My family and I have been digital nomads since 2022. Our lifestyle is only possible because of the onset of digital, remote work. Once reserved for programmers, the COVID-19 Pandemic permanently changed the employment landscape, allowing even the technically challenged population a chance to work entirely online
There are two main kinds of employment we’ve encountered during our time as digital nomads – full/part-time employees and contract workers. Contract workers are also referred to as freelancers, or self-employed, depending on how they earn a living. Obviously, there are also self-employed workers who run their own companies and hire others, but for the sake of this article, self-employed digital nomads are nomads who run a company and make bids on freelancing or contract gigs
My husband is a Salesforce Consultant, and I’m a content creator who used to be the voice of an AI chatbot. Neither one of us can program or work as a software engineer. I can’t even read JavaScript.
There are many ways to earn money while traveling the world. These are our favorite sites for finding jobs as full—or part-time employees or freelancers.
Remote Jobs
If you’re looking for a steady income and less flexibility while traveling, a full-time remote position may work for your family. My husband and I were full-time remote employees before transitioning into self-employed careers when we started traveling.
Remote jobs provide employees with health insurance, travel perks, retirement plans, vacation days, parental leave, steady income, and many more benefits. However, being officially attached to a company means limiting travel to certain time zones, inflexible working hours, and other restrictions.
Some remote advertisers don’t offer genuine remote jobs; I refer to these as pseudo-nomadic job offers. These companies want employees to stay in a specific location, visit the office, or work from home (in-country).
Flexjobs
This is my favorite site for finding remote jobs, as in full-time positions where we can work remotely. Although there is a subscription fee for job details, it’s worth the money. There are full-time remote positions for all skills, levels, and geographic locations. As an added bonus? Unlike many remote job sites, these aren’t just for programmers or developers. There are customer service jobs, administrator jobs, and virtual assistant jobs for motivated digital nomads.
Remote
A smaller subsidiary of flexjobs, Remote.co is the place to go if you’re a developer, customer service rep, recruiter, designer, or sales professional. They’ve recently added teaching and editing jobs to their database.
JustRemote
JustRemote lists jobs from around the world for both freelancers and full-time employees. For 6$, motivated nomads can access their Power List – a list of jobs that aren’t advertised to everyone, giving you a higher chance of success when applying.
VirtualVocations
Virtual Vocations is a gold mine for want-to-be nomads. They have remote positions for all job types, from educators (Virtual Special Education Jobs) to Programmers. Most of their positions are permanent, giving you a secure income while traveling. Most of the jobs we found are for US-based digital nomads, so EU applicants may not be considered.
Pangian
With over 16,000 jobs shared and 1,500,000 visits in a year, Pangian is not only a job search site; it’s a community of digital nomads and prospective employers. While their jobs skew more toward freelance work, the site connects employers with employees, which is why I’ve classified it under a remote work site.
WeWorkRemotely
One of the oldest remote work portals with 4.5 M monthly visitors, WeWorkRemotely has excellent full and part-time job offers and a daily newsletter with new jobs. One thing to think about is that this portal’s popularity means job offers are highly competitive, with featured offers getting upwards of 10,000 applicants.
Idealist
The job portal for socially conscious job-seekers and idealists features jobs for non-profits, social impact jobs, and volunteer opportunities. One feature I like about Idealist is that it offers both On-Site and Remote jobs, meaning prospective nomads can apply for work abroad that directly impacts the community.
Remotive
If you’re in IT, Remotive is the site for you. With thousands of original job postings for techies, there’s something for every developer, designer, and technical engineer.
Skipthedrive
Skip The Drive is a completely free job site. Although the search function is definitely lacking, the job offers aren’t hidden behind a paywall, membership program, or other clickbait tools.
Remoteok
Another site mainly aimed at computer professionals, Remote Ok, offers advanced data entry, senior board member positions, and remote medical jobs.
Indeed
Remote work is no longer niche. Indeed.com, one of the world’s largest online job portals, offers applicants an option to search for remote work only.
The Muse
Founded by women, the muse focuses on connecting the right companies with the right employees. This means job descriptions are on an entirely new level – allowing prospective employees and employers to connect personally, morally, and professionally.
Gun.io
Another portal that focuses on tech jobs, Gun.io connects tech companies with software developers and engineers. Their vetting process means potential nomads have to put more work into joining the site, but will be rewarded through streamlined hiring processes later.
Career Vault
Founded by digital nomads, Career Vault allows nomads to connect with companies looking to hire full-time remote employees. They can choose from a variety of careers, including writing and content production jobs and the more typical developer careers.
Wellfound
Wellfound, which mainly caters to tech startups, advertises over 50,000 fully remote positions on its site. Nomads can connect with big companies like GitLab or join a start-up early.
Dribbble
As the #1 job board for graphic design jobs, Dribbble caters to graphic designers. Not all the jobs advertised are remote; some are “remote-friendly.”
Landing Jobs
Although it mainly focuses on programmers, developers, and software engineers, I like two things about this site. First of all, it asks potential employees whether they are looking to relocate, stay in their country, or work remotely. Secondly, the job offerings must submit an accepted time zone for applicants – something that we’ve previously had to awkwardly discuss during interviews.
