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InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

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Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#81

Post by jfroma »

imglorp wrote: post #3
kowdermeister wrote: post #2

I underestimated how high the competition is for remote work. All my attempts failed so far despite having well customized application materials. I didn't submit to hundreds maybe around 20. Most of the time I never even reached a technical test at these companies which I thought would be the hardest part.

You're not competing with your locality but with an entire country, or more. You need to stand out somehow.

This. I'm from Argentina, what worked for me was to start a blog about the problems I was solving back then for my current job, worked in opensource stuff, responded questions for an opensource tool in a forum (there was no stackoverflow back then) and somehow built a "personal brand" for some niche technologies. It all happened like 10 years ago in the span of 3 months. I got my first remote job offer for an small software firm in Europe because they read a blogpost I wrote about solving a problem they had. I've worked since then for 3 different companies from Europe and the US.

I wasn't looking for a remote job to be honest, but it happened. I honestly didn't know I could work for a company remotely back then, I was very young and had not idea about the paperwork, transactions, etc.

There are a lot of players in this, some are just looking for cheap labor, but there are also companies that understand that talent is everywhere and they are looking for that.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#82

Post by flyosity »

hbosch wrote: post #74
pier25 wrote: post #67

700 employees? That sounds like an awful lot for a product like InVision. Bohemian Coding, the company behind Sketch, employs a few dozen people. Also, I don't think the web is ready for UI/UX design tools. The ones I've tried feel really slow on my 5K iMac. Maybe in 5-10 years when web assembly is polished and related tool chains...

Do you feel the same way about Figma? I haven’t tried it on a 5K monitor, but I’ve heard good things.

Friends of mine who switched to Figma from Sketch say regular actions are much snappier than Sketch like panning and zooming around huge artboards. I really need to give it a try as well

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#83

Post by kokey »

nicolashahn wrote: post #11
kowdermeister wrote: post #2

I underestimated how high the competition is for remote work. All my attempts failed so far despite having well customized application materials. I didn't submit to hundreds maybe around 20. Most of the time I never even reached a technical test at these companies which I thought would be the hardest part.

I think the way to get a remote job is to start with a non-remote job and slowly convert it to remote. Haven't pulled it off successfully yet but it seems like a much easier path, so long as you're willing to put in the time.

I've done it a few times. This works better since you get a lot of the relationships, culture and company knowledge established before you spend less time in the office and if you do it slowly you all learn and fix what needs to be put in place to make it work well.

It doesn't work in all companies, but you can often work this out in advance. A good sign is obviously if some people already work remotely, but I have found where this works best is if the company already has teams spanning multiple locations and time zones and have the management structure and communication tools developed to do that properly.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#84

Post by okmokmz »

praneshp wrote: post #70
xivzgrev wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is what you make of it. If he feels happy doing job X at 31200, then so be it. No need to look down on it. In fact be happy for him, there's already too much suffering in the world, so someone finding something they enjoy is a blessing. Also he was in software SALES not dev, so not an accurate comparison.

I agree with your advice (no need to look down, etc). OP however came off as condescending (at least to me) when he said stuff like "breathe fresh air", "stuck in subway for 2 hours", etc in responses, making everything a zero sum game. The way I see it, he moved to wherever because his girlfriend forced him to, and then lucked into find a good job that they enjoy.

>OP however came off as condescending (at least to me) when he said stuff like "breathe fresh air", "stuck in subway for 2 hours", etc in responses, making everything a zero sum game.

I don't think he was being condescending. I'm at a point where I would absolutely value fresh air, not having to commute more than 15-30 minutes a day, being able to live in a rural area where I can have privacy and space, and other benefits like that far more than the financial benefits. When I started my career I wanted to move up the ladder as quickly as possible so I can earn as much as possible, but I've realized that I really don't care about the money nearly as much as I thought. I don't make a ton, but I already earn more than I spend and am able to splurge on things frequently. If I had to opportunity to move somewhere like that with my girlfriend I absolutely would

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#85

Post by bsagdiyev »

praneshp wrote: post #70
xivzgrev wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is what you make of it. If he feels happy doing job X at 31200, then so be it. No need to look down on it. In fact be happy for him, there's already too much suffering in the world, so someone finding something they enjoy is a blessing. Also he was in software SALES not dev, so not an accurate comparison.

