The 17 Best Jobs for Digital Nomads And Where To Find One
Working while traveling is not the norm for most professions. However, as a digital nomad, you will get to travel the world while keeping a financially stable situation. Digital nomads work remotely. They all have different jobs and are location-independent.
But where to find a job as a digital nomad? What are the most common jobs a digital nomad can do?
According to MBO Partners, 46% of digital nomads are considered part-time travelers, while the remaining 54% travel full-time. But does any job give you this choice?
In this article, we will answer these questions. From the best places to find work to the best jobs for digital nomads, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s dig into the 17 best jobs you can do as a digital nomad. Cover photo via Humphrey Muleba.
What is a Digital Nomad?
A digital nomad is, as the name suggests, a location-independent worker who decided to work around the world rather than in their home country.
They can be freelancers, work for a company, or simply business owners. The nationality and the job doesn’t matter, as the main factor is to make money while traveling.
Simply put, a digital nomad is a person working remotely while traveling nationally or internationally, may it be a freelancer or an employee working for a company.
How Do You Get a Job As a Digital Nomad?
There are multiple ways to get a job as a digital nomad, depending on if you’re willing to be a freelancer or an employee.
A survey on And.co by Fiverr found out that 43% of remote workers are freelancers while 29% work full-time. In addition, 21% are self-employed, 5% are part-timers, and 2% have different occupations.
Find A Digital Nomad Job As A Freelancer
If you have experience or are an expert in a specific field, being a freelancer is your best bet. These are the best platforms to find a digital nomad job as a freelancer:
- Upwork
- People Per Hour
- Toptal
- Freelancer.com
- Guru
According to a study by Betterment, 33%, or 1 worker out of 3 is a freelancer. While there are pros and cons to it, flexibility is certainly the biggest advantage for digital nomads.
Find A Digital Nomad Job As An Employee
As opposed to freelancers, working as an employee and being a digital nomad will make you have a stricter schedule and less freedom when traveling. However, it can assure you to always have a stable income at the end of the month, and you won’t need to look for new clients constantly.
These are the best platforms to find a digital nomad job as an employee:
- We Work Remotely
- Flexjobs
- Glassdoor
- Remoteok.io
- Remotive.io
Other than that, why not request your current employer to work remotely to travel the world? In fact, a report from Workplace Analytics revealed that the remote workforce has grown by 140% since 2005, and companies are aware of this.
Best Jobs For Digital Nomads
Now that you know exactly what a digital nomad is and where to find your future remote job or working opportunities let’s dig into the best jobs for digital nomads.
Blogger
One of the best jobs for digital nomads is to become a blogger. A blogger has a wide range of responsibilities, such as creating content for his blog, advertising it, and working on the technical side of things.
To become a blogger, you will first have to invest lots of time to build a website, create content that ranks on Google, and start making money out of it.
As a blogger, you will be able to create content that you’re familiar with. You’ll definitely enjoy being on the road to making money out of something you love.
Other than that, you will need to invest money in your blog if you decide to go down the blogging road. In fact, security, maintenance, and sometimes content can cost a lot of money.
Overall, being a blogger is certainly one of the best jobs for digital nomads.
Social Media Manager
The rise in popularity of social media platforms has created great job opportunities in online spaces, including social media managers.
A social media manager manages companies’ or brands’ online presence and helps them grow on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
As a social media manager, you will create and post content on social media, monitor and respond to followers’ comments, carry out the brand’s online marketing, and others.
You need some experience working as a social media manager. We recommend familiarizing yourself with social media management for a year minimum before getting your first digital nomad job.
Photo: Austin Distel
Video Editor
Being a video editor is another one of the best jobs for digital nomads. This kind of job fits perfectly with the typical digital nomad lifestyle, because you don’t necessarily need an internet connection, you can work from anywhere, and you only need your laptop and headphones.
Essentially, video editors work for YouTubers, bloggers, and bigger companies. They are usually asked to put the video together, including transitions, sound effects, and make the footage generally appealing and interesting to watch.
You will need some video editing skills and experience to start working online and traveling. Of course, excellent video editing skills are a must for this job.
As either an employee or a freelancer, having an educational background in the film industry is advantageous. Otherwise, you’ll need a lot of practice and patience to sharpen your skills.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistance is the same as traditional personal assistance except that they work remotely.
Virtual assistants help their employer perform various administrative tasks such as preparing reports, managing emails, managing their calendar, and booking appointments.
Other virtual assistants help their clients with private tasks such as booking private vacations and carrying online shopping for personal items. An excellent virtual assistant has to be reliable and organized to avoid causing inconveniences to his client.
SEO Specialist
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of implementing ways to increase website traffic and gain visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing.
As an SEO specialist, you are expected to come up with methods to increase your client’s website traffic and sales.
Needless to say, to be a good SEO specialist, it is recommended to have a deep understanding of search engines and the technical side of a website.
Online English Teacher
As a native English speaker, one of the best jobs for digital nomads is to be an online teacher.
In fact, if you are patient enough, you will find it relatively easy to earn some cash through teaching online. With a stable internet connection and your laptop, you will be able to teach online either for schools or private students.
Teaching online gives you more flexibility, unlike conventional face-to-face teaching. As a digital nomad, you will be able to schedule your lesson when you’re not traveling. That will give you the possibility of having a better work-life balance.
Graphic Designer
For someone that has imagination and creativity, this is one of the best jobs for digital nomads to have.
A graphic designer’s main tasks are to exploit and use visual concepts to design elements such as brochures, logos, print media, and more.
