7 ms·

Great list. One thing I want to add/emphasize is to consider the remote worker's motivations. I'm personally not driven by money (it's just a means to an end)

Great list. One thing I want to add/emphasize is to consider the remote worker's motivations. I'm personally not driven by money (it's just a means to an end). So a shortcut to getting bites on a job posting is to understand that there are people working in your field who may very much like to work with you. But they are deterred by past experiences in the office that drove them to work remotely in the first place. Here are a few things to consider with freelancers: * They are often most productive outside normal work hours * Roughly half their time is spent doing research and keeping up with the latest trends * They probably left the workplace to bootstrap their own startup someday * Their productivity usually goes down if they are on call or interrupted often * Beware loose specs and feature creep or you might burn them out and lose them * Their productivity is limited more by time and money than challenge * Sometimes they solve problems completely differently than you imagined and that’s ok * Their short game might stink in some areas so balance them with administrators that take care of formalities * Self-actualization can be more important for them than recognition * Perks and benefits probably aren’t in their vocabularies unless they have families to support By them I mean me, so YMMV..

beachstartup 12y ago
> Sometimes they solve problems completely differently than you imagined and that’s ok sometimes this is okay, sometimes this isn't okay. i've seen situations where there is a clear and coherent specification (use django, make a web app, have it call these APIs) to be implemented and the remote contractor completely deviated from it without telling anyone, wasting 2 weeks of time (delivered ruby, not a web app, using different APIs). this was done under questionable-at-best circumstances, saying one thing, and doing another, shirking responsbility for things that didn't tickle the guy's fancy, etc. as a manager you need to be able to terminate and cut sunk costs or one person can derail an entire project. toxic people who say one thing and do another rely on the inability of management to make decisions like that.
humanrebar 12y ago
> Their short game might stink in some areas so balance them with administrators that take care of formalities That's true of just about anybody. There used to be people that did this full-time (secretaries/admins). I'm not sure why you wouldn't want a dedicated one per dev team over a certain size (12?).
- hkmurakami 12y ago
  Reminds me that they have this exact sort of setup at Mgmt consulting firms. Seems to work excellently for them.
Swizec 12y ago
As a freelancer I agree with all of this. A few things I'd add: > * Roughly half their time is spent doing research and keeping up with the latest trends Depends a lot on current workload. Generally speaking I think freelancers spend more time learning than in-house people do. BUT maybe that's just a top-performer vs. normal-performer trait and top-performers correlate well with freelancers for various reasons (the challenges usually come quicker and are more varied than at a company). > * They probably left the workplace to bootstrap their own startup someday Or just because they have the drive, discipline, and motivation to actually make it on their own. The freedom is pretty great. > * Their productivity usually goes down if they are on call or interrupted often This is true for everyone on the maker schedule. Even employees. > * Beware loose specs and feature creep or you might burn them out and lose them Depends on savviness of freelancer. Feature creep ain't bad at all if you're on retainer for X days/week. But sucks tremendously on fixed rate projects. > * Sometimes they solve problems completely differently than you imagined and that’s ok Everyone sometimes does this. > * Perks and benefits probably aren’t in their vocabularies unless they have families to support As a 27 year old cynical bastard I don't really need perks and benefits. Just pay me more, I can handle my own "free" lunch and stuff. Promise.
- shortsightedsid 12y ago
  >> * Perks and benefits probably aren’t in their vocabularies unless they have families to support > As a 27 year old cynical bastard I don't really need perks and benefits. Just pay me more, I can handle my own "free" lunch and stuff. Promise. Even as a 35 year older freelancing bastard, I agree completely with this. I have a family to support and I don't care about potato chips and sweet macbooks. It's simple - SHOW ME THE MONEY! That's why I like consulting for startups.
  - corysama 12y ago
    I'm sure your mileage does vary, but in every company I've worked for 90% of revenue was already going to employee salary. At that point, raises are not an option because the employees are not bringing in enough money to pay themselves more. So, the challenge becomes how to raise general workplace happiness with a small amount of revenue set aside from salary, bills, taxes, ect... Thus, potato chips. Even (the occasional) sweet macbook is cheap compared to a full month of paychecks.
lotharbot 12y ago
> "consider the remote worker's motivations." For example: I love where I live and I'm not leaving. I own the house where I was raised. My grandparents are within walking distance. My parents, some siblings, and other assorted relatives live in this city, and my wife's family is within an easy day's travel. It's got my favorite sports teams, the church of my childhood, beautiful outdoor spaces, an excellent school for my son right down the street... So I'm not motivated by your company's "great location" in the NY, SF, or Boston area; in fact that's a deal breaker for my family [0]. I'm not motivated by a 50% higher paycheck, most of which would be eaten up by higher taxes and cost of living and flying out here several times a year to be with family. I'm not motivated by a "hip" project that helps people go clubbing or hook up or share more selfies or other things that aren't really interesting to me in my current life stage. If that's your company, target other developers -- but if that's not your company, and you market yourselves like it is, you might lose me. One of my biggest motivations is being able to stay where I am and live a nice quiet comfortable life with my family. The best fit is a hard challenge with clear requirements that requires expertise in multiple programming languages and paradigms, graduate-level mathematics or logic skills, ongoing learning and self-development/reflection, and that would benefit from long uninterrupted stretches of focus at whatever time of day is most convenient (might be 8pm-4am sometimes.) [0] I'm a stay-at-home dad; my wife just started a new remote position. You can think of this section of the post as written from our joint perspective.
- syntern 12y ago
  This. Also, I'm curious: how do you look for remote positions?
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    https://weworkremotely.com https://weworkremotely.com https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote http://nomadjobs.io/ http://nomadjobs.io/
    - sciurus 12y ago
      Another is https://www.wfh.io/ https://www.wfh.io/
atmosx 12y ago
> * Their short game might stink in some areas so balance them with administrators that take care of formalities hm, sorry, can someone translate that in too plain English for us non-native speakers! ty!
- uptownJimmy 12y ago
  Maybe: they might not be the most socially sophisticated people, or they might not put as much effort into presenting themselves in a polished manner, or they might not be so good at day-to-day organization of their emails and such. I think it means that the person is good for results, but not necessarily the best candidate for corporate management position. Rough around the edges, perhaps.
porker 12y ago
How do you deal with the isolation/loneliness of working remotely? After doing it for over 10 years I'm finding this the killer: sitting at home, me and my cat, talking to nobody. Sqwiggle helps (seeing the rest of the team's faces) but it's a hard sell to convince others to use it.
- Det_Jacobian 12y ago
  Shell out some monthly cash for a coworking space in your area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking). Assuming of course you live in a somewhat business-hopping city. If you do, the monthly cost is a no-brainer for the productivity gain of having other people around, having a physical workspace, and a reason to leave the house.
  - porker 12y ago
    > Assuming of course you live in a somewhat business-hopping city That is an issue. In the UK outside the largest cities coworking spaces are few and far between. I will continue searching...
    - illumen 12y ago
      Start one? :) It can just be an office/studio that you share with others too. Another option is to find existing companies. For example, maybe a design studio could let you use an office, or a desk.
    - mattt416 12y ago
      Have a look and see if there are any Regus office buildings in your town/city. They have an inexpensive membership card that lets you make use of their business lounges. The Regus building I tried wasn't amazing but I would imagine they're all different so may be worth looking at? --Matt @ WFH.io (https://www.wfh.io https://www.wfh.io)

