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

I have lived in Riverside, California my whole life (about an hour east of Los Angeles), but I've been working remotely for companies in SF for the past 5 years. There are a ton of advantages over living in SF:

- Houses are probably 1/3 the cost of houses in SF (or the bay area in general).

- I can get to SF with a 50 minute flight and I live 15 minutes from an airport. This was a huge plus when I convinced my last job to hire me as the first remote engineer.

- I am in the same timezone as SF.

- The cost of living adjustments to my salary have been either zero or very small (like 5% less salary than an engineer in SF). Totally worth it in my opinion.

We have talked about moving to a cheaper CoL state entirely, but my whole family is in this city and it is definitely cheap enough. My wife is also a teacher, and teacher salaries in CA are much higher than in lower CoL states.

I've done it a bunch of times. The big thing to be aware of is that managing remote people requires better management skills, so you need a boss who cares about doing it right. I had two experiences go sideways, in both cases my manager got stressed and busy, and because I was their only remote report, they did a crappy job. Prior to them getting too busy to do a good job, it was fine. It really is a lot better if they are a mostly remote shop.

pro tip: apply to places you want to work anyway, whether or not they say they will hire remote. I worked at a couple where they had not considered hiring a remote Canadian, and just needed me to tell them how easy it was after they saw I was a good fit. (one form, the W8-BEN. So easy.... but so many payroll departments don't know that!)

This is true, but has to be weighed against the fact that you may land a job that is a better fit for your skill set, which I would argue trumps everything. Remote allows you to find work where you're a star, IFF you're willing to hunt for it. This is more likely to matter if you already have other career skills though (i.e. mature applicants transitioning from other work)

I don't think there is any downside in having a remote job in a tech vs non-tech city, unless you: a) enjoy going to in-person tech meetups b) want to have the option to also find local onsite jobs

If you already live in a non tech city and you've been offered a good remove job, I'd consider that a big win. Take it! Once you start working remotely and build a resume as a good remote worker, it's also easier to get future ones (i.e. companies know you're used to it, you like it, you'll work efficiently that way, etc).

I live in Sarasota County, FL and work remotely for a company in San Francisco that everyone here knows about. Sarasota is a city of less than 60k inhabitants, but the surrounding area houses 20 minutes from me is an international airport, and New York City is this less than 3 hours away. Tampa is an hour to the north by car, and Miami is a 3 hour drive away. Orlando with its theme parks is 2 hours away, and I like to visit the Space Coast to watch rockets go up from Cape Canaveral.

Now that you know where I am and what’s here, let’s talk about who’s here. I’m old enough not to care that the median age of residents in my area is about 50 years. If you’re looking for a humming dating and club scene (modulo pandemic), you’ll likely find it somewhat lacking. There are plenty of young people, but not in the numbers you’d have seen if you had gone to New York City in 2019.

I find it refreshing that I don’t bump into engineers, VCs and project managers on every street corner. I know people in non-tech occupations, and their perspectives help me stay grounded in the real world. The mid-to-upper social class here is much more diverse than in NYC or SF. People’s occupations range from industry to sports to medicine. They hold diverse political opinions and vote accordingly. No one’s at anyone’s throat all the time because of “inconvenient” politics: we coexist peacefully with each other, left- and right-leaning alike. This is a kind of diversity you won’t see in big coastal echo chambers.

Proximity to nature is another aspect that I find quite important. Between the ocean and farms and state parks, there’s no shortage of green space and fresh air. I know some Amish farmers who supply me with fresh eggs, pork, veggies, and chickens. There’s a large locally owned dairy operation (Dakin) whose milk dominates the local market.

You might be surprised to find out that when people’s living quarters don’t occupy every inch of land in sight, it turns out that everyone can live comfortably and cleanly.

In closing, I’ll say that this lifestyle suits me a lot. I don’t miss the “tech city” I moved here from, and I enjoy working from home using the office setup of my dream, for which I have space without inconveniencing my family.

P.S.: Gators don’t bite if you don’t get up on their faces.