June 12

Remote Year  - travel and work with digital nomads!

Remote year is a new one year program where you travel around the world with 70+ interesting people while working remotely. It was kicked off in PRAGUE this month. A very cool concept that might become a pioneer of the way how people work in the future. Many people want to do this, but they don’t because it’s scary. But you don’t need to be at a certain desk anymore, or in a certain city anymore. Remote year allows participants to enjoy all of the benefits of traveling without any of the risks. The program will spend one month in 12 different locations through the world. 

This will give participants an opportunity to deeply connect with the local culture and business ecosystems through bursts of stability, while remaining short enough to avoid growing stale.

“Things are off to a fabulous start in Prague. Everyone got here safely, and the community got to know each other extremely quickly. Prague has been a perfect place to start our journey together?—?the beautiful buildings, great food, scenic walks, and evening activities are all things our community has fully immersed itself in. We are working hard, exploring the city, meeting new people, and having a blast. Next stop: Ljubljana,” Remote Year cofounder Sam Pessin told me.

@LOCUS


My friend Will Bennis who runs the co-working space LOCUS where the group sits and works from says : “Overwhelmingly I am hearing from members that they have added great energy to Locus Workspace. They are overwhelmingly friendly and adventurous and self-sufficient. I only wish they were here in Prague every month. Prague is the first stop of the first year of Remote Year, so it’s also a time when they’re all getting to know one another, and I think that’s helped for the positive energy in the space. Several Locus members have actually inquired about joining the group”. LOCUS is one of the best co-working spaces in Prague (see Prague startup guide).

I met two female entrepreneurs who enjoy the programme. “Thinking about work in this 24/7 digital age and its impact on my personal and professional life, I came to realize that I needed to consider myself as a citizen of the world, and get on a journey as soon as possible to find where opportunity is the strongest. So I have joined Remote Year to find out about the local markets for AppAnalytics (www.appanalytics.io) and explore any partnership opportunities,” says Sila Nur Isik, a smart entrepreneurs from Turkey, based in London.

Jordan Sale (Washington, US), also a big fan of fintech and crowdunding, told me: “When I first heard about Remote Year I thought it was fake. How could a program that would let me travel the world with an interesting group of people while continuing to work really exist? A little over one week in, I’m thrilled to report that Remote Year is very much real. My work for online real estate marketplace, Fundrise, has been going great. The time difference has really been working to my advantage and I’ve found that a little distance is helping me bring all sorts of new ideas and initiatives to the table?—?all aimed at our goal of fixing a broken system and changing how real estate investment works”.

Sila & Pavel


Prague scores high on the NomadList but there are more good places to go to. Digital nomading is sexy. Not just for workers who escape from office, but also for companies. While these trips may sound like the perfect gap year between college and the workforce, the reality shows that RemoteYear (or a similar programme Hacker Paradise) atrract more experienced workers. For RemoteYear, the average age of a participant is 30 years old. Companies such as Google, Microsoft, and HP have shown a willingness to allow their top talent to become digital nomads.

RemoteYear and Hacker Paradise are offering programmes modern employers and eployees want. Given the huge volume of applications, it is clear that digital nomads are going to be an increasingly important component of the global workforce. For many, it might be soon hard to say what is vacation and what not.


Author: Pavel Curda, entrepreneur, angel investor/VC scout, mentor, visionary, writer. More about Pavel: http://about.me/pavelcurda
Source: https://medium.com/@pavelcurda/remoteyear-travel-and-work-with-interesting-people-kicks-off-in-prague-b54c4ac1725