5 ms·

Ask HN: What's the best way to get a remote position

55 points by inertiatic 9y ago

As someone who is planning to make the move to working from home in the future, I find myself wondering what's the optimal game plan to be able to get to a position where I can get a job like that. Now, this is quite a broad question (what skill to acquire, how to "sell" it and yourself, which companies to aim for, tips to retain sanity as a semi-hermit etc.), so feel free to answer whichever facet of it you find more interesting.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Personal reference is generally needed. Work someplace, then leave, then contract back as a remote worker, as worked out for me.
itamarst 9y ago
You're going to be working with less supervision, so you need to prove that'll work. Specifically you need to demonstrate you can work independently. This can be both job title ("senior software engineer" often maps to this) but it's also about a set of skills you want to demonstrate in your resume, cover letter, etc..
eip 9y ago
Tell them you will do either but your rate is 50% higher to work on site.
- rabbidruster 9y ago
  I think a lot of companies would choose the 50% higher salary if given that choice.
  - eip 9y ago
    That means your normal rate is not high enough.
- imhoguy 9y ago
  Don't undercharge because you work remotely. In serious business it may be perceived as lower quality work. For long term contracts it is better to stick to constant daily rate, whatever you are on site or remote, as this makes companies planing and accounting easier. Of course it is fine to charge for travel expenses but that should be also agreed upfront. Depending on work arrangement your costs may be even higher with remote gig - work space, utility bills, software licenses, hardware, occasional travelling, accountant etc.
  - eip 9y ago
    > Don't undercharge because you work remotely. You misunderstand. Remote is the normal salary you want. The on site salary is normal salary + 50% inconvenience fee.
neerkumar 9y ago
As many other things in the corporate world, the easiest path is firstly get that at your current company, where you hopefully have some leverage. You typically need to wait for 1 yr before asking to go remote. After that, it becomes much easier to get another remote job: you are already working remotely, which means you have a strong position from a negotiation standpoint when you ask for a remote job to future employers, and you have references showing that you can effectively work remotely. I know several people who work remotely and they all followed this path.
- quickthrower2 9y ago
  You can always utter the words "I am already working remotely", irregardless.
  - bb01100100 9y ago
    Irregardless, you say? So that would be, what, a lack of a lack of regard.. so, with regard then. Jolly good!
    - quickthrower2 9y ago
      Ah bait taken! :-) As much as it pains people, irregardless is a real word [1] meaning regardless. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
      - yesenadam 9y ago
        The page you linked to says "Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead."
        cyfihyfi 9y ago
        Irregardless its still a word
brudgers 9y ago
Like any job, the best way is to have an established relationship with someone in a position to pay. After that it is being able to do the thing a stranger is willing to pay someone to do. With remote work, that's probably harder because remote work is not for everyone and there is a significant chance that someone who tries it out won't like it. It's worth considering that remote work is likely to make it harder to find future jobs because remote work usually means less interaction with coworkers and outside vendors and customers. So it tends to curtail the growth of a person's professional social graph.
shortoncash 9y ago
People are scared you won't commit code and will do nothing. A long public commit history on GitHub is good and seems to do a lot. Also, once you have the job, keep the git active too. The good commit logs help you write invoices more accurately also and serve as a record.
- kevin42 9y ago
  I'm not sure that's always a positive. I'm not saying it should be this way, but there are very many companies and industries where a long open source development history won't be seen as a reflection of what the developer can do in a job. Not all companies are going to take an interest in GitHub history. I think the majority of development jobs are with companies that have a skepticism of their employees contributing to open source projects because they don't understand it and are worried about their IP being co-opted into open source.
  - shortoncash 9y ago
    Oh, if I wasn't clear, I meant using git as a form of work record at your company. If you have a nice commit log, it's easy to point to your own productivity. I didn't mean keep committing to open source repos.
- imhoguy 9y ago
  Make sure your new workplace will benefit your GH investment and community too. The Github is overcrowded with mocked contributions just to boost resumes. I am not against open-source contributions and putting them on CV, but foremost they should be done not for fame but for community benefit. Also I laugh when closed-source only company asks for GH contributions but they don't contribute anything and don't let one to work on GH in paid time. That means you spend your evenings and time off to keep up with GH - only if your contracts permits that too.
  - shortoncash 9y ago
    Great comment! I worked in a closed, secretive space for a long time. When I left the secretive space, I had no public "street credit" that would've helped me land remote work. I had to rely on referrals. I'm 100% certain public code and street credit would have made my potential clients more comfortable with me. Plus, having the benefits of having a long, extended public track record communicating with others would have helped too.
