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When I went looking for a fully remote position last year, I was worried that exactly this might happen. Then I heard that Shopify had literally shut down and

by mabbo 5y ago

When I went looking for a fully remote position last year, I was worried that exactly this might happen. Then I heard that Shopify had literally shut down and sold their offices. It's not actually possible for the company to go back to the office because they don't exist. So that's where I work now.

vasco 5y ago
+1 On this. Find somewhere that was remote before pandemic or that shifted fully. I've worked fully remotely for the same company for almost 6 years now. Having worked in an office before, one belief I've formed over the years is that working at a place that doesn't have remote at the core and that has staff that's remote and staff that isn't, would create a two-tier system and I'd be very afraid of trying it. In fact for a lot of the company history, we've had an office in a location next to the founders, that people were not allowed to use as a work place. You could go there for a day here and there but not as a group and not as a regular activity. There weren't even spots for more than 5 or 6 people at the same time in there, so mostly used to receive mail. This sort of thing won't even be in the minds of a huge corporation that is only doing remote because the pandemic forced them to. So my advice if you want to go remote, is to find a company that was either fully remote before the pandemic, or a company that has truly embraced it and shifted completely. edit: seems like there's a bit of attention here, if you're struggling with remote or starting something and you want to exchange some war stories for fun, I'm always up to share some thoughts even though the internet is full of experts on remote nowadays. I've done it as an engineer in a company of 12, later as an engineering manager and more recently being manager of managers and we've surpassed 250 people, so I have thoughts about it from multiple angles. You can figure out how to contact me from my profile.
- MivLives 5y ago
  The company I'm working for is struggling with this. They firmly believe in no remote. They won't entertain it for juniors, and generally to get approval you need to be pretty vital. But at the same time they've also opened up multiple offices (that are all in different geos, timezones). What the end result is that in my section of the company I'm effectively remote working from the off as my team has a remote contractor, and the other teams in my area are all dispersed between home and the new other offices. It's frustrating being told to go into work and getting no benefit from it besides a change of scenery. I'm not sure I'm cut out for full remote at least in my current housing situation/skill level. I suspect other companies are in a similar situation, and it's part of the growing pains of getting larger. But fuck is it hard to be happy with it.
  - spaniard89277 5y ago
    Dude, you're an employee. If management doesn't respect you, look elsewhere. You're working in IT, it's not like you can't change work. You'll risk getting less money, but if you're happier who cares?
    - bialpio 5y ago
      Small note: there are people who cannot change work in IT because it would affect their visa or immigration status.
      - toomuchtodo 5y ago
        H1-B transfer is possible if your potential new employer will perform the transfer with USCIS. (Edit: typo corrected, thanks kaapipo)
        nabusman 5y ago
        You can also get denied and get kicked out, it's not a guaranteed process AFAIK IANAL.
        kaapipo 5y ago
        *your
        bialpio 5y ago
        IIRC the transfer can affect the green card process depending on the stage you are at. IANAL, check with your immigration attorney.
        bialpio 5y ago
        (this also assumes that the person is on H-1B and not on L-1, which cannot be transferred)
        5y ago
- foxtacles 5y ago
  +1, similar situation here and I agree completely. I've been working for the same remote-only company for almost 10 years now. In my opinion, it's very important/essential that the company culture has "remote" in its DNA. (anybody who may be interested in working at such a company, check my profile)
mystickphoenix 5y ago
Focusing on remote-only, remote-first, remote-from-scratch companies is how I ended up at my current, and literally best company I've ever worked for, gig. Obviously the pool of such companies is smaller than in-person and they tend to have more competition for roles, but my unscientific guess is that pool is growing larger. Bonus points for those companies because they didn't have to "figure it out" or change upper management corporate culture to go remote.
- throwaway787544 5y ago
  I am still flabbergasted that more companies have not gotten it through their skulls yet. Even if you keep an office, all-remote is simply a better model. Not only do you have access to a global labor pool (including the best candidates), the communication is better and work is more flexible (which literally everyone appreciates), you can lower overhead or even hire people for less based on location. The only major downside to going all-remote is the initial pain of the culture shift. You can keep an office for those that need in-person coworkers. It's all been figured out already so it's not a mystery.
  - softwarebeware 5y ago
    Here is why: extraverts who need constant hyperactive human interaction are the only people psychopathic enough to ascend into the leadership tiers that make decisions about remote vs. in-person. So they just can't, and I mean CAN'T, handle the idea of all-remote. At all.
    - warlog 5y ago
      Agreed. Except it's the quiet intro-psychos that are the most dangerous.
    - sveme 5y ago
      That‘s very drastic. I‘m a rather extroverted head of engineering and would fight tooth and nails to keep remote for my teams.
    - 5y ago
User23 5y ago
Shopify is an excellent company to work for. Congratulations!
victor9000 5y ago
Similarly, I focused on companies that were based abroad but hiring in the US. Can't be forced to commute from Seattle to Mexico City. And if anyone is interested in for real remote work, we're hiring SDE & Sr SDE frontend (React) and backend (Python). See my profile for contact info if interested.
- severine 5y ago
  > See my profile for contact info if interested. No contact info on profile (not interested, just saying).
  - victor9000 5y ago
    Fixed!
eschneider 5y ago
Same story here. I was interviewing through much of 2021 and got a _fantastic_ offer from a local startup but I ended up passing because I just didn't believe their remote work promises. Ended up taking a position at a fully remote company and I'm very happy with it.
dorianmariefr 5y ago
Would love to follow you on Twitter what’s yours?
- mabbo 5y ago
  HackerNews is the most 'social' network I do these days. Facebook and Twitter trigger some very unhealthy buttons in my brain, so I stopped using social media. Frankly I need to back off on HN as well.
bogota 5y ago
I am in this process now. Only looking for companies without offices and who will put in my contract that I never have to come in even if they do buy one. I am beyond sick of my current company pretending like everything is going to go back to normal one day. We have 75% of people working from home although not labeled remote and maybe 25% back in some offices. The CEO pushing that we are an office company has destroyed communication and meant that over the last two years instead of adjusting how we work just pretending like nothing every happened. So now we have terrible communication even within teams and no one who wants to fix it because that would be a waste of time since soon everyone will be in the office. This has been going on for over a year. Maybe they will fix this but it’s completely destroyed my desire to work for what was once a great company. They have over 1k employees. It’s unbelievable how much time and energy have been wasted because management has refused to accept the current situation. If i had taken this same approach when things changed at this current job or others I would be fired. I need to switch to management.
- Cabal 5y ago
  > I am beyond sick of my current company pretending like everything is going to go back to normal one day. > management has refused to accept the current situation You don't state what country you're in, but in the US, the pandemic is effectively over. Everyone (that wants to be) is well-vaccinated, many 3 or 4x, Omicron blew through the country and left us mostly unscathed, and the news hasn't talked about daily numbers in at least two months. There is little reason to wear a mask indoors unless you want to lessen your chances of catching the flu - which is ticking up a bit. We probably don't meet the scientific/medical definition of the end of a pandemic, but socially, we're there. However, if you're in the US and still feeling this way, you may be suffering from some low-grade PTSD. Don't be afraid to reach out for help.
HeavyStorm 5y ago
My remote option is a global team. We have offices at my location, but since management and the rest of the team is spread around the globe, the risk of me needing to show up at the office is minimal.
Breza 5y ago
My wife's employer shut down their office and my employer did the same. It really helps build trust that they're not about to make us go back to an office.

