tell me about that, ive heard of blockchain, what is that exactly?”, and I’ll proceed to talk about Ethereum from a systems, solution-oriented perspective on solving real world problems, and it tends to go pretty well with anyone. Or, they’re completely not interested at all, which also isn’t ever an issue.
I never say I’m a digital nomad.
Also, if I get a sense that the person asking is shady, I won’t bring up my position and instead just say I’m visiting friends here, as I don’t want to be looked at as “this person has money”.
Never tell anyone you work in crypto unless you want their eyes to light up with dollar signs
Its a shame, but it’s true. There is tech crypto and money crypto, and more often the majority of people are in it for the money side.
How many times have you had that conversation? I’m tired of saying it already and I don’t work in crypto
Lolllll I have used that term, but in the US. I both explained to my friends & family when arranging for my long-term trip, & said to a few people I met along the way to explain what I was doing. I can see how it’s cringy, but it was much easier to explain how/why I was doing a cross-country trip for several months.
Can’t you introduce yourself with your name as a person? Why do you need a label?