Open Thread: What Type of Web Worker Are You?
I’ve recently been swapping e-mail with a friend who doesn’t read WWD because she doesn’t think she’s a web worker. That gave me pause, because she fits squarely into one of the groups that we think of as our readers. But then I realized: we haven’t spelled this out anywhere. So without further ado, here’s a taxonomy of web workers.
The Digital Bedouin: This is the web worker that gets the most media attention, the roving nomad “able to set up shop wherever there is an Internet connection, chairs, tables, and sources of caffeine” and running a company or a consulting business on the go.
The Telecommuter: Unlike the digital bedouin, the telecommuter normally works from one fixed location, and is a full-time employee – it’s just that the location is (usually) home rather than office. Some people telecommute full-time, others combine telecommuting with some more traditional days in the office.
The Entrepreneur: Gone are the days when being self-employed meant drumming up business from your local community. Whether you’re selling t-shirts or accounting services, the web can give you global reach from your own home office.
The Corporate Web Worker: We think this is the most overlooked class of web workers: people in a traditional corporate setting, going into the office every day but still using the web to empower themselves and gain amazing productivity. If the web enables your job: you’re a web worker.
Realizing the risks of persona-based analysis, we’d love to hear from you. Does your own web work fit into one of these categories? Do you cross the boundaries and fit into more than one group? Or have we missed your style of web working entirely? The comments are open!
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I am an Entreprenuer who would like to be a Digital Bedouin, except it takes about an hour out of my day to “commute” to the coffeeshop, setup, get working, commute back home.
I’ve actually been all of the above, but at the moment am in a “corporate” setting… though just with a small company. If you took some sort of formal web-worker poll you’d find that while a lot of people use the web in their workplace on a daily basis, that just as often as not it’s to goof around or pass the time, moreso than to “gain amazing productivity”. That’s been my experience anyway.
So there’s “web workers” in all the categories you laid out above, plus small businesses like this one… and then there’s “web sitters” who really spend too much time just being online, when they SHOULD be working instead.
A good example of that would be me writing this long-winded comment at the office. *ahem*
Currently part Entreprenuer, part Telecommuter because as I’m trying to build my business I am doing contract work for others to pay the bills. In a few years I hope to go completely mobile and become the Digital Bedouin and see some of North America at the same time.
I work in an office (well, let’s be honest, a cube) five days a week – and for that reason, I didn’t pay much attention to WWD when it launched. But I kept it in my list of feeds, and I’m glad I did – for the very reasons you mention in your description of ‘The Corporate Web Worker’. Thanks for the recognition!
I work in a corporate setting, and am very much a web worker. I travel a lot, work when I am in the office and when I am at home. A lot of my work gets done on the web and (is why I’ve been reading WWD from the day it started). I would say anyone in sale, marketing or business development at a company is a candidate for WWD.
Corporate Web Worker!
Well, I think I fit in as an Entrepreneur, seeing as I am always working towards building, but I am also a Digital Bedouin, as I live off of my laptop and ftp servers. However, I woul like to suggest one more type, and that is the casual webber, I am a student and therefore cannot live off of just my work as a designer, but do it to suppliment my other incomes and pay for school. Just food for thought.
Mainly in ‘The Telecommuter’ category.
During a typical week, I’m combining the telecommuting with normal office work days (1-2 days telecommuting and 3-4 days in the office).
Telecommuting gives such a great ‘freedom’ to stay focused on a big project/task, as opposed to being in the office with lots of interruptions.
At the moment I guess I would fit into the Corporate Web Worker persona, but I’m working toward becoming a Digital Bedouin. The idea of being able to take off whenever I want without having to worry about not meeting my “work” obligations is extremely appealing. And while I don’t see myself ever jet-setting around the world, I would like the opportunity to go work at the beach for a month, or go to the mountains, or the city, etc. At the moment the only time I get to do any of the above is when I’m on vacation (which isn’t very often).
I guess I fit the entrepreneur, since I almost totally work from home and am self-employed as a designer/developer. Which reminds me, you should do a piece on titles. I have a hard time trying to fit what I do into something that fits on a business card.