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

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

#111

Post by ayyy »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #95
lostmsu wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have recently started considering Florida (from Seattle). What is the advantage of Sarasota over larger metropolitan area like Tampa? We are in early 30ies, and would love to be able to walk to the ocean/gulf beach a few times a week, have a symmetric fiber Internet at home, and people to hang out with for music/games/geekery.

In general you want to pick where you live based on property values, flood zone, average hurricane damage, proximity to work, and convenience to other things (like the beach you mention). But almost universally you will be driving everywhere, so don't worry too much about it. Florida is one giant concrete strip mall on top of a swamp. So in general, figure out where you will hang out the most or with whom, and be nea…

^^ That is all very much correct.

> I don't understand why anyone but a retiree would move there.

Taxes and cost of living.

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

#112

Post by selimthegrim »

tony wrote: post #60

RGV (Rio Grande Valley, TX) is excellent. Highly affordable. I save a lot here and don't miss anything. Opportunities open themselves up as well. You can get a really nice homes here: https://www.zillow.com/mcallen-tx/ + hit "remove boundary". You could snap up houses here and rent em. Buy one. This is a market where I could see it growing in the next 5-10 years with more remote work. Dallas, Houston, and Austin were…

I mean, why not NOLA if you want 5 hours away from Houston?

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

#113

Post by strogonoff »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #103
strogonoff wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the looks of it, Saskatoon is an hour further from the UK than New York is, no?

I interpreted that to mean in terms of getting things delivered, but reading was never my strong suit, let alone understanding what I read.

You are right, somehow my English parser broke on that paragraph and I took it to mean timezones. Maybe I need to take a break…

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

#114

Post by dagmx »

brudgers wrote: post #14

As a new engineer, onsite is a better career option because it will create more robust bonds in your professional network. Who you know matters. Being onsite will also probably generate more what-you-know as well simply by virtue of casual interaction. There's nothing wrong with remote in theory, but it simply does not provide equivalent networking potential to physical interaction. You can always go remote later. Go…

To a degree, I agree. Though I think it depends largely on the person.

Personally I've worked with lots of remote teams from the get go and co-workers I've never met in person. It's actually been incredibly fine for me to build strong relationships with them, to the point where I eventually meet them after many years and can pick up conversations with them as well as any of their local colleagues.

Though again I think that varies by person. I'm what I'd call a very social introvert in that I take part in lots of company/industry community but don't have a need to socialize like an extrovert might. I think that's helped me because I don't feel isolated when remote, but I get on very strongly with a wide range of co workers.

Anyway, to the point, I think you're right in that it's harder to build those bonds, but it is doable.

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

#115

Post by _y5hn »

jariel wrote: post #70

We should not underestimate the amount of knowledge transfer we're going to lose out on. I learned how to be a dev from the senior devs around me in the first few years of my career. I couldn't imagine not having that opportunity. This is a not a small thing.

With current workplace leadership that has already been lost a decade ago.

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

#116

Post by _y5hn »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #90

The biggest issue is just infrastructure and security. We're still building up our system. Everything gets so much more complicated when your team is no longer all in the same building. We built up a really nice intranet with file servers, gigabit ethernet to all of our computers, encrypted backups. But now most of that stuff is useless because most of our team are not on the network! So now I have to write up a budg…

They could just VDI in to existing infra + VPN.

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

#118

Post by rlt »

ayyy wrote: post #69
lostmsu wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have recently started considering Florida (from Seattle). What is the advantage of Sarasota over larger metropolitan area like Tampa? We are in early 30ies, and would love to be able to walk to the ocean/gulf beach a few times a week, have a symmetric fiber Internet at home, and people to hang out with for music/games/geekery.

The problem with FL real estate is that flood zones and old construction are everywhere. You probably don't want to buy a house in a flood zone. Also, because hurricane codes were updated recently, you want to buy something recent-ish, definitely nothing older than 2002. The windows in my place are rated for a Category 5, and I'm at 50ft above sea level. In most of Florida, Sarasota included, if you go with a traditi…

How much, and how large, are typical new houses?

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

#119

Post by bradlys »

ashtonkem wrote: post #110
zuhayeer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some companies have released salary percentiles (relative to HQ) for the adjustment to remote. For example, a company in the Bay Area published this for total comp. Most companies seem to be following similarly: Bay Area: 93% NY: 93% Seattle: 92% Los Angeles: 91% Boston: 91% San Diego: 88% Denver: 86% Chicago: 85% Portland: 83% Philadelphia: 83% Atlanta: 83% Minneapolis: 83% Austin: 82% Florida: 81% Salt Lake City: 8…

It's a real morale breaker to be told that your labor is worth less because of where you live when everyone is remote anyways.

> It's a real morale breaker to be told that your labor is worth less because of where you live when everyone is remote anyways.

Well don't feel bad because that's not how it is. It's not about what your labor is worth. It's about supply+demand.

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

#120

Post by triceratops »

ashtonkem wrote: post #110
zuhayeer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some companies have released salary percentiles (relative to HQ) for the adjustment to remote. For example, a company in the Bay Area published this for total comp. Most companies seem to be following similarly: Bay Area: 93% NY: 93% Seattle: 92% Los Angeles: 91% Boston: 91% San Diego: 88% Denver: 86% Chicago: 85% Portland: 83% Philadelphia: 83% Atlanta: 83% Minneapolis: 83% Austin: 82% Florida: 81% Salt Lake City: 8…

It's a real morale breaker to be told that your labor is worth less because of where you live when everyone is remote anyways.

Imagine how people in other countries feel.
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