Here's a real problem that no one seems to have solved yet: In my company, we would need temporary help with a certain technology for a few months.<p>Freelancers in my city are fully booked. Yet I don't want to hire somebody remote because the job requires people to work closely together in the same room on a regular basis.<p>I know there's a ton of "digital nomads" out there, travelling through cheap countries like Thailand, working from nice beaches.<p>But my city (Munich, Germany) is also very lovely, especially in summer. I cannot find any "marketplace" where digital nomads hang out, waiting to be attracted by an amazing company like ours. The typical freelancer marketplaces like upwork don't seem to cover my search requirements.<p>Questions:<p>- Am I simply missing a marketplace?<p>- Or is this an opportunity to take?
Digital nomads, not remote... Doesn't compute.<p>Why would any real digital nomad that could spend every month at a different place around the world want to get stuck in Munich in subpar and overpriced housing with only 2-3 months a year of bearable weather and deal with German tax bureaucracy (need to have at least 2 clients in parallel or be forced to register themselves as a single person business with all the increased taxes and no corporate veil), not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions?
<i>Yet I don't want to hire somebody remote because the job requires people to work closely together in the same room on a regular basis.</i><p>Does it <i>really</i>?
There's no opportunity IMO. Nobody wants to move to high COL place temporary for contract work. That is literal worst-case scenario unless you plan on paying for a year's worth of salary for those few months to justify the added expenses for the consultant.<p>Don't be cheap. Hire a consulting firm that specializes in your area if you need on-site help. Or, if you want to be cheap, learn how to support remote work.
Create a coworking space, offer space for meetups, promote to digital nomads, offer free/discounted use of coworking space to digital nomads.<p>I saw this strategy working in Japan. Several IT companies have coworking space that can be used for ¥100 to ¥1,000 per day.<p>You don't care about digital nomads in ROW, you care about digital nomads visiting your city, you need a way to find and connect with them.
Digital nomads are digital nomads because they want a certain amount of freedom. I don't think many of them would be interested in your proposition if it requires them coming into your office. Perhaps reconsider your stance on remote, you might be surprised by the results.
It's a hell to be a freelancer software dev in Germany.<p>People can make much more money by doing that in London, which has proper/more flexible laws.<p>I think you could hire a consultant. There are some great consultancies in Germany that might be able to have the professional you need.
Perhaps the problem is your company can't manage remote workers effectively? It is very rare work must be done with everyone colocated unless physical hardware is involved.
I would expect that most people who are "digital nomads" are doing so because they can do their work from anywhere, not because they're looking for a job. If the lifestyle of "work on a laptop while traveling the world" appeals to someone, they're probably not looking for a job that requires staying put and working in an office for a few months.
Have you had a look at <a href="https://nomadlist.com/" rel="nofollow">https://nomadlist.com/</a>? I recall seeing something like chat groups by location.<p>I’m sure a lot of the concerns other people raised re working rights and legal complexities are valid but it’s not fair to assume that no nomad would be willing to take a break and hang around Munich for a few months.
Have you considered incorporating in a digital nomad hot-spot country (Thailand comes to mind), renting an office in a co-working space there, and hiring multiple nomads into it at once?<p>It would be nice if remote companies provided co-working office space for their employees / contractors. And at that point, you may as well hire two in the same place.
What about platforms like <a href="https://remoteok.io" rel="nofollow">https://remoteok.io</a> or <a href="https://nomadlist.com" rel="nofollow">https://nomadlist.com</a> ?
What's stack you're looking for and what problems are you trying to solve? I'm not in Munich, but I wouldn't mind spending a few months there and I'm available.
Not a marketplace, but LinkedIn should give you insights of freelancers in Munich easily.<p>google (and and the tech key words you like)<p>site:de.linkedin.com/in "munich area" freelance