by mabbo 5y ago

vasco 5y ago

+1 On this. Find somewhere that was remote before pandemic or that shifted fully. I've worked fully remotely for the same company for almost 6 years now. Having worked in an office before, one belief I've formed over the years is that working at a place that doesn't have remote at the core and that has staff that's remote and staff that isn't, would create a two-tier system and I'd be very afraid of trying it. In fact for a lot of the company history, we've had an office in a location next to the founders, that people were not allowed to use as a work place. You could go there for a day here and there but not as a group and not as a regular activity. There weren't even spots for more than 5 or 6 people at the same time in there, so mostly used to receive mail. This sort of thing won't even be in the minds of a huge corporation that is only doing remote because the pandemic forced them to. So my advice if you want to go remote, is to find a company that was either fully remote before the pandemic, or a company that has truly embraced it and shifted completely. edit: seems like there's a bit of attention here, if you're struggling with remote or starting something and you want to exchange some war stories for fun, I'm always up to share some thoughts even though the internet is full of experts on remote nowadays. I've done it as an engineer in a company of 12, later as an engineering manager and more recently being manager of managers and we've surpassed 250 people, so I have thoughts about it from multiple angles. You can figure out how to contact me from my profile.

MivLives 5y ago
The company I'm working for is struggling with this. They firmly believe in no remote. They won't entertain it for juniors, and generally to get approval you need to be pretty vital. But at the same time they've also opened up multiple offices (that are all in different geos, timezones). What the end result is that in my section of the company I'm effectively remote working from the off as my team has a remote contractor, and the other teams in my area are all dispersed between home and the new other offices. It's frustrating being told to go into work and getting no benefit from it besides a change of scenery. I'm not sure I'm cut out for full remote at least in my current housing situation/skill level. I suspect other companies are in a similar situation, and it's part of the growing pains of getting larger. But fuck is it hard to be happy with it.
- spaniard89277 5y ago
  Dude, you're an employee. If management doesn't respect you, look elsewhere. You're working in IT, it's not like you can't change work. You'll risk getting less money, but if you're happier who cares?
  - bialpio 5y ago
    Small note: there are people who cannot change work in IT because it would affect their visa or immigration status.
    - toomuchtodo 5y ago
      H1-B transfer is possible if your potential new employer will perform the transfer with USCIS. (Edit: typo corrected, thanks kaapipo)
      - nabusman 5y ago
        You can also get denied and get kicked out, it's not a guaranteed process AFAIK IANAL.
      - kaapipo 5y ago
        *your
      - bialpio 5y ago
        IIRC the transfer can affect the green card process depending on the stage you are at. IANAL, check with your immigration attorney.
        bialpio 5y ago
        (this also assumes that the person is on H-1B and not on L-1, which cannot be transferred)
        5y ago
foxtacles 5y ago
+1, similar situation here and I agree completely. I've been working for the same remote-only company for almost 10 years now. In my opinion, it's very important/essential that the company culture has "remote" in its DNA. (anybody who may be interested in working at such a company, check my profile)

