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Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#31

Post by mikekchar »

good_vibes wrote: post #13
SirLJ wrote: post #6

I do work from home in the past probably 5 years (working technical lead job for a big telco), I just decided one day there was no more fun in the office and told my boss I'll work from home since my team is spread around the country anyway, so no point to waste 30 min each way to drive to the office... The point is if you perform well and can be trusted, you can work from home... My next goal is to work from another…

That's the goal for me too: travel, work, save, and serve all at once.

Travel and working is quite difficult in my experience. I work remotely full time and while I can do some kinds of travel, I have found that other kinds just don't work for me. If you have never done it before, it's easy to assume that there will be no problems, but finding locations where you are able to be very productive, have online communication, etc is much more difficult than it appears.

Having said that I have a colleague who is very good at the travel/work thing, so it's not that it's impossible -- it's just that I wouldn't recommend going into remote work with that as a near term goal. Spend a couple of years finding out how you work remotely before experimenting with some travel.

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#33

Post by philip1209 »

Mz wrote: post #21

Just an FYI that might interest you: http://gigworks.blogspot.com/2017/04/moonlight-work-for-soft...

Oh hey! I'm a founder of Moonlight. LMK if you have any questions. We have people from all over the world contracting on the platform. I personally contract through it, and I'm traveling full-time (currently in Mexico).

I'll post a more full comment about the company above.

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#34

Post by 49531 »

Having prior experience will definitely help you find a remote position.

Personally I don't think being a junior remote employee is a bad thing, but a lot of the time hiring manages are afraid of hiring remotely.

I have worked remotely for a couple years now, and I found both of those jobs via Hacker News' "who is hiring" threads. A lot of companies on that thread are hiring for remote folks.

If you are in a situation where you are junior, but cannot work in an office for whatever reason, there are ways to dig into certain positions.

Companies with significant open source projects are a good place to start. If you can make significant contributions to a company's code via open source they might be more open to hiring you.

Be careful to not slave away for a company as free labor, but if you're learning and trying to grow your skills, some strategic open source development could be a good start.

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#35

Post by partisan »

lukasm wrote: post #28

Ask your current employer for it. PS https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job

One of our teammates was working out of the office on a daily basis and asked to just work from home to skip the commute. It was easy to say yes because his work ethic and skills were great.

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#36

Post by mikekchar »

lukasm wrote: post #28

Ask your current employer for it. PS https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job

Also how I got my remote positions (this is the second one I've had). In both cases I didn't actually intend to be remote, but after a year or so life circumstances required that I move. So I went to my bosses, explained my situation and asked if they were OK with me working remotely. In both cases my employers were not that experienced with remote workers, so there have been a lot of challenges. Having a reputation really helps to remove misunderstandings. Still, you have to expect to work hard to keep communication as obvious as possible.

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#37

Post by philip1209 »

After we shut down my last startup, Staffjoy [1], I wanted to travel full-time. I realized that I hated going to an office every day. I also knew that I wanted to contract, and that the contractor market was broken on both sides.

So, I started Moonlight [2], and started working for a variety of companies remotely on a contract basis. We're working to expand the marketplace, and are adding more projects every week. One of the factors that helps getting remote contract work is having a track record - meaning, at least 3 years of experience working professionally in technology.

About a month ago, I sold all of my stuff (I currently own a carry-on suitcase and backpack) and hit the road. I'm currently in Mexico City until the end of August, working about 10 hours per week through Moonlight to pay for all of my living costs.

[1] https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d6...

[2] https://www.moonlightwork.com

Re: Ask HN: Do you work remotely? How did you get that job?

#38

Post by rconti »

philip1209 wrote: post #37

After we shut down my last startup, Staffjoy [1], I wanted to travel full-time. I realized that I hated going to an office every day. I also knew that I wanted to contract, and that the contractor market was broken on both sides. So, I started Moonlight [2], and started working for a variety of companies remotely on a contract basis. We're working to expand the marketplace, and are adding more projects every week. On…

Very cool. I'm currently working from home as my wife is on medical leave and I'm assisting. I'm not sure I could live the full-on itinerant lifestyle, but I'd love the ability to fly to some foreign city for a month and work from there.. a couple times a year. Of course, that doesn't require full-time remote work, and likely finding a full-time remote position would be a slight hit in the ability to pay a silicon valley mortgage.... but maybe not.
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