Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 212 posts

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#61

Post by f1gm3nt »

I’m self taught and my story is similar, however in my day, there was no bootcamps. I busted my ass at hackathons to get noticed and moved up from there. I’m a high school and college drop out

When I’m hiring for positions I cross out the school or bootcamp “education”. My top priority is to see what you’ve done in the past and what you’re passionate about. If I like a resume I want a code sample, most have their GitHub in it. I review the code and see how well it’s formatted and how it’s organized. It takes awhile, but I think it’s worth it.

So, keep at it, do some small projects on GitHub you’re proud of. Bonus if you can find a project and contribute to it, even documentation counts in my book. Mentors are also helpful.

You got this!

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#62

Post by Layke1123 »

Unless you love learning to code and love continuous pressure to learn even more, don't get an entry level as a software engineer. Try to find a job that only takes one or two deep level of knowledge in a tech stack, and keep that. What most companies want an entry level job today is someone willing to work 120 hours a week to meet arbitrary deadlines to maximize profits. Avoid FAANG.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#63

Post by xupybd »

leesalminen wrote: post #52

Just an anecdote for you- in 2009, I wanted to drop out of college because I preferred partying. I obviously needed income and was dissatisfied with the jobs I’d had in the past (fast food, waiting tables and hotel customer service). Like you, I had always been a tech “nerd” and had built websites and recycled computers for my church/charities in the past. One day I came across a job post for a small SEO firm that wa…

You've just tipped me over the line. I'm finally going to start my side project.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#64

Post by throwaway939333 »

Please listen to me. I was in a similar position to you. I chose wrong. I chose my family.

Let me tell you why: by choosing my family, I reduced my ability to become stronger.

You need to spend the next 10 years becoming the strongest person you can.

Then the next 60 years of your life as well as your sister will be great.

Yes, your family's life will suck in the meantime.

DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE GOAL.

The goal is to be the strongest man you can and come back to take care of your family.

So in that vein:

- Keep coding - Go take the auto mechanic job - IGNORE YOUR FAMILY'S PROBLEMS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS - Send them what you can, do not send what they ask for. Do not overstretch yourself.

Imagine you work for microsoft in 10 years vs you're working retail for minimum wage.

Which do you want?

Prioritizing your family ensures that you will NEVER GAIN THE SKILLS TO WORK AT MICROSOFT.

Prioritize yourself. Let your family know what you're doing. DO NOT DEVIATE.

I REPEAT.

DO.

NOT.

DEVIATE.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#65

Post by karaterobot »

hosh wrote: post #39

I know this option isn’t the best, but check out rentacoder or freelancer. You’re going to get underpaid, and competing with lowest-cost vendors. This is contract, 1099 work, so no employee benefits. (But! If you play your cards right and understand taxes and laws, it can be more lucrative). However, what you have going for you is that you can speak and write English well. You do not have to (and should not mention)…

OP, this is the most realistic advice for your very short time frame.

Take on a freelance contract and kick butt on it while simultaneously looking for the next contract. Eventually you will will either get offered a position by one of your clients, or you'll have enough of a resume to start applying in other places (or you'll like freelancing enough to stick with it).

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#66

Post by throwaway939333 »

Please listen to me. I was in a similar position to you. I chose wrong. I chose my family.

Let me tell you why: by choosing my family, I reduced my ability to become stronger.

You need to spend the next 10 years becoming the strongest person you can in every way you can.

Then the next 60 years of your life as well as your sister will be great.

Yes, your family's life will suck in the meantime.

DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE GOAL.

The goal is to be the strongest man you can and come back to take care of your family.

So in that vein:

- Keep coding - Go take the auto mechanic job - IGNORE YOUR FAMILY'S PROBLEMS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS - Send them what you can, do not send what they ask for. Do not overstretch yourself.

Imagine you work for microsoft in 10 years vs you're working retail for minimum wage.

Which do you want?

Prioritizing your family ensures that you will NEVER GAIN THE SKILLS TO WORK AT MICROSOFT.

Prioritize yourself. Let your family know what you're doing. DO NOT DEVIATE.

I REPEAT.

DO.

NOT.

DEVIATE.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#67

Post by sokoloff »

cjohnson318 wrote: post #50
grumpwagon wrote: post #11

I'd highly encourage you to continue learning to code. You might also consider software QA. It is also easy to do remotely, pays well, and the learning curve is a bit lower. If you learned selenium, the ability to navigate a SQL database, postman to test REST APIs, and some testing terms and methods you'd be well on your way. The first job will be the hardest to get, but once you have that, remote jobs are readily av…

> pays well, and the learning curve is a bit lower I've done development and testing, and I would characterize QA as "same job, less pay". In both roles you struggle with vague requirements, lots of edge cases, and unrealistic deadlines. It is surprisingly difficult to get out of the QA pigeonhole. People assume the job is easier, and that you're not as capable as a developer.

QA and dev are not the same job IMO/IME. Simplified:

QA is “the system should do this; does it do it?”

Dev is “the system should do this; make it do it.”

I’m not putting one above the other as both functions are needed for most successful companies. I am saying they’re not the same job.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#68

Post by saagarjha »

throwaway939333 wrote: post #64

Please listen to me. I was in a similar position to you. I chose wrong. I chose my family. Let me tell you why: by choosing my family, I reduced my ability to become stronger. You need to spend the next 10 years becoming the strongest person you can. Then the next 60 years of your life as well as your sister will be great. Yes, your family's life will suck in the meantime. DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE GOAL. The goal is to…

> Prioritizing your family ensures that you will NEVER GAIN THE SKILLS TO WORK AT MICROSOFT.

Citation needed.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#69

Post by sokoloff »

grumpwagon wrote: post #48
anm89 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to give an alternate take, I think you can get pigeonholed as a QA person and if you want to be a developer it may be a better route to look for positions that are going to give you practice developing. That being said, the reality of job market these days might be that entry level positions are too competitive and this just isn't practical in which case getting your foot in the door with a QA role is still a mu…

Totally agree you can get pigeonholed, but my read of the OP is that they want a job that can support their family first, and that development was one of the things they were considering, not that development was a goal in and of itself. My thought is that QA is a solid career, and that once they are established, and get a support structure for their family, if they want to become a dev they can work towards that fro…

Plus, it’s 1000x better than sanding Bondo all day!

Re: Ask HN: Advice for finding an entry-level remote job?

#70

Post by spike021 »

c- wrote: post #22
AskHNremote2021 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For GitHub, I looked at projects that interested me, but not necessarily having the skills to contribute code. So I would pour through the docs and find errors, typos, mistakes. These kinds of things. Cleaning up. Sometimes added documentation that was missing.

As a HM if a candidate showed that on their github - it would be a yellow flag (nonsense changes for the sake of changes). Just my $0.02.

As a software engineer, I'd love to see that someone is capable of putting effort into updating documentation, even with minor corrections and changes.

This is the kind of thing full time engineers typically don't enjoy doing, so docs stagnate and can quickly become out of date or inaccurate.

It's super useful if someone is used to a routine where they know how to dig into a project, find errors/inaccuracies, and work to improve them.

Post reply on HN