kevin42 9y ago
Being willing to travel to the customer site periodically helps immensely. I own a small company and all of our services work is remote. But I made the connections face-to-face at industry conferences and through personal networking. I get a lot of work from visiting for a few days and going out for drinks while I'm in town. One time I got a high six figure contract that was going to go to a competitor the day after having beers with a few of the guys. I asked them to meet up so they could let me know what they liked and didn't like about my proposal. We talked about it for a bit but mostly just hung out. The thing about remote work is that you still need to maintain the person-person interaction.
SirLJ 9y ago
Be very good at your job... I told my boss one day few years ago, I don't feel like coming to the office anymore (30 min drive door to door) so I work from home for a big company that is not officially supporting remote workers...
- jetti 9y ago
  I did the same but only asked for 2 days remote every week. I have an almost 2 hour commute door to door so they were understanding. My last job that I was full remote was because we were acquired and the company didn't want to pay for the office when there was an office about 30 minutes from that office.
cosmie 9y ago
In a similar vein, do any non-devs here work remote? A lot of companies where I’ve seen remote work allowed, only (explicitly) allow it for software engineering roles. And any other postings from the company will specify a particular office location. I’ve been allowed to work remote in my current company, but only as a quirk of the org structure here and getting lumped in with the dev team. I do more of business operations and analytics work that usually doesn’t report up through engineering, and trying to find a new job that allows remote work has been painful.
- DoreenMichele 9y ago
  any non-devs here work remote? I work remotely, but it is with an online writing service, plus as a blogger who gets a smidgeon of Patreon money and as someone who does resume work and advertises it myself. I don't have a remote "job" per se. I worked for a time at Aflac. While I was there, they were trying out remote positions within the claims department (where I worked). I am also trying to create a support system for digital workers, including but not limited to remote workers. This is the current page of remote job boards and what limited stuff I have for that area: http://independentdigitalworkers.blogspot.com/p/remote.html http://independentdigitalworkers.blogspot.com/p/remote.html
- twobyfour 9y ago
  My current company has some people in customer service and business development who work remotely. Some of that is related to the work (customer service especially) not requiring much collaboration with the in-office team, and long-time employees who moved out of town arranging to remain employed remotely. The rest is the fact that the business development folks are more effective if they're already located in and have networks in and a finger on the pulse of the specific geographic markets they're targeting. That said, the business development job postings do specify markets where we expect the candidate to be located, just not the same one where our central office is located. We also employ contractors in a few departments who work remotely.
  - cosmie 9y ago
    That seems to be consistent with what I’ve seen. Thanks for another data point confirming that. :)
imhoguy 9y ago
Starting remote work brings you closer to consulting business which needs: networking + trust + skills + luck. Know decisive people, managers, architects, entrepreneurs, also these who are far from your place - think global. From time to time ask them how their projects are going on, just let them know that you are available to help them. If they trust you they will come back after some time. There is always a shortage of good specialists so your pitch should be remembered. Know your market - obtain skills which are remotely marketable. Just do some research what these people use, what stacks, what teamwork tools (Slack, Github, Stash, wikis, reviews etc) etc. Try to figure out their needs. Make a tailored CV every time to emphasize your skills and experience which match their needs. Then you need some luck. As in every sale process that usually means repeating the process and constantly researching needs. Being on top with contacts and skills should help you close the deal, no mater where you are located. From my experience it is easier to work for global or remote-first companies. Their main communication happens over distributed medium which is usually transparent for all remote peers. However if you are going to be just WFH guy in office-first environment then expect lack of information, dealing with poor communication tools and being forgotten when decisions are made.
togusa2017 9y ago
I did remote job for a year and during the interview it was no different then a normal job. But wow what an experience I loved every moment of it. Practised agile, proper documentation and mid night design brain storming session from team member from Italy. Even if the work is not so top notch take for the experience
- chuck4932 9y ago
  > Practised agile, proper documentation and mid night design brain storming session What does any of that have to do with being remote? And why is having to work at midnight a good thing?
  - togusa2017 9y ago
    I have learned that practising agile and proper documentation is a life saver when working in remote when your team mate is not an arms length away or on different timezone. I was able to appreciate the importance of these two during remote. At those times I enjoyed working in the night and relaxing / travelling in the day. So it was an new experience. Just my 2 cents
JSeymourATL 9y ago
Toptal has an interesting platform for remote developers > https://www.toptal.com/ https://www.toptal.com/