mystickphoenix 5y ago

Focusing on remote-only, remote-first, remote-from-scratch companies is how I ended up at my current, and literally best company I've ever worked for, gig. Obviously the pool of such companies is smaller than in-person and they tend to have more competition for roles, but my unscientific guess is that pool is growing larger. Bonus points for those companies because they didn't have to "figure it out" or change upper management corporate culture to go remote.

throwaway787544 5y ago
I am still flabbergasted that more companies have not gotten it through their skulls yet. Even if you keep an office, all-remote is simply a better model. Not only do you have access to a global labor pool (including the best candidates), the communication is better and work is more flexible (which literally everyone appreciates), you can lower overhead or even hire people for less based on location. The only major downside to going all-remote is the initial pain of the culture shift. You can keep an office for those that need in-person coworkers. It's all been figured out already so it's not a mystery.
- softwarebeware 5y ago
  Here is why: extraverts who need constant hyperactive human interaction are the only people psychopathic enough to ascend into the leadership tiers that make decisions about remote vs. in-person. So they just can't, and I mean CAN'T, handle the idea of all-remote. At all.
  - warlog 5y ago
    Agreed. Except it's the quiet intro-psychos that are the most dangerous.
  - sveme 5y ago
    That‘s very drastic. I‘m a rather extroverted head of engineering and would fight tooth and nails to keep remote for my teams.
  - 5y ago

User23 5y ago

Shopify is an excellent company to work for. Congratulations!

victor9000 5y ago

Similarly, I focused on companies that were based abroad but hiring in the US. Can't be forced to commute from Seattle to Mexico City. And if anyone is interested in for real remote work, we're hiring SDE & Sr SDE frontend (React) and backend (Python). See my profile for contact info if interested.

severine 5y ago
> See my profile for contact info if interested. No contact info on profile (not interested, just saying).
- victor9000 5y ago
  Fixed!

eschneider 5y ago

Same story here. I was interviewing through much of 2021 and got a _fantastic_ offer from a local startup but I ended up passing because I just didn't believe their remote work promises. Ended up taking a position at a fully remote company and I'm very happy with it.

dorianmariefr 5y ago

Would love to follow you on Twitter what’s yours?

mabbo 5y ago
HackerNews is the most 'social' network I do these days. Facebook and Twitter trigger some very unhealthy buttons in my brain, so I stopped using social media. Frankly I need to back off on HN as well.

bogota 5y ago

I am in this process now. Only looking for companies without offices and who will put in my contract that I never have to come in even if they do buy one. I am beyond sick of my current company pretending like everything is going to go back to normal one day. We have 75% of people working from home although not labeled remote and maybe 25% back in some offices. The CEO pushing that we are an office company has destroyed communication and meant that over the last two years instead of adjusting how we work just pretending like nothing every happened. So now we have terrible communication even within teams and no one who wants to fix it because that would be a waste of time since soon everyone will be in the office. This has been going on for over a year. Maybe they will fix this but it’s completely destroyed my desire to work for what was once a great company. They have over 1k employees. It’s unbelievable how much time and energy have been wasted because management has refused to accept the current situation. If i had taken this same approach when things changed at this current job or others I would be fired. I need to switch to management.

Cabal 5y ago
> I am beyond sick of my current company pretending like everything is going to go back to normal one day. > management has refused to accept the current situation You don't state what country you're in, but in the US, the pandemic is effectively over. Everyone (that wants to be) is well-vaccinated, many 3 or 4x, Omicron blew through the country and left us mostly unscathed, and the news hasn't talked about daily numbers in at least two months. There is little reason to wear a mask indoors unless you want to lessen your chances of catching the flu - which is ticking up a bit. We probably don't meet the scientific/medical definition of the end of a pandemic, but socially, we're there. However, if you're in the US and still feeling this way, you may be suffering from some low-grade PTSD. Don't be afraid to reach out for help.

HeavyStorm 5y ago

My remote option is a global team. We have offices at my location, but since management and the rest of the team is spread around the globe, the risk of me needing to show up at the office is minimal.

Breza 5y ago

My wife's employer shut down their office and my employer did the same. It really helps build trust that they're not about to make us go back to an office.