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If you can't compete with salary, compete on something else. The most effective way for you to compete for talent could be offering remote work. People are gene

by fecak 13y ago

If you can't compete with salary, compete on something else. The most effective way for you to compete for talent could be offering remote work. People are generally quite willing in my experience to leave money on the table for this particular perk. Giving developers interesting problems to solve (that happen to also make positive impact on the world) from the comfort of their homes will have appeal.

EdwardDiego 13y ago
That's a very good point. A lot of the places paying "rockstar" salaries are reluctant to allow remote working, so being willing to offer it to high performance candidates would be a way to attract them.
- erichocean 13y ago
  I think insisting on on-site work is mostly fear driven. The founders don't know how to work with peers effectively, and slip into manager/employee mode, and since they have no management experience, fear sets in and they need "as much" control as they can get over those employees. Hence, they need to be on-site. All that guarantees is these founders won't be hiring peers (or better). Better to overcome their fears and let professionals do their jobs, remotely if that's what it takes to get them to work with them to achieve their vision.
  - EdwardDiego 13y ago
    > I think insisting on on-site work is mostly fear driven. Hmm, I disagree, but that's based on my experiences with our attempts to integrate remote workers into a strong team environment (two of our people displaced following an earthquake so we waived our normal dislike of remote working.) Basically, it doesn't happen. You can't integrate them into a strong team environment. Now when I say strong, I mean that the team decides how it works, the team decides how much work it can fit in its sprint, and the team decides who it hires. We live or die by our teams, and so we focus on team culture, and team cohesion, and we reap a lot of benefit that falls from regular personal interaction. Strengths complement weaknesses, teams develop cultures that they are proud of and protect, and we deliver quality. If you're a remote worker in this environment it sucks. You're out of sight, out of mind (despite Skype and Hangouts, if someone has to open an internet application to talk to you, communication becomes that much harder). But more importantly, you're out of the culture, you have no stake in it, and you feel left out. However - if our environment was one where we worked solo (as opposed to pairing on all production code), and placed far more emphasis on individuals than teams, then remote workers would fit far better. So yeah. It could be fear, or it could be that people are trying to build a team, and teamwork is vastly easier when you're interacting with others in person.
toomuchtodo 13y ago
DevOps/Lead Engineer here making well over $100K/year. I'd take at least a $20K/year paycut to work remotely. My current employer doesn't permit it though, since it doesn't "mesh" with the culture.
- jorgeortiz85 13y ago
  If you're in a US timezone, Stripe is looking for experienced devops candidates. Most employees are in the SF office, but we have a sizable minority of remote employees. Send me an email, I'd love to chat: jorge@stripe.com
  - toomuchtodo 13y ago
    Very kind of you Jorge, I appreciate it. I'll have an email off to you shortly. Thank you.

by fecak 13y ago

EdwardDiego 13y ago

That's a very good point. A lot of the places paying "rockstar" salaries are reluctant to allow remote working, so being willing to offer it to high performance candidates would be a way to attract them.

erichocean 13y ago
I think insisting on on-site work is mostly fear driven. The founders don't know how to work with peers effectively, and slip into manager/employee mode, and since they have no management experience, fear sets in and they need "as much" control as they can get over those employees. Hence, they need to be on-site. All that guarantees is these founders won't be hiring peers (or better). Better to overcome their fears and let professionals do their jobs, remotely if that's what it takes to get them to work with them to achieve their vision.
- EdwardDiego 13y ago
  > I think insisting on on-site work is mostly fear driven. Hmm, I disagree, but that's based on my experiences with our attempts to integrate remote workers into a strong team environment (two of our people displaced following an earthquake so we waived our normal dislike of remote working.) Basically, it doesn't happen. You can't integrate them into a strong team environment. Now when I say strong, I mean that the team decides how it works, the team decides how much work it can fit in its sprint, and the team decides who it hires. We live or die by our teams, and so we focus on team culture, and team cohesion, and we reap a lot of benefit that falls from regular personal interaction. Strengths complement weaknesses, teams develop cultures that they are proud of and protect, and we deliver quality. If you're a remote worker in this environment it sucks. You're out of sight, out of mind (despite Skype and Hangouts, if someone has to open an internet application to talk to you, communication becomes that much harder). But more importantly, you're out of the culture, you have no stake in it, and you feel left out. However - if our environment was one where we worked solo (as opposed to pairing on all production code), and placed far more emphasis on individuals than teams, then remote workers would fit far better. So yeah. It could be fear, or it could be that people are trying to build a team, and teamwork is vastly easier when you're interacting with others in person.

toomuchtodo 13y ago

DevOps/Lead Engineer here making well over $100K/year. I'd take at least a $20K/year paycut to work remotely. My current employer doesn't permit it though, since it doesn't "mesh" with the culture.

jorgeortiz85 13y ago
If you're in a US timezone, Stripe is looking for experienced devops candidates. Most employees are in the SF office, but we have a sizable minority of remote employees. Send me an email, I'd love to chat: jorge@stripe.com
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  Very kind of you Jorge, I appreciate it. I'll have an email off to you shortly. Thank you.