I spent last week in Newfoundland. Did a lot of driving, saw a lot of gorgeous scenery, and spent time in some pretty remote spots (edge of the continent, village populations under 200 people).
While there were a number of places where we had no cell reception, there always seemed to be wifi at the places we stopped. (This article is full of filthy lies!) This enabled a mental game I’ve come to play when I travel: Could I work from here?
When I’m in a particularly lovely or relatively remote spot somewhere in the world, if I’m able to post a photo or otherwise access the internet, I survey my lovely surroundings and add a mental checkmark for it as a potential workplace.
Obviously this is a game I’ve only played for the last few years since I became a remote worker, often while meeting up with my team.
But I’ve been working a lot longer than my current job tenure, and for most of that time, I didn’t work remotely, or even from home all that often. Nor would most of the companies I’ve worked for have embraced my working from the corners of the globe and not from my cubicle.
There are no beautiful sunsets over the ocean visible from a cubicle...
I also wouldn’t have been able to develop my skills and experience had I not put in years working in offices: the same skills and experience that enabled me to get my current job. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person for whom this is the case.
I talked to a lot of Newfoundlanders over the course of last week, and everyone asks where you’re from. A common refrain when you mention Ontario is that they’ve been there (either Ontario or the specific city) and often they lived there for a while.
Rural areas country-wide often don’t have a lot of work for young people, especially if traditional industries have died out or your interests go beyond available local work. Many folks have no choice but to leave to find jobs and build careers, whether they want to go or not.
Looking over the recent list of the latest Fierce Founders cohort had me thinking more about this as well. 21 companies, and only two from rural areas. To get experience, networking, mentorship, and possibly funding, they’re coming to the city.
Will they be able to grow and succeed the same way as their urban compatriots if they head back to rural Ontario after the program finishes?
People don’t tend to found a lot of tech companies in remote or rural places. If you do, there’s only so much you can build by yourself, and eventually you need to hire. If you’re not hiring remotely, your potential hiring pool for the skills you need is likely a lot smaller.
And, well, if there are bigger city folks who don’t necessarily want to move to somewhere like Kitchener-Waterloo for tech jobs, how much luck do you think you’d have asking them to move to Yale, BC or Trout River, NL? (Yes, those places are ridiculously smaller than KW, but you get the point.)
I have friends who are originally from Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, etc. and a game they play is looking at real estate back home. (They all plan to eventually retire back to where they’re originally from.) Unsurprisingly, what would buy you a tiny shoebox condo in Toronto or Vancouver would buy a LOT more elsewhere.
Tech salaries would also go far in these areas. (Digital nomads often make use of this benefit.) In Silicon Valley starting salaries are sky high because that’s the only way you’d (barely) be able to afford to live there. Is subsistence living the best we can do, even if it includes a six-figure salary?
Not only could tech workers in remote or rural areas live well, they would also be supporting their communities. A New Zealand-based company pays my salary, but I buy my groceries and pay my rent in Waterloo. Most of my charitable donations and volunteering are for local orgs. Generally, we tend to spend and invest where we live.
That means that other people in less urban areas could benefit from tech folks residing there as well, even if others work outside the tech industry. They can grow their businesses (or work for businesses others are building), and can afford to live in these places without heading out of the province to be able to support themselves and their families.
Building businesses of various kinds not only makes places more pleasant to live in, it stabilizes and helps further develop economies. Lack of diversification is a precarious way to live. (Newfoundland is a good example: fisheries, oil…)
Aside from being able to live, raise families, and grow places that people love, having more options about where to live means the potential to diversify communities as well. Sure, plenty of people live in cities because they prefer it — who doesn’t appreciate pizza delivery? — but not everyone. Some people just don’t really have much choice.
What if any or all communities were as diverse as the most interesting urban neighbourhoods? What if new immigrants could live anywhere and find the community and supports needed to settle and thrive? Technology could play a big role in making this viable, both in terms of systems and supports as well as jobs.
Being around people who look, think, and have experiences different from yours is good for communities and our general open-mindedness and curiosity.
Living in diverse communities also helps us think of “others” as “ours”. You may have questionable opinions about X group of people who live “away” if you don’t know anyone from that group, but the ones down the street are good folks because you know them.
They might be from somewhere far away, and work for a company also far away, but being neighbours is the key thing. This is as true online as in the “real” world.
The community and business needs in smaller communities can present tech and general business opportunities as well. While they may not need the next Uber or Skip the Dishes, there are other needs and challenges. Or existing products and services might be used in different ways.
Even for the existing tech industry and innovation, exposure to a broader base of users, tech challenges, and regional experiences is a good thing for making us better coders, writers, designers, support staff, recruiters, etc. The best innovations come from managing restrictions and obstacles, after all.
Ultimately, what’s not to love about being able to be home while developing and using your sought-after tech skills? Perhaps while gazing at a beautiful sunset over the ocean...
M-Theory is an opinion column by Melanie Baker. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Communitech. Melle can be reached on Twitter at @melle or by email at me@melle.ca.