beachstartup 12y ago

> Sometimes they solve problems completely differently than you imagined and that’s ok sometimes this is okay, sometimes this isn't okay. i've seen situations where there is a clear and coherent specification (use django, make a web app, have it call these APIs) to be implemented and the remote contractor completely deviated from it without telling anyone, wasting 2 weeks of time (delivered ruby, not a web app, using different APIs). this was done under questionable-at-best circumstances, saying one thing, and doing another, shirking responsbility for things that didn't tickle the guy's fancy, etc. as a manager you need to be able to terminate and cut sunk costs or one person can derail an entire project. toxic people who say one thing and do another rely on the inability of management to make decisions like that.

humanrebar 12y ago

> Their short game might stink in some areas so balance them with administrators that take care of formalities That's true of just about anybody. There used to be people that did this full-time (secretaries/admins). I'm not sure why you wouldn't want a dedicated one per dev team over a certain size (12?).

hkmurakami 12y ago
Reminds me that they have this exact sort of setup at Mgmt consulting firms. Seems to work excellently for them.

Swizec 12y ago

As a freelancer I agree with all of this. A few things I'd add: > * Roughly half their time is spent doing research and keeping up with the latest trends Depends a lot on current workload. Generally speaking I think freelancers spend more time learning than in-house people do. BUT maybe that's just a top-performer vs. normal-performer trait and top-performers correlate well with freelancers for various reasons (the challenges usually come quicker and are more varied than at a company). > * They probably left the workplace to bootstrap their own startup someday Or just because they have the drive, discipline, and motivation to actually make it on their own. The freedom is pretty great. > * Their productivity usually goes down if they are on call or interrupted often This is true for everyone on the maker schedule. Even employees. > * Beware loose specs and feature creep or you might burn them out and lose them Depends on savviness of freelancer. Feature creep ain't bad at all if you're on retainer for X days/week. But sucks tremendously on fixed rate projects. > * Sometimes they solve problems completely differently than you imagined and that’s ok Everyone sometimes does this. > * Perks and benefits probably aren’t in their vocabularies unless they have families to support As a 27 year old cynical bastard I don't really need perks and benefits. Just pay me more, I can handle my own "free" lunch and stuff. Promise.

