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I have a remote job _because_ I live in the countryside. I'm very happy with my job, but its not a walk in the park being remote. * Most companies want to pay

I have a remote job _because_ I live in the countryside. I'm very happy with my job, but its not a walk in the park being remote. * Most companies want to pay you based on your location. If you are already in a the countryside when getting the remote job, they will compare your compensation with all the local farmers and retail jobs. They are the only jobs in the area, so that is what generates the income stats. Its not impossible to find a company that will pay you what your worth working remote, but its an uphill battle. * Internet options are non-existent. If you happen to have issues that your provider is unable or unwilling to fix, you have no recourse. Its obviously very important to have a reliable internet connection when remote. * Networking is difficult. If your company is very distributed, this won't be as difficult. But if you are remote while most others are not, your career will suffer. It doesn't matter how great you are, if you don't get facetime in with your coworkers while everyone else is, you will be left behind. These are just some challenges I've noticed. I'm very happy with my current company, and I love making a decent wage while living in a low-cost area. Plus no traffic and online shopping makes up for the lack of local business.

deedubaya 8y ago
I'm in a similar boat, and these points are spot on. Some additional points: * You _have_ to work a lot harder to prove your worth to your peers. With networking be so difficult, it's hard to gain advocates (read references) for your career. * Staying up to date in your industry can be a challenge, as the community around you is often not even remotely in the same industry. You don't get the idle chit-chat about new/exciting/changing thing, exposing you to new ideas. This might make you appear antiquated. * It's hard to even idly talk with neighbors and friends about work, especially if you're in tech. They often don't have a frame of reference to know that a software engineer doesn't drive a locomotive. Re-explaining that to literally everyone can become tiresome, making it easier to just say "I write computer software". This can lead to an increased feeling of isolation. * Travel can be more difficult if not near a central airline hub. Think, take an early connection flight to your connection flight to your main flight. This often leads to an entire day of travel to get to/from somewhere relatively close -- slow enough that it may be a faster option to just drive for 16 hours. I wouldn't recommend moving to the countryside as a career move. You need to have something else pulling you there -- family, a non-work activity, pace of life -- to make it worth the extra work.
- move-on-by 8y ago
  > Travel can be more difficult if not near a central airline hub. Oh this is a great addition. Remote jobs often have an element of travel involved. Only having a small regional airline means a least 1 layover minimum and limited time options. Often that means having to travel on Sunday night to make the Monday at noon meeting - where others can just fly out Monday morning.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I'm not a developer but I do work (mostly) remotely. That is, technically I'm in an office but most of the people I work with regularly are scattered around the country so it's not worth my time to go in very often. I don't really depend on neighbors or other social circles to discuss technology. Indeed, it's about the last thing I want to gab about if I'm on a weekend hiking trip. Fortunately, my job requires me to attend, speak at, etc. a lot of events which offers plenty of opportunity to interact with peers. For me, I'd probably start to feel out of touch if I didn't get out of the house in this way.

deedubaya 8y ago

I'm in a similar boat, and these points are spot on. Some additional points: * You _have_ to work a lot harder to prove your worth to your peers. With networking be so difficult, it's hard to gain advocates (read references) for your career. * Staying up to date in your industry can be a challenge, as the community around you is often not even remotely in the same industry. You don't get the idle chit-chat about new/exciting/changing thing, exposing you to new ideas. This might make you appear antiquated. * It's hard to even idly talk with neighbors and friends about work, especially if you're in tech. They often don't have a frame of reference to know that a software engineer doesn't drive a locomotive. Re-explaining that to literally everyone can become tiresome, making it easier to just say "I write computer software". This can lead to an increased feeling of isolation. * Travel can be more difficult if not near a central airline hub. Think, take an early connection flight to your connection flight to your main flight. This often leads to an entire day of travel to get to/from somewhere relatively close -- slow enough that it may be a faster option to just drive for 16 hours. I wouldn't recommend moving to the countryside as a career move. You need to have something else pulling you there -- family, a non-work activity, pace of life -- to make it worth the extra work.

move-on-by 8y ago
> Travel can be more difficult if not near a central airline hub. Oh this is a great addition. Remote jobs often have an element of travel involved. Only having a small regional airline means a least 1 layover minimum and limited time options. Often that means having to travel on Sunday night to make the Monday at noon meeting - where others can just fly out Monday morning.
ghaff 8y ago
I'm not a developer but I do work (mostly) remotely. That is, technically I'm in an office but most of the people I work with regularly are scattered around the country so it's not worth my time to go in very often. I don't really depend on neighbors or other social circles to discuss technology. Indeed, it's about the last thing I want to gab about if I'm on a weekend hiking trip. Fortunately, my job requires me to attend, speak at, etc. a lot of events which offers plenty of opportunity to interact with peers. For me, I'd probably start to feel out of touch if I didn't get out of the house in this way.