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Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

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Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#1
I'm a graduating as a software engineer in a city with a limited number of tech jobs. Due to divorce + kids living in this city, I won't likely be able to move to a major tech center. But, I've a job offer with one of the larger local companies with an option to work remote. I've thought about taking the remote option and staying with remote companies to get access to a bigger job market than I can locally.

Anyone here who's done something similar, what's your experience been? Pro's, Con's, unexpected good things, unexpected hurdles, that kind of stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#5
Pro: I make more than the mayor of our city and it's not a small city, nor is it a city in a doom loop of decline.

Con: That's after convincing the first remote salary position that I had the right stuff nearly ten years back, and then enduring the neverending stress of making sure I delivered on every front so I could be established as a remote engineer and not be capped by the limited opportunity in this fly-over state / not very technical city.

Pro: There are an insane amount of remote opportunities now.

Con: There's more competition for the positions due to the pandemic normalizing it. Also, you don't want to be the only remote person. When you interview for a position, interview _them_ as to how remote work actually works there. Entrenched remote companies with a culture that's battle hardened for that kind of work environment is a way better opportunity than a place that "does remote now post covid".

Pro: Your money goes farther than your peers in an awfully expensive place.

Con: Cost of living tiers are more of a thing so the gap isn't as big as you might think. What states the company already "does business in" limit their ability to pay you / onboard you easily.

Interview enough to know what you are worth, loyalty has it's benefits but don't get abused, once you have a solid work history of being effective remote engineer / leader -- you're golden.

Never quit learning and make sure you know what keeps you valuable as the years add up. :)

Re: Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#6
My company is headquartered in Cupertino, CA and I live and work in Dallas, TX. The obvious pros are I don't need to commute or really drive at all, I can work from bed (probably doesn't matter to most, but I've got 10 screws in my spine from past surgeries and it matters to me), and I can live in a 3,000 square foot 4-story townhouse within spitting distance of downtown for less than my sisters in California pay for a third of the space in the middle of nowhere.

I don't really see any cons or hurdles, honestly. Timezone coordination is clearly harder for the people on the coasts, but I'm right in the middle anyway. I have a security clearance and some of my software is deployed into a classified runtime environment, so not having access to a SCIF without traveling does make that challenging, but I imagine that specific challenge doesn't generalize much and doesn't apply to you.

Re: Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#7

Pro: I make more than the mayor of our city and it's not a small city, nor is it a city in a doom loop of decline. Con: That's after convincing the first remote salary position that I had the right stuff nearly ten years back, and then enduring the neverending stress of making sure I delivered on every front so I could be established as a remote engineer and not be capped by the limited opportunity in this fly-over s…

I would have never even thought to check until reading this, but apparently I make more than both the mayor of Dallas and the governor of Texas? I'm surprised they aren't paid more than they are. I suppose people who go into politics tend to already be rich and this is just another reason why.

Re: Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#8
I don't live in a city. Largely because of that, commute times have often been an issue in the past. That's one of the reasons I decided, years ago, to drop the commute and just work from home.

Now, not only do I have no commute, I have a job that pays significantly more than what I could make in my local area.

There are no cons. This is the way life should be.

Re: Ask HN: Remote workers in a non-tech city, what's your experience?

#9
I've been working 100% remote for 20 years..TBH, if there's down sides, I really stopped noticing years ago. Get yourself setup with decent office equipment when able (second hand office furniture stores can be REAL cheap). A reasonably fast, very reliable internet connection is a must.

As for pluses - it gets easier to find remote jobs all the time, salaries/rates are real good. Can't beat the commute :-)

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