55 points by inertiatic 9y ago

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

Personal reference is generally needed. Work someplace, then leave, then contract back as a remote worker, as worked out for me.

itamarst 9y ago

You're going to be working with less supervision, so you need to prove that'll work. Specifically you need to demonstrate you can work independently. This can be both job title ("senior software engineer" often maps to this) but it's also about a set of skills you want to demonstrate in your resume, cover letter, etc..

eip 9y ago

Tell them you will do either but your rate is 50% higher to work on site.

rabbidruster 9y ago
I think a lot of companies would choose the 50% higher salary if given that choice.
- eip 9y ago
  That means your normal rate is not high enough.
imhoguy 9y ago
Don't undercharge because you work remotely. In serious business it may be perceived as lower quality work. For long term contracts it is better to stick to constant daily rate, whatever you are on site or remote, as this makes companies planing and accounting easier. Of course it is fine to charge for travel expenses but that should be also agreed upfront. Depending on work arrangement your costs may be even higher with remote gig - work space, utility bills, software licenses, hardware, occasional travelling, accountant etc.
- eip 9y ago
  > Don't undercharge because you work remotely. You misunderstand. Remote is the normal salary you want. The on site salary is normal salary + 50% inconvenience fee.

neerkumar 9y ago

As many other things in the corporate world, the easiest path is firstly get that at your current company, where you hopefully have some leverage. You typically need to wait for 1 yr before asking to go remote. After that, it becomes much easier to get another remote job: you are already working remotely, which means you have a strong position from a negotiation standpoint when you ask for a remote job to future employers, and you have references showing that you can effectively work remotely. I know several people who work remotely and they all followed this path.

quickthrower2 9y ago
You can always utter the words "I am already working remotely", irregardless.
- bb01100100 9y ago
  Irregardless, you say? So that would be, what, a lack of a lack of regard.. so, with regard then. Jolly good!
  - quickthrower2 9y ago
    Ah bait taken! :-) As much as it pains people, irregardless is a real word [1] meaning regardless. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
    - yesenadam 9y ago
      The page you linked to says "Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead."
      - cyfihyfi 9y ago
        Irregardless its still a word

brudgers 9y ago

Like any job, the best way is to have an established relationship with someone in a position to pay. After that it is being able to do the thing a stranger is willing to pay someone to do. With remote work, that's probably harder because remote work is not for everyone and there is a significant chance that someone who tries it out won't like it. It's worth considering that remote work is likely to make it harder to find future jobs because remote work usually means less interaction with coworkers and outside vendors and customers. So it tends to curtail the growth of a person's professional social graph.

shortoncash 9y ago

People are scared you won't commit code and will do nothing. A long public commit history on GitHub is good and seems to do a lot. Also, once you have the job, keep the git active too. The good commit logs help you write invoices more accurately also and serve as a record.

kevin42 9y ago
I'm not sure that's always a positive. I'm not saying it should be this way, but there are very many companies and industries where a long open source development history won't be seen as a reflection of what the developer can do in a job. Not all companies are going to take an interest in GitHub history. I think the majority of development jobs are with companies that have a skepticism of their employees contributing to open source projects because they don't understand it and are worried about their IP being co-opted into open source.
- shortoncash 9y ago
  Oh, if I wasn't clear, I meant using git as a form of work record at your company. If you have a nice commit log, it's easy to point to your own productivity. I didn't mean keep committing to open source repos.
imhoguy 9y ago
Make sure your new workplace will benefit your GH investment and community too. The Github is overcrowded with mocked contributions just to boost resumes. I am not against open-source contributions and putting them on CV, but foremost they should be done not for fame but for community benefit. Also I laugh when closed-source only company asks for GH contributions but they don't contribute anything and don't let one to work on GH in paid time. That means you spend your evenings and time off to keep up with GH - only if your contracts permits that too.
- shortoncash 9y ago
  Great comment! I worked in a closed, secretive space for a long time. When I left the secretive space, I had no public "street credit" that would've helped me land remote work. I had to rely on referrals. I'm 100% certain public code and street credit would have made my potential clients more comfortable with me. Plus, having the benefits of having a long, extended public track record communicating with others would have helped too.

kevin42 9y ago

Being willing to travel to the customer site periodically helps immensely. I own a small company and all of our services work is remote. But I made the connections face-to-face at industry conferences and through personal networking. I get a lot of work from visiting for a few days and going out for drinks while I'm in town. One time I got a high six figure contract that was going to go to a competitor the day after having beers with a few of the guys. I asked them to meet up so they could let me know what they liked and didn't like about my proposal. We talked about it for a bit but mostly just hung out. The thing about remote work is that you still need to maintain the person-person interaction.