shortsightedsid 12y ago
>> * Perks and benefits probably aren’t in their vocabularies unless they have families to support > As a 27 year old cynical bastard I don't really need perks and benefits. Just pay me more, I can handle my own "free" lunch and stuff. Promise. Even as a 35 year older freelancing bastard, I agree completely with this. I have a family to support and I don't care about potato chips and sweet macbooks. It's simple - SHOW ME THE MONEY! That's why I like consulting for startups.
- corysama 12y ago
  I'm sure your mileage does vary, but in every company I've worked for 90% of revenue was already going to employee salary. At that point, raises are not an option because the employees are not bringing in enough money to pay themselves more. So, the challenge becomes how to raise general workplace happiness with a small amount of revenue set aside from salary, bills, taxes, ect... Thus, potato chips. Even (the occasional) sweet macbook is cheap compared to a full month of paychecks.

lotharbot 12y ago

> "consider the remote worker's motivations." For example: I love where I live and I'm not leaving. I own the house where I was raised. My grandparents are within walking distance. My parents, some siblings, and other assorted relatives live in this city, and my wife's family is within an easy day's travel. It's got my favorite sports teams, the church of my childhood, beautiful outdoor spaces, an excellent school for my son right down the street... So I'm not motivated by your company's "great location" in the NY, SF, or Boston area; in fact that's a deal breaker for my family [0]. I'm not motivated by a 50% higher paycheck, most of which would be eaten up by higher taxes and cost of living and flying out here several times a year to be with family. I'm not motivated by a "hip" project that helps people go clubbing or hook up or share more selfies or other things that aren't really interesting to me in my current life stage. If that's your company, target other developers -- but if that's not your company, and you market yourselves like it is, you might lose me. One of my biggest motivations is being able to stay where I am and live a nice quiet comfortable life with my family. The best fit is a hard challenge with clear requirements that requires expertise in multiple programming languages and paradigms, graduate-level mathematics or logic skills, ongoing learning and self-development/reflection, and that would benefit from long uninterrupted stretches of focus at whatever time of day is most convenient (might be 8pm-4am sometimes.) [0] I'm a stay-at-home dad; my wife just started a new remote position. You can think of this section of the post as written from our joint perspective.

syntern 12y ago
This. Also, I'm curious: how do you look for remote positions?
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  https://weworkremotely.com https://weworkremotely.com https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote http://nomadjobs.io/ http://nomadjobs.io/
  - sciurus 12y ago
    Another is https://www.wfh.io/ https://www.wfh.io/

atmosx 12y ago

> * Their short game might stink in some areas so balance them with administrators that take care of formalities hm, sorry, can someone translate that in too plain English for us non-native speakers! ty!

uptownJimmy 12y ago
Maybe: they might not be the most socially sophisticated people, or they might not put as much effort into presenting themselves in a polished manner, or they might not be so good at day-to-day organization of their emails and such. I think it means that the person is good for results, but not necessarily the best candidate for corporate management position. Rough around the edges, perhaps.

porker 12y ago

How do you deal with the isolation/loneliness of working remotely? After doing it for over 10 years I'm finding this the killer: sitting at home, me and my cat, talking to nobody. Sqwiggle helps (seeing the rest of the team's faces) but it's a hard sell to convince others to use it.

Det_Jacobian 12y ago
Shell out some monthly cash for a coworking space in your area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking). Assuming of course you live in a somewhat business-hopping city. If you do, the monthly cost is a no-brainer for the productivity gain of having other people around, having a physical workspace, and a reason to leave the house.
- porker 12y ago
  > Assuming of course you live in a somewhat business-hopping city That is an issue. In the UK outside the largest cities coworking spaces are few and far between. I will continue searching...
  - illumen 12y ago
    Start one? :) It can just be an office/studio that you share with others too. Another option is to find existing companies. For example, maybe a design studio could let you use an office, or a desk.
  - mattt416 12y ago
    Have a look and see if there are any Regus office buildings in your town/city. They have an inexpensive membership card that lets you make use of their business lounges. The Regus building I tried wasn't amazing but I would imagine they're all different so may be worth looking at? --Matt @ WFH.io (https://www.wfh.io https://www.wfh.io)