Digital Nomadism – A Curriculum
With businesses currently downsizing significantly, many smart, capable people have been suddenly released from the preplanned, functionally discrete environment of corporate life. They have been unplugged from the balance sheet and turned out into the world, with their only possession being their highly valuable intellectual assets.
To try to make a living, many of these folks become “consultants” of one kind or another. They turn to their home computer, probably get their own smartphone and start making phone calls. But they do so without the support of IT, HR, accounting, and the water cooler gang. These folks come from a world where technology and work habits are still a very complex system of restrictions to one of near-absolute freedom. These folks can now work when and how they please, and they own the results – good or bad – in their entirety.
These folks become Digital Nomads.
The problem is, nobody really offers training for becoming an effective, successful Digital Nomad. Perhaps we should. If I were to design the course it might look something like this:
101 – Introduction To Being A Digital Nomad
Synopsis: We explore the dual aspects of being “digital” and being a “nomad” in today’s workforce. Students will develop self-sufficiency in remembering passwords and will demonstrate understanding of both portability and completeness by packing a lunch for another student and delivering a critique of the job done for them.
Required: A new laptop bag that is heavy and too small
102 – Philosophy and Physiology Of The Café
Synopsis: Once the haunts of artistic introverts and beardy intellectuals, café’s have become the new cubicle for today’s motivated capitalists. Students will explore their individual tolerances for being stuck alone in their home offices and will acquire skills in identifying which café type is best-suited to their requirements.
Required: Bluetooth headset and a baseball cap
201 – “Wow! I Just Got My First Mobile Phone Bill!”
Synopsis: Students will work in teams developing CPR skills to better respond to the first cellphone bill with data plan they receive as a consultant. Additional techniques include calming exercises prior to calling to switch plans and set-up of Skype, iChat and GoogleTalk.
Required: USB headset and a single earplug.202 – “What’s My Fax Number? Uhhh…”
Synopsis: After discovering that a home fax machine is practically worthless if they’re working at Starbucks, students develop mastery of the following: Applying a digital copy of their signatures to documents and converting them to PDFs; Receiving, editing, and resending faxes from their laptops without paper; Using off-the-shelf software to make business cards.
Required: Digital camera, Comic Sans typeface
301 – Conference Call Intensive Study
Synopsis: The conference call by cellphone is a nuanced event, balancing quality of signal, minimization of background noise and distractions, the ability to take notes, and delivering the perception of total engagement. By completion of this course students will be able to moderate a call with a foreign party while driving a bus full of Brownie scouts on the Taconic Parkway.
Required: Diprivan (Propofil)
302 – Creating Your Online Persona
Synopsis: Without the umbrella of your company, you are nobody. Now is the chance to create the “you” that you have always wanted to be online. Students work in teams to develop home pages, blogs, and Twitter accounts for themselves, and provide peer review of each other’s Facebook pages with particular emphasis on the Photos section.
Required: Updated headshot your mother would like
Like all things in life, we learn by doing. Most of my peers on the Digital Nomads blog have slogged through the ins and outs of being a digital nomad, and have acquired impressive skills and deep wisdom in how to function efficiently and effectively in the office-free world. My fear is the “apprenticeship” method of becoming a Digital Nomad cannot support this sudden torrent of newbies restarting their lives outside the cubicle.
Shouldn’t we do something about it?
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Hilarious.
