Web Worker Daily

As a web worker, you have the freedom to work from anywhere that has an Internet connection. A coffee shop or a library can make for just as good a workspace as a home office. But workplaces are not created equal. The differences between individual coffee shops can turn one into the perfect place to plant your laptop, while making another an impossible place to get any work done. The trick is learning to recognize what makes the best workspace for you before you buy a cup of coffee and find a chair. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Reid Beels

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is put a kettle of water on the stove to make tea. Unlike Captain Picard’s preference for Earl Grey, I stick mostly to green tea to keep me caffeinated. I suspect that most of you have a similar ritual whether you reach for your morning Mt. Dew, tea, coffee, espresso, or a tall, skinny, half-caf, no whip, caramel machiatto from the local coffee shop.

The western obsession with caffeine has some interesting roots. On the NPR Science Friday podcast this week, Steven Johnson talked about how Age of Enlightenment in England coincides with the arrival of caffeine and the growing popularity of coffee shops as places where people with different backgrounds, like Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Priestley, came together over coffee and tea to talk about issues and new ideas. The coffee houses also introduced caffeine as a daily habit in people’s lives. At the time, one of the only other safe beverages was alcohol, since the water quality was poor, so some people went from being drunk by mid-morning every day to being caffeinated and alert throughout the day. Read the rest of this entry »

As a freelance consultant, I spend my days in front of a computer occasionally shifting around the house to the couch, kitchen table, or porch when I need a change of scenery from my home office. I have a kitchen instead of a lunch room, a phone instead of a conference room, and no water cooler in sight. While the solitary web worker life can get lonely occasionally, most of us have found ways to engage with communities of our peers in less traditional ways outside of an office.

There have been many posts about engaging with coworkers and clients via Twitter, IM, Facebook, and other social networking sites. Those are a great first step to keep in touch with real people throughout the day, but what about those times when you just need to get out of the house?

I’m lucky to live here in Portland where we have a large number of freelancers, consultants, telecommuters, and other remote workers. We frequently get together during the week for coworking sessions at coffee shops where we each work independently, but by meeting in groups, we have people to watch our computers when we go to the bathroom, share quick stories, or get feedback on a tough issue. There are a few coffee shops where my web worker friends regularly congregate, and I can almost guarantee that I’ll see someone I know wander in during my visit. Read the rest of this entry »