I agree with your advice (no need to look down, etc). OP however came off as condescending (at least to me) when he said stuff like "breathe fresh air", "stuck in subway for 2 hours", etc in responses, making everything a zero sum game. The way I see it, he moved to wherever because his girlfriend forced him to, and then lucked into find a good job that they enjoy.

I think it may have just been you taking it as condescending. Personally I'm jealous. That sounds great, San Diego isn't known for clean air or short commutes.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#86

Post by amenod »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #62
thfuran wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in the software industry, have a 10 minute commute, breathe fresh air, make enough money to support myself, my colleagues are my friends, and my boss has never once slighted me. A shit job is a shit job, but you don't have to leave software to find a job that isn't shit.

I totally agree with this, but where do you live where this exists? I think there are more 35k a year jobs waiting tables in a beach town than there are 150k a year programming jobs in Santa Monica?

Sure there are. But if you compare available jobs the situation might be different.

Here (EU) it is much easier to find a non-sucking job as a developer as opposed to being a waiter. The people who are trying to find developers have finally figured out that it pays to be nice, if for no other reason, because people talk. If you screw your workers over, you have trouble getting new hires. And it really doesn't cost you much, if anything, to make good working conditions.

EDIT: sorry, software sales is different... probably the same here. :(

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#87

Post by denimnerd »

ryandrake wrote: post #68
denimnerd wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in that situation now. Well kind of. I am in the only team member not colocated with the rest of the team. At the start it was really hard. They would all be in a room together and I could barely even hear them over the phone, much less speak up and say something over their rapid fire conversations. It's gotten better since I've brought these concerns up I'm only on week 4. We've setup twice a week cisco telepres…

At a lot of companies, teleconferencing systems are astonishingly bad. Like, “why did they even consider buying this” bad. Often the first 10 minutes of a meeting will be spent figuring out how to use the conf system or rebooting it because it’s not working. Then figuring out which cable to plug into in order to project remotely. Then asking if everyone is here. Then telling Karen to mute her microphone because she’s…

Yeah the conference rooms sound terrible from an audio stand point but we have these rooms with these huge cisco telepresence things. the audio is incredible. the video is good and helps because I can see body language.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#88

Post by denimnerd »

billyggruff wrote: post #77
ryandrake wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a lot of companies, teleconferencing systems are astonishingly bad. Like, “why did they even consider buying this” bad. Often the first 10 minutes of a meeting will be spent figuring out how to use the conf system or rebooting it because it’s not working. Then figuring out which cable to plug into in order to project remotely. Then asking if everyone is here. Then telling Karen to mute her microphone because she’s…

Teleconferencing systems with a 'communal' screen and camera do not make much sense to me nowadays. Most employees have at least 2 devices with built-in cameras and a screen that can be utilized for videoconferencing. Give everybody a headset. Done.

we do that on many days, but the audio quality is so much better on the "mainframe" cisco setup.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#89

Post by Symbiote »

billyggruff wrote: post #77
ryandrake wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a lot of companies, teleconferencing systems are astonishingly bad. Like, “why did they even consider buying this” bad. Often the first 10 minutes of a meeting will be spent figuring out how to use the conf system or rebooting it because it’s not working. Then figuring out which cable to plug into in order to project remotely. Then asking if everyone is here. Then telling Karen to mute her microphone because she’s…

Teleconferencing systems with a 'communal' screen and camera do not make much sense to me nowadays. Most employees have at least 2 devices with built-in cameras and a screen that can be utilized for videoconferencing. Give everybody a headset. Done.

No thanks! That adds chatter to the open office.

Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely

#90

Post by denimnerd »

riffraff wrote: post #65
denimnerd wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in that situation now. Well kind of. I am in the only team member not colocated with the rest of the team. At the start it was really hard. They would all be in a room together and I could barely even hear them over the phone, much less speak up and say something over their rapid fire conversations. It's gotten better since I've brought these concerns up I'm only on week 4. We've setup twice a week cisco telepres…

I've done this for a few years, flying in about once a month. It's feasible and I would do it again, but the problems you are facing now won't really change much, you'll always be a bit out of the loop (e.g. you will miss that common joke that came out at lunch). I've also been on the other side and noticed the same issue. How much this impacts you, is a very personal thing.

yeah it's still going to be a problem. fortunately I don't care all that much. my HR manager is here locally and there are other teams working on same project around me so I have a spot to jump to eventually. This team is way better than the local ones so I take what I can get :)
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