3 ms·

One slight variation on remote: last year we learned which companies are loyal to, and value, employees. Plenty of companies released people preemptively, simpl

One slight variation on remote: last year we learned which companies are loyal to, and value, employees. Plenty of companies released people preemptively, simply to make a couple of quarters look good. If the relationship is going to be that minimally frangible, people will hesitate to relocate to a company town at great impact to their family, only to repeat every time a shadow crosses some book. Remote people can have some defensive stability.

vkou 5y ago
> If the relationship is going to be that minimally frangible, people will hesitate to relocate to a company town at great impact to their family, only to repeat every time a shadow crosses some book. Most tech jobs are not in single-company towns, they are in tech hubs, which have a large number of alternative employers.
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  There are large companies in small towns with need for tech workers. If you move to Columbus, Georgia to work for Aflac's IT department (which is quite large) and then lose that job, you're going to have a difficult time finding something equivalent nearby. There are other local employers with IT needs but nothing on the scale of Aflac. At that point, you probably have to pick up your family and move closer to Atlanta to find similar work and compensation.
  - vkou 5y ago
    That is correct, and it is correct that remote people have a moat against this sort of mercenary behaviour by their employers. This moat is a lot less relevant if you are relocating to an industry hub, though. If you are having a hard time getting a new job in Seattle, San Francisco, or NYC, it's probably because the entire industry is contracting, and remote won't save you.
- mrtranscendence 5y ago
  Is this technically true? Is there data on this? Just speaking for myself as a resident of Ohio, there are plenty of tech jobs between Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland. Not as many as in the tech hubs, but there are forty-seven states that aren't California, New York, or Washington.
  - dagw 5y ago
    I imagine it also depend a lot on what you want to do. If you're equally happy working on whatever as long as you get to code then there are lots of jobs available all over the country/world. If you have a specific niche or specialty and want to stay within your sub field, or you want to work in a job lets you be more research focused, then being in the right hub is much more vital.
  - vkou 5y ago
    There are, indeed, forty-seven states that aren't California, New York, or Washington, but California's economy alone is bigger than the economies of the 25 smallest states (plus DC) combined.

vkou 5y ago

> If the relationship is going to be that minimally frangible, people will hesitate to relocate to a company town at great impact to their family, only to repeat every time a shadow crosses some book. Most tech jobs are not in single-company towns, they are in tech hubs, which have a large number of alternative employers.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago
There are large companies in small towns with need for tech workers. If you move to Columbus, Georgia to work for Aflac's IT department (which is quite large) and then lose that job, you're going to have a difficult time finding something equivalent nearby. There are other local employers with IT needs but nothing on the scale of Aflac. At that point, you probably have to pick up your family and move closer to Atlanta to find similar work and compensation.
- vkou 5y ago
  That is correct, and it is correct that remote people have a moat against this sort of mercenary behaviour by their employers. This moat is a lot less relevant if you are relocating to an industry hub, though. If you are having a hard time getting a new job in Seattle, San Francisco, or NYC, it's probably because the entire industry is contracting, and remote won't save you.
mrtranscendence 5y ago
Is this technically true? Is there data on this? Just speaking for myself as a resident of Ohio, there are plenty of tech jobs between Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland. Not as many as in the tech hubs, but there are forty-seven states that aren't California, New York, or Washington.
- dagw 5y ago
  I imagine it also depend a lot on what you want to do. If you're equally happy working on whatever as long as you get to code then there are lots of jobs available all over the country/world. If you have a specific niche or specialty and want to stay within your sub field, or you want to work in a job lets you be more research focused, then being in the right hub is much more vital.
- vkou 5y ago
  There are, indeed, forty-seven states that aren't California, New York, or Washington, but California's economy alone is bigger than the economies of the 25 smallest states (plus DC) combined.