5 ms·

I am noticing a lot of the big tech companies are becoming more flexible about remote work, but they are still far away from a true remote friendly option for m

I am noticing a lot of the big tech companies are becoming more flexible about remote work, but they are still far away from a true remote friendly option for me at least. It seems the expectation is that they want people to be available to come to the office on demand every once in a while, so you need to be living within at least a 1-2 hour drive from the office. While that is certainly an improvement, it isn't true remote. If there are any big tech companies who only expect travel to the office a few times a year I would love to hear about them!

TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
A colleague told me that NTT, with a staff of 320,000, is now 100% permanently remote.
kimbernator 5y ago
As someone working for a company I like while living in a place that I'd rather not, there's no more annoying thing for me to dwell on than the fact that the only thing standing between me and moving is the fact that my employer expects me to be in the office 2 days/month.
- jedberg 5y ago
  2 days a month seems like it could be handled pretty well with an airplane? Like even if the commute were six hours and you had to stay in a hotel, that doesn't seem awful twice a month if the other 28 days you get to live somewhere that makes you happy.
tdeck 5y ago
Dropbox has gone "remote first" and sold off some of their offices, so I assume that means you don't need to live near one. Perhaps folks who work there can correct me.
thehappypm 5y ago
1-2 hours away from a major city is actually kind of a sweet spot, IMO. Big cities have things like major hospitals and major employers, they have airports, they have baseball stadiums. They've also got social networks -- it's much easier to make friends in a place with 100,000 people your age than 50. Now, escaping to the undeveloped areas is cheap, and many of them have access to things like beautiful mountains or beaches that are either far away from or too crowded near big cities. However, rural areas generally have poor infrastructure that big cities have, and often have extremely bad schools. Being 1-2 hours away from a big city? That's kind of a sweet spot. You're still close enough to the city for culture and hospitals and the airport. But you're on a big plot of land, and since you're still in a metro, you've probably got reasonably good infrastructure and schools. The whole "move to the mountains" thing that so many people talk about assumes you don't care about good schools, airports, hospitals, etc.
- roland35 5y ago
  Yeah I agree it is helpful to be close to a large city, but unfortunately for me it isn't the right city for most tech companies! I am also closer to the east coast, so less convenient for Seattle or SF.
- InvaderFizz 5y ago
  > The whole "move to the mountains" thing that so many people talk about assumes you don't care about good schools, airports, hospitals, etc. That certainly is a trade off some people have to make. We're finalizing a move to a new home that fits that description. 20k pop, basically on the beach, backed by mountains and trails, 4 hour drive to anything with greater than 200k population, small hospital that is not well equipped, local schools are pretty meh to terrible. Here is the thing though, I'm the sole breadwinner. That opens up tons of options and flexibility. My wife and I are deeply involved in our son's education, in which we substantially add on to his online classes. We have gigabit fiber internet, I can drive to an international airport in under 15 minutes(granted, only 3-4 days a week for flights), and our son is now getting a chance to make friends again, outside of school. My wife wanted to move to the area, my sole objection was having fast and reliable internet to do my job. I grew up on a farm, so getting out of dense metro areas suits me just fine. Now that we have secured internet, and my starlink reservation should be delivered in a few months as a backup, there is nothing stopping us. Remote work has allowed me to get away from California and their income taxes, raise my pay in the process by finding a new and fully remote job, and live in a much cheaper COL area. Renting for now, but we build our house in 2022/2023. My pay versus the cost of the area means that we will pay cash for everything, no mortgage needed.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - fortylove 5y ago
    If you don't mind me asking, which state is this in? It sounds intriguing.
    - 5y ago
curiousllama 5y ago
Facebook has this option. Idk if it’s new but I know one person who’s doing it, and talked to a recruiter recently about another role of the same type. Come in to the office once per quarter (ish - varies by team), but they’ll pay for your travel.

TedDoesntTalk 5y ago

A colleague told me that NTT, with a staff of 320,000, is now 100% permanently remote.

kimbernator 5y ago

As someone working for a company I like while living in a place that I'd rather not, there's no more annoying thing for me to dwell on than the fact that the only thing standing between me and moving is the fact that my employer expects me to be in the office 2 days/month.

jedberg 5y ago
2 days a month seems like it could be handled pretty well with an airplane? Like even if the commute were six hours and you had to stay in a hotel, that doesn't seem awful twice a month if the other 28 days you get to live somewhere that makes you happy.

tdeck 5y ago

Dropbox has gone "remote first" and sold off some of their offices, so I assume that means you don't need to live near one. Perhaps folks who work there can correct me.

thehappypm 5y ago

1-2 hours away from a major city is actually kind of a sweet spot, IMO. Big cities have things like major hospitals and major employers, they have airports, they have baseball stadiums. They've also got social networks -- it's much easier to make friends in a place with 100,000 people your age than 50. Now, escaping to the undeveloped areas is cheap, and many of them have access to things like beautiful mountains or beaches that are either far away from or too crowded near big cities. However, rural areas generally have poor infrastructure that big cities have, and often have extremely bad schools. Being 1-2 hours away from a big city? That's kind of a sweet spot. You're still close enough to the city for culture and hospitals and the airport. But you're on a big plot of land, and since you're still in a metro, you've probably got reasonably good infrastructure and schools. The whole "move to the mountains" thing that so many people talk about assumes you don't care about good schools, airports, hospitals, etc.

roland35 5y ago
Yeah I agree it is helpful to be close to a large city, but unfortunately for me it isn't the right city for most tech companies! I am also closer to the east coast, so less convenient for Seattle or SF.
InvaderFizz 5y ago
> The whole "move to the mountains" thing that so many people talk about assumes you don't care about good schools, airports, hospitals, etc. That certainly is a trade off some people have to make. We're finalizing a move to a new home that fits that description. 20k pop, basically on the beach, backed by mountains and trails, 4 hour drive to anything with greater than 200k population, small hospital that is not well equipped, local schools are pretty meh to terrible. Here is the thing though, I'm the sole breadwinner. That opens up tons of options and flexibility. My wife and I are deeply involved in our son's education, in which we substantially add on to his online classes. We have gigabit fiber internet, I can drive to an international airport in under 15 minutes(granted, only 3-4 days a week for flights), and our son is now getting a chance to make friends again, outside of school. My wife wanted to move to the area, my sole objection was having fast and reliable internet to do my job. I grew up on a farm, so getting out of dense metro areas suits me just fine. Now that we have secured internet, and my starlink reservation should be delivered in a few months as a backup, there is nothing stopping us. Remote work has allowed me to get away from California and their income taxes, raise my pay in the process by finding a new and fully remote job, and live in a much cheaper COL area. Renting for now, but we build our house in 2022/2023. My pay versus the cost of the area means that we will pay cash for everything, no mortgage needed.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- fortylove 5y ago
  If you don't mind me asking, which state is this in? It sounds intriguing.
  - 5y ago

curiousllama 5y ago

Facebook has this option. Idk if it’s new but I know one person who’s doing it, and talked to a recruiter recently about another role of the same type. Come in to the office once per quarter (ish - varies by team), but they’ll pay for your travel.