Power To Fly
This job portal has some high-ticket companies offering supposedly remote jobs. Companies like Google, Salesforce, and Deloitte all advertise postings here. However, I doubt that all the jobs posted remotely are remote. Some involve sorting cables for a warehouse, distributing parts for tech companies, and other tasks that digital nomads can’t accomplish.
Working Nomads
Since 2014, Working Nomads has been helping companies and organizations connect with exceptional nomads – they know what nomads want. The companies advertising here offer remote jobs, allowing employees to work from anywhere instead of pseudo-remote work.
EU Remote Jobs
If you have an EU passport and want to stay in Europe, EU Remote Jobs is the place for you. Some companies will work with employees from all EU time zones, meaning you can work from Africa, the Middle East, and the UK. Others require employees to have a legal residence in the EU.
Jobspresso
An online platform dedicated to connecting remote workers with the companies that need them, Jobspresso vets job offers to ensure they are legitimate and truly remote. Jobspresso also allows job seekers to post their resumes online, meaning interested companies can contact you.
Freelance Work
If you’re looking for freedom and flexibility in your digital nomad lifestyle, with little to no economic stability, consider working as a freelancer, self-employed, or contract employee.
While you’ll miss out on company benefits like paternity or maternity leave, health insurance, or a steady income, freelancers can work anywhere, set their own hours, and work as needed.
Although my family and I started working as full-time employees, we transitioned into freelance work when I was seven months pregnant, allowing us to take time off as needed. These are the sites we use to find gigs. If you’re interested in how we transitioned, check out this blog.
Freelancer Map
Most of the jobs on Freelancer Map are for EU nationals, making it a great job portal for European Job Seekers. There are lots of options for multi-lingual language speakers, content writers, and techies.
Freelancer.com
This is a typical freelancing site, where prospective employers describe a job they need finished and freelancers submit bids. Jobs range from highly specialized technical work to “easy” jobs as virtual assistants who make doctor’s appointments. There’s something for every nomad here.
UpWork
Upwork is one of the main platforms worldwide that connects freelancers and companies. There are thousands, of opportunities for all skill sets, levels, and locations.
Fiverr
With thousands of jobs and freelancers, Fiverr was my company’s go to market for freelancers. Fiverr allows freelancers to both advertise themselves and place bids on projects, meaning you can be as proactive as you want when building your freelancing empire.
Top Tal
Toptal is an innovative freelancing company that offers freelancers the flexibility of remote work and the stability of a full-time job. It hires finance experts, Product managers, designers, developers, marketing experts, and product owners for companies looking to hire freelancers.
Wellfound
Wellfound, which mainly caters to tech startups, advertises over 50,000 fully remote positions on its site. Nomads can connect with big companies like GitLab or join a start-up early. Wellfound offers both full-time and contractual employment opportunities.
LinkedIn is always a good idea, especially if you’re trying to start a nontraditional career path. It’s a searchable resume online! I get weekly job offers, although I have yet to complete a BA, and my husband gets hourly offers – he’s fighting headhunters off with a stick! LinkedIn now has a Services Marketplace and is one of the most reliable online sources for job postings.
Flowremote.io
If you’re a webflow developer, I hope you’ve heard about Flowremote. Offering solely web flow jobs for both prospective employees and freelancers, this is the site you need to be on.
Solid Gigs
Unlike most freelancing sites, solid gigs does the searching for you, saving freelancers time, money, and effort. They are the leading lead generation tool for freelancing professionals who specialize in connecting clients with the best freelancers.
YunoJuno
YunoJuno is an online platform that pairs midweight to senior creative and tech professionals with the best freelance jobs. Companies like Google, BBC, Deloitte, GSK, Pepsico, and Deliveroo use their platform. If you can plan, design, build, manage, measure, or write about something, YunoJuno is the site for you.
99 Designs
Geared towards creatives, 99 designs is a freelancing community that offers freelancers an online community. They have competitions, support groups, and customer support for both companies and freelancers.
Guru
Guru connects freelancers and employers. There are all kinds of jobs on this platform and employers are both large companies and individuals. There are long contracts, short contracts, and one-time jobs waiting for your bid.
People Per Hour
With over 15 years of experience connecting talented freelancers to the companies (and individuals) looking for their skills, People Per Hour is a great marketplace for freelancers. After creating a profile, freelancers can bid on jobs and receive offers, allowing them to be as proactive as they need to be.
Conclusion
As you can see in this list, remote jobs for anyone with a computer are available worldwide. You don’t need fancy computer skills, an advanced degree, or artistic talent to transform your life and make the ordinary extraordinary.
If you’re unsure where to start, try scrolling through the offers on various platforms. You can also check out these blogs for more inspiration, tips, and tricks on transforming your workplace into a work-from-anywhere lifestyle.
There are also tons of opportunities to work as an entrepreneur and travel the world full-time; it’s what we’re attempting right now! One main warning? Avoid companies offering you the ultimate passive income, gurus who swear their $497 marketing course will earn you millions, and Instagrammers who promise you thousands of dollars through affiliate marketing. While there are real success stories, nothing in life is free – including passive income.
As my dad likes to say, if you’re getting paid for it, it’s work.
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