SirLJ 9y ago

Be very good at your job... I told my boss one day few years ago, I don't feel like coming to the office anymore (30 min drive door to door) so I work from home for a big company that is not officially supporting remote workers...

jetti 9y ago
I did the same but only asked for 2 days remote every week. I have an almost 2 hour commute door to door so they were understanding. My last job that I was full remote was because we were acquired and the company didn't want to pay for the office when there was an office about 30 minutes from that office.

cosmie 9y ago

In a similar vein, do any non-devs here work remote? A lot of companies where I’ve seen remote work allowed, only (explicitly) allow it for software engineering roles. And any other postings from the company will specify a particular office location. I’ve been allowed to work remote in my current company, but only as a quirk of the org structure here and getting lumped in with the dev team. I do more of business operations and analytics work that usually doesn’t report up through engineering, and trying to find a new job that allows remote work has been painful.

DoreenMichele 9y ago
any non-devs here work remote? I work remotely, but it is with an online writing service, plus as a blogger who gets a smidgeon of Patreon money and as someone who does resume work and advertises it myself. I don't have a remote "job" per se. I worked for a time at Aflac. While I was there, they were trying out remote positions within the claims department (where I worked). I am also trying to create a support system for digital workers, including but not limited to remote workers. This is the current page of remote job boards and what limited stuff I have for that area: http://independentdigitalworkers.blogspot.com/p/remote.html http://independentdigitalworkers.blogspot.com/p/remote.html
twobyfour 9y ago
My current company has some people in customer service and business development who work remotely. Some of that is related to the work (customer service especially) not requiring much collaboration with the in-office team, and long-time employees who moved out of town arranging to remain employed remotely. The rest is the fact that the business development folks are more effective if they're already located in and have networks in and a finger on the pulse of the specific geographic markets they're targeting. That said, the business development job postings do specify markets where we expect the candidate to be located, just not the same one where our central office is located. We also employ contractors in a few departments who work remotely.
- cosmie 9y ago
  That seems to be consistent with what I’ve seen. Thanks for another data point confirming that. :)

imhoguy 9y ago

Starting remote work brings you closer to consulting business which needs: networking + trust + skills + luck. Know decisive people, managers, architects, entrepreneurs, also these who are far from your place - think global. From time to time ask them how their projects are going on, just let them know that you are available to help them. If they trust you they will come back after some time. There is always a shortage of good specialists so your pitch should be remembered. Know your market - obtain skills which are remotely marketable. Just do some research what these people use, what stacks, what teamwork tools (Slack, Github, Stash, wikis, reviews etc) etc. Try to figure out their needs. Make a tailored CV every time to emphasize your skills and experience which match their needs. Then you need some luck. As in every sale process that usually means repeating the process and constantly researching needs. Being on top with contacts and skills should help you close the deal, no mater where you are located. From my experience it is easier to work for global or remote-first companies. Their main communication happens over distributed medium which is usually transparent for all remote peers. However if you are going to be just WFH guy in office-first environment then expect lack of information, dealing with poor communication tools and being forgotten when decisions are made.

togusa2017 9y ago

I did remote job for a year and during the interview it was no different then a normal job. But wow what an experience I loved every moment of it. Practised agile, proper documentation and mid night design brain storming session from team member from Italy. Even if the work is not so top notch take for the experience

chuck4932 9y ago
> Practised agile, proper documentation and mid night design brain storming session What does any of that have to do with being remote? And why is having to work at midnight a good thing?
- togusa2017 9y ago
  I have learned that practising agile and proper documentation is a life saver when working in remote when your team mate is not an arms length away or on different timezone. I was able to appreciate the importance of these two during remote. At those times I enjoyed working in the night and relaxing / travelling in the day. So it was an new experience. Just my 2 cents

JSeymourATL 9y ago

Toptal has an interesting platform for remote developers > https://www.toptal.com/ https://www.toptal.com/