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Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#41
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I broadly agree with this, and nice to hear from people who've made it work. But how feasible is it to do this today when so much of the current crop of advice seems to be teams-over-individuals, nobody-is-indispensible messages telling managers to avoid letting programmers gain this kind of leverage at almost any cost?

Don't work for companies like that. I have a few "red flags" which I look for when I interview for companies to avoid this type of mindset and if I see enough red flags I reject the company. Those places are usually career dead ends anyway, even if you're not bothered about working remotely. Unfortunately, there are many places which only have employers like that which means you either move or you deal with it.

Echoing dandandan. Would you mind sharing these red flags?

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#43
post #30
post #4

An old colleague of mine, who'd worked for an LA-based tech company for 10 years, went to hand in his resignation. He was moving to Charlotte so he could be with his girlfriend. His boss begged him to stay -- he could even work remotely. My friend took the deal. He lives in Charlotte now and flies to LA every 2 or 3 months. The best place to look for remote jobs is to talk to people who have worked with you in the pa…

I broadly agree with this, and nice to hear from people who've made it work. But how feasible is it to do this today when so much of the current crop of advice seems to be teams-over-individuals, nobody-is-indispensible messages telling managers to avoid letting programmers gain this kind of leverage at almost any cost?

This seems... odd to me.

Teams are composed of individuals, and we've set up things so that if the team doesn't depend on the knowledge of one individual. However, we still have people working remotely and the engineers are valued because they create value, not because they hoard knowledge.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#44

In all honesty, I work part time on remote jobs. I have a lot of debt I need to pay off, family medical. I have for the 2 years, applied to 100+ jobs a week. When I don't have work or when I find my current work teetering off, I sit down every Monday, go to 40+ job sites I have collected over time and just apply to as many as possible within the 2 hours or so. Its hit or miss, but I tend to find something within the…

For every 100 jobs you apply for, how many responses do you get, and how many interviews?

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#46
post #16

Toptal! If you want a referral, let me know! https://www.toptal.com/talent/apply/#book-just-devoted-progr...

Is there anything positive anyone who uses toptal can share about them vs other services? It seems others are concerned about the interview process and rate fixing

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#47
I'm not sure if there really is a best place to look for remote jobs. It depends. I personally don't like aggregators as it's so easy to overlook a job post. I prefer visiting individual job boards. As a side note, I do agree with some of the comments in this thread. The best way is of course to talk to people you know and have worked with in the past. Meetups and events can also be a great place. Perhaps it won't land you a remote job today, but it may in the future.

What kind of remote jobs are you looking for? Tech or non-tech? I've generally found weworkremotely and the HN hiring thread to be among the best. If you're interested in remote jobs at startups, AngelList have a special collection for you https://angel.co/job-collections/remote/

It might be worth your time to look through http://nodesk.co/remote-work/ for a collection of remote job boards (it's a list so visit them all and save the ones you find useful) as well as http://workintech.io/ (job boards specifically geared for tech jobs).

Let me know what you're looking for and perhaps I can help point you in the right direction.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#48
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I broadly agree with this, and nice to hear from people who've made it work. But how feasible is it to do this today when so much of the current crop of advice seems to be teams-over-individuals, nobody-is-indispensible messages telling managers to avoid letting programmers gain this kind of leverage at almost any cost?

This seems... odd to me. Teams are composed of individuals, and we've set up things so that if the team doesn't depend on the knowledge of one individual. However, we still have people working remotely and the engineers are valued because they create value, not because they hoard knowledge.

This is true in some organizations, but it can depend on the culture and assumptions that people have about remote working. There are many companies that are bought into having people all in the same place because it helps with "velocity", or whatever management are into at the time. The irony is that many companies producing collaboration tools to support remote work software fall into this category of employer.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#49
post #30
post #4

An old colleague of mine, who'd worked for an LA-based tech company for 10 years, went to hand in his resignation. He was moving to Charlotte so he could be with his girlfriend. His boss begged him to stay -- he could even work remotely. My friend took the deal. He lives in Charlotte now and flies to LA every 2 or 3 months. The best place to look for remote jobs is to talk to people who have worked with you in the pa…

I broadly agree with this, and nice to hear from people who've made it work. But how feasible is it to do this today when so much of the current crop of advice seems to be teams-over-individuals, nobody-is-indispensible messages telling managers to avoid letting programmers gain this kind of leverage at almost any cost?

The team is more important than any individual, but each member of that team is indispensible. The team becomes the way it is not in a vacuum, not because of the company, or culture, or manager (though those contribute), but do to each individual on the team and what they bring. Kind of silly to think otherwise...

Re: Ask HN: Best place to look for remote jobs?

#50
post #30
post #4

An old colleague of mine, who'd worked for an LA-based tech company for 10 years, went to hand in his resignation. He was moving to Charlotte so he could be with his girlfriend. His boss begged him to stay -- he could even work remotely. My friend took the deal. He lives in Charlotte now and flies to LA every 2 or 3 months. The best place to look for remote jobs is to talk to people who have worked with you in the pa…

I broadly agree with this, and nice to hear from people who've made it work. But how feasible is it to do this today when so much of the current crop of advice seems to be teams-over-individuals, nobody-is-indispensible messages telling managers to avoid letting programmers gain this kind of leverage at almost any cost?

Um. That sounds really stupid advice. Software engineering is not like logging. Not if you want to run it profitably. I don't think any manager actually worth her salt will actually heed to such an advice. Younger, more insecure managers - they're better off practicing the crafr of management with onsite personnels. If some company that has an umbrella no-remote policy - well, just work elsewhere.
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