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> I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub I honestly don’t get the attraction of co-working spaces for most digital nomads. The costs o

> I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub I honestly don’t get the attraction of co-working spaces for most digital nomads. The costs often outweigh simply working from a cafe or the balcony of your AirBnB – 3G internet is cheap in most of the world now. In my hometown, co-working spaces attract locals who set up small teams with other local freelancers and could benefit from in-person collaboration. But for a solitary digital nomad all of whose contacts are remote, what's the point?

phamilton 9y ago
Networking is a big one. Traveling around the world gives you a chance to uniquely expand your professional network.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  I see. I guess this must be a developer thing. I’m a digital nomad, but my profession is translation. In a co-working space in a third country, I’d be unlikely to ever meet anyone who needs my particular language pairs, and the only benefit would be working in an unusually quiet place that, in itself, doesn’t seem worth the cost.
devrandomguy 9y ago
Good coffee shops are certainly adequate, and many of them, in Europe anyway, have a section that is nicely furnished for a full day's work. There are some extra perks to a good co-working space, though. It is library-quiet, and you are surrounded by people who are living and working a similar plan. I was actually able to informally recruit a guy who often worked near me, when we needed to bang out a bunch of UI components and their services, for a design that the client and I had already detailed fairly well.
philip1209 9y ago
For me, work/life separation has been important. It's nice to have a routine to just walk down the street to a WeWork. It's also great for meeting people and events. Because there are two of us, we're being conscious of not spending every waking moment together. A coworking space helps with that.

phamilton 9y ago

Networking is a big one. Traveling around the world gives you a chance to uniquely expand your professional network.

Mediterraneo10 9y ago
I see. I guess this must be a developer thing. I’m a digital nomad, but my profession is translation. In a co-working space in a third country, I’d be unlikely to ever meet anyone who needs my particular language pairs, and the only benefit would be working in an unusually quiet place that, in itself, doesn’t seem worth the cost.

devrandomguy 9y ago

Good coffee shops are certainly adequate, and many of them, in Europe anyway, have a section that is nicely furnished for a full day's work. There are some extra perks to a good co-working space, though. It is library-quiet, and you are surrounded by people who are living and working a similar plan. I was actually able to informally recruit a guy who often worked near me, when we needed to bang out a bunch of UI components and their services, for a design that the client and I had already detailed fairly well.

philip1209 9y ago

For me, work/life separation has been important. It's nice to have a routine to just walk down the street to a WeWork. It's also great for meeting people and events. Because there are two of us, we're being conscious of not spending every waking moment together. A coworking space helps with that.