I’m off on my first digital nomad adventure, living and working remotely from Oaxaca, Mexico for the next 4 weeks via WiFi Tribe. A few weeks later, I’ll do the same thing in Buenos Aires, Argentina via Hacker Paradise.
As I jump into these trips, I wanted to share a bit about the similarities and differences between these programs, what my interview process with them was like, and what’s next for me.
What is WiFi Tribe / Hacker Paradise?
Both are programs designed to support digital nomads to live and work for short stints in different parts of the world. They procure the housing, dedicated workspace, fast wifi + backups, and an onsite coordinator in exchange for a fee per chapter (that cost does not include the flight, transportation, food, or other tourism costs).
A chapter is a duration of time when they provide these things in a certain region. Once accepted, members of the program can apply for chapters.
The pricing for each program is pretty similar, with the exception that WiFi Tribe members pay an annual $500 membership fee to remain active in the program. The price per chapter varies based on the location, quality of accommodations, and whether you choose to share a room or have your own.
Those are the things that they have in common. They differ in their philosophies and how they approach structuring their chapters. Here are the differences I’ve discovered in these programs via research, anecdotes from travel blogs, and conversations with friends who’ve been part of them.
Hacker Paradise chapters have a more flexible time window. Members can choose to book a 2, 4, 6, or 8-week stint within an 8-week window. In WiFi Tribe, chapters are always 4 weeks long, with no flexibility to book a different time frame.
Some see Hacker Paradise’s flexibility as a perk, preferring to be able to try out different locations for different durations. Others have said this results in the sense of community within the chapter feeling fragmented as people come and go, and see WiFi Tribe as better for actual community in this aspect.
I booked a 4-week stint for my Buenos Aires chapter that takes place during the second half of the chapter’s 8-week time window, so I’m curious to see what the community aspect will be like.
With WiFi Tribe, your dedicated workspace is often in the same building as your housing, so you don’t have much of a commute aside of rolling out of bed and walking to your desk (which is sometimes in your bedroom, sometimes in a communal room, depending on the location). Hacker Paradise emphasizes separating these two so you have a short commute (no more than 15 mins is what they say in their marketing materials) so you really feel immersed in the place you’re in.
I’m personally ambivalent to the difference here. I do take sensitive calls sometimes, so I like the privacy of my own room, though I can also appreciate the separation of working and living spaces that Hacker Paradise provides.
Hacker Paradise’s list of destinations is more global, whereas WiFi Tribe chapters are predominantly in Latin America. Most WiFi Tribe members I’ve talked to are in occupations where they are required to work on US time zones, so they are restricted to Latin America anyway. I don’t have this limitation (I do have to overlap with PST, but not entirely) and I want to go everywhere, so I joined both programs to have a lot of options.
WiFi Tribe has a bigger focus on community. This really shows in the interview processes for both programs, which I get into more below. As part of the process for WiFi Tribe, I answered questions on communities I’ve been part of in the past and what role(s) I tend to play in communities I’ve been in. They emphasize that you get what you give on chapters, and make an effort to empower members to co-create their own experience instead of relying on the coordinators to lead them by the hand.
In comparison, what I’ve heard about Hacker Paradise is that they are a bit more hand-holdy and that the chapter coordinator plays a larger role in really spearheading events. This isn’t a bad thing at all – as with all of these differences, it’s all personal preference! Some people will prefer more of a pre-set itinerary, whereas others will want to be given the reins.
Hacker Paradise has a bigger focus on career growth (and is more tech industry-focused). Their marketing is all very tech-industry driven (hence the name) and members have told me that they do tend to meet more tech people on those chapters. They also emphasize offering workshops, talks, and skill-building classes as part of each chapter.
(Please do not take the above screenshot as an endorsement of crypto and/or hustle culture.)
From what I’ve seen around the WiFi Tribe Slack and Instagram, members are from a wider variety of career paths and industries. WiFi Tribe does have a tradition of having members host skillshares on chapters, though the topic can range from the professional to the personal – finance, blogging, coding, cooking, and twerking are all valid topics that have been covered in past skillshares. Members volunteer to do them, so they’re more sporadic and not necessarily a guaranteed part of the experience. It’s all in line with their philosophy that members co-create the experience for themselves.
When you apply to book a chapter in WiFi Tribe, there’s a delay before you are confirmed, whereas Hacker Paradise confirms your acceptance into the chapter right away. WiFi tribe has an emphasis on making sure chapters are diverse across multiple axis, so they wait for a small pool of applicants to come through before confirming who has a spot. As far as I know, Hacker Paradise doesn’t do anything like this, and fills spots on chapters on a first-come-first-served basis.
The Interview Process
I interviewed for both programs in the spring. Their interview processes were very different, though in retrospect, each are aligned with their differing philosophies and focus areas.
Hacker Paradise
A one-line summary of my Hacker Paradise interview experience is that it moved very quickly and felt more focused on selling the experience to me rather than vetting me for it (though there was some vetting involved).
My overall process went like this:
- After reviewing the list of chapters and tentatively settling on one, I filled out the get started form on their website.
- Received a reply a day or so later offering a calendar link for me to schedule a chat with a member of their team.
- The call itself took only 15 minutes, during which they asked about my employment and what chapter I was interested in, and shared more info about how chapters are usually run. I didn’t get much time to ask more than 1 question of the interviewer.
- A day or so later, I got a “you’re in!” email with an invoice for me to book my spot on the chapter I wanted.
WiFi Tribe
My interview process with WiFi Tribe took longer (6 weeks total) and was much more focused on vetting me for being part of their community. Knowing that they do not have a high acceptance rate and witnessing the thoughtfulness of the process gave me reassurance that it would be a great community to be part of, though I was anxious about the long time frame and definitely overthought my answer to pretty much every question.
My overall process went like this:
- Applied via the website, during which I had to answer essay-style questions about myself.
- Received a reply about 2 weeks later inviting me to set up a 45-minute interview via a calendar link. It took me a while to set this up because spots were filled so quickly, which apparently is a common phenomenon.
- Had a 90-minute call (we went over the 45-min time frame) with the founder, during which I answered questions about communities I’ve been part of before, traits I’m drawn to in people, and my values. I asked about what their process is for when there are incidents of harassment or bullying on chapter, and what chapters they recommend for newbies (Oaxaca, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Bariloche).
- A week or so after that, I received follow-up that I was moving forward in the process with a link to complete a Myers-Briggs personality test and forward the results to them. (Fun fact: I’m an ENFP).
- A few days later, I was accepted! I already had Oaxaca on the brain, and the chapter had just opened for bookings that same day, so I applied immediately, worried it would sell out (apparently, it’s one of the most popular ones).
Other Programs
Though WiFi Tribe and Hacker Paradise are the most well-known in digital nomad programs, there are others out there. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself starting out, so I decided to try these two by doing one chapter of each. Depending on how long I decide to do the digital nomad thing for, I may try out other programs someday.
Once I’ve completed both chapters, I’m planning to do a follow-up post on more similarities or differences that I noticed. In the meantime, I’m on day 4 of Oaxaca life, so I need to wind down and go to bed. My next post will be about my prep process for this first trip. Until then, here’s to adventure!