Of course, you will need to use certain professional tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator, and some experience will certainly help
With the increase in popularity of online businesses and brands, graphic designers are much more needed. For this reason, you will have the chance to work remotely as digital nomads doing what you love.
Web Developer
For people with some programming skills, being a web developer is one of the best jobs for digital nomads to travel and make money online.
They can create websites, personalize their design, create applications, but also fix bugs. While it is certainly an interesting and well-paid job compared to the others on this list, it can get very repetitive which is something to take into consideration.
Besides, web developers must know multiple languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and more are of course appreciated.
Transcriber
Being a transcriber essentially means creating a written copy of an audio material or video sound. While some patience and hard work are obviously needed, the requirements are fewer and, generally speaking, less strict.
As expected, it’s essential to have an excellent grasp of the English language as you’ll be transcribing the audio and video files into text.
Some of those requirements are to be an attentive listener keen on details, have a fast typing speed, accuracy, good grammar, spelling, and punctuation of the language used.
Overall, it is a relatively easy way to make money online as a digital nomad.
Forex Trader
Trading has become more and more common these past years, and for good reasons. Of course, digital nomads took advantage of it and started to work online from anywhere.
Forex traders usually buy and resell different currencies on foreign exchange markets. While it sounds easy, there’s a lot of market research and analysis required from traders.
On top of that, traders can work flexible hours and choose their schedules, which is certainly nice as a digital nomad.
Last but not least, forex traders can either work as freelancers or for banks.
Content Writer
If you are a good writer but cannot handle the work and pressure of starting and maintaining a website, you can always turn into a content writer for clients and make money online.
As a content writer, there are certain things you need to learn. In fact, writing is more complex and requires some SEO background and lots of research.
Whether you have the chance to write for websites, for magazines, write brochures, or ebooks, being a content writer can be a versatile job that covers many areas, and you won’t easily get bored.
Related: Creating a World Class Content Marketing Plan
Hence a good mastery of research, analysis, and creativity is essential. Lastly, a good content writer should also be able to increase the website’s online visibility and attract more readers.
Photo: Amelia Bartlett
Photographer
One of the first things you think about when mentioning traveling the world is to take photos. Well, if you have a special talent for it, this might well become your full-time remote profession.
With the right equipment, creativity, and skills, one can become a freelance photographer shooting landscapes, beaches, famous attractions, and people in pictures. Needless to say, investing in the right photography equipment is essential if you want to make money out of it.
YouTuber
Becoming a YouTuber is one of the most popular ways of making money among digital nomads. Of course, the process is time-consuming and you won’t get lots of money from day 1.
However, that being said, if you put the effort and time into it, you will simply be making money online by sharing your experience around the world.
Instead of creating a blog, one can simply make videos about any topic and publish it on YouTube, get subscribers, and eventually make a living out of it.
With YouTube being the most popular video-sharing platform, you will have big chances to get discovered and get a fanbase that will follow you everywhere. On YouTube, you earn money in your channel by including paid ads, brand sponsoring, selling products, or through fan funding.
Programmer
Just like a web developer, to become a programmer, you need to learn how to code, build software, and applications.
Before you start to learn how to code, one has to choose a programming language since there are different types of languages and their applicability is diverse. Some of those languages include Java, C++, Python, and JavaScript.
Some coding languages are more complex than others and we highly recommend investigating the ones that you might like the most.
Being a programmer is definitely one of the best jobs for digital nomads for the amount of money earned, the flexibility, and the possibility to work from anywhere.
Translator
With all the work opportunities available to digital nomads on the market nowadays, a translator is one of the best remote jobs for the ones who speak more languages.
Working as a translator, you’ll be translating an oral or written language to another language. Needless to say, to be a good translator, a person has to be fluent or native in either two or more languages.
As a translator, you might find yourself translating various types of documents such as scientific, educational, commercial, entertainment, and even legal content. Maintaining a high level of accuracy and clarity of the original piece is therefore vital as a translator.
Remote Recruiter
A digital nomad can become a remote recruiter whose work is to look for the best-qualified workers for their client when a job is advertised.
Their main task is carrying out interviews for potential employees after identifying job seekers who meet the employer requirements.
Usually, the recruitment process happens remotely analyzing their application and meeting applicants on video calls. While some experience in human resources and recruitment is appreciated, getting educated with online courses and proving your motivation will also go you a long way.
Work On Dropshipping
In the past years, dropshipping has become one of the best and most common jobs for digital nomads.
As a dropshipper, you will be responsible for managing inventories, ordering the products, and sending them to customers.
You ship the goods directly from a third-party supplier like a wholesaler or a manufacturer directly to the consumer. Drop shopping helps to save on the cost of storage and maintaining a warehouse.
If you decide to manage your own dropshipping business, you’ll have to decide and choose the kind of goods you want to sell. On the other hand, many dropshipping job opportunities are available, and we recommend getting some education about this field before applying.
Our Bottom Line
These were the best jobs for digital nomads for both freelancers and employees. It is one of the best jobs for digital nomads since it allows you to work from the best digital nomad destinations. Whether you’re looking to reuse the skills gained over the years or simply change your career path, everything is possible.
To conclude, waste no more time, seek a remote job, find your first clients, and start working online and making money while traveling!
About the Contributor
Georgi Todorov is the founder of ThriveMyWay, a place for online entrepreneurs, bloggers, SEO specialists, and freelancers to find success in their own way.
LinkedIn: Georgi Todorov
Twitter: @GeorgiTodorovBG
