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Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

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Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#21

Post by cj »

xwdv wrote: post #4

Here’s a cheap and easier trick: find two easy remote jobs each paying $125k. There’s your $250k a year. You don’t need any particularly distinguished resume. With the right job responsibilities, this is doable for a software engineer. If you can offset the two jobs a bit by time zone it’s even better. But you better hurry, once people catch on that this is possible the supply of developers can quickly increase overn…

I recently fired an engineer who was working 3 full time jobs all paying $130k+.

He ended up getting busted by all 3 companies at once, and all 3 fired him.

Hopefully he can find a new job that doesn’t check references. If you care about your reputation, or if you have the slightest moral compass, don’t do this.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#22

Post by Lordarminius »

fxtentacle wrote: post #11

Leverage. If your work improves the productivity of 100+ other people, you're surely worth the price. If your work saves $500k+ in annual costs, you're surely worth the price. If hiring you cripples key competitors, you're surely worth the price. If you can enable new revenues streams through knowledge that only you have, you're surely worth the price. If hiring you does not increase productivity, reduce costs, fend…

> ...And if you're outside of the US, set up a local LLC so that US-based companies can treat you like an independent contracting business....

This has to be one of the top ten best pieces of advice I have seen on HN.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#23

Post by rob_c »

Get really good. By that I mean get fluent in the code, the sales pitch of a product, corner cases and examples of where this has saved real or hypothetical customers money and how. Always looks good to be active on their support groups just incase you encounter a tech person at interview. Then become a consultant.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#24

Post by Lordarminius »

k__ wrote: post #14
ayoubElk wrote: post #3

An alternative scalable way is to switch from a full time job to becoming a freelancer/consultant and set your own rates. In order to be able to land high paying projects as a consultant, you would need to showcase your skills somehow (open source, portfolio, etc...). This can happen later on though and as a start the easiest way would be to ask for referrals and make it known to your network that you're looking for…

This. Freelancing is a good option. 250k a year is 20k a month, for 12 months a year. 20k a month is 1k a day, for 20 work days a month. How to make 1k a day? Write 2 technical articles. Btw. as a freelancer you could end up paying less taxes, because more things are deductible. This could mean, you can end up with the same money after taxes without making 250k a year.

> Write 2 technical articles.

How do you monetize technical articles at the rate of $1k / article ? Most firms wont pay that much.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#26

Post by neximo64 »

It's quite easy to do that find good companies and do good work in a very particular niche that underpromise and overdeliver (and go under on pricing) and use that to get more work at other companies. Then progressively go higher on pricing and do more than 1 (so you end up at 400k+) then pick the one you want and drop the other work. But if you start high you'll have a hard time proving your work easily, especially if its not specialised and you're not recognised in any way. It's alot of hard work to do the multiple at a go but you get there in the end.

If you simply want the $250k because thats what others are getting or something but cannot actually create the value you'll have a hard time getting there. An easy test for this is you feel you are underpaid at $250k vs being in a situation now where you can't get $250k at any job (non remote or otherwise)

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#27

Post by phpnode »

moreira wrote: post #17
sgt wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MANGA companies. It didn't take HN long, did it.

What I will never understand is how harmless old Netflix found its way into an acronym for the big beasts of tech. Not even Microsoft gets that privilege (for some reason).

I think it's literally just that they pay well

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#28

Post by cj »

iandanforth wrote: post #16
xwdv wrote: post #4

Here’s a cheap and easier trick: find two easy remote jobs each paying $125k. There’s your $250k a year. You don’t need any particularly distinguished resume. With the right job responsibilities, this is doable for a software engineer. If you can offset the two jobs a bit by time zone it’s even better. But you better hurry, once people catch on that this is possible the supply of developers can quickly increase overn…

Note sure why this is getting down voted. Freelancers and contractors work multiple client jobs all the time. Low wage workers work multiple 'full time' jobs all the time. Are FT software engineers special?

Yes. If you want to work multiple jobs, that’s what contracting / consulting is for.

I don’t think you can compare engineers to a struggling single parent working 2 jobs at minimum wage. The former signs contracts saying they won’t work for other companies concurrently, the latter likely doesn’t.

If you want multiple jobs, simply work as a 1099 contractor. It’s that simple.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#29

Post by brobinson »

moreira wrote: post #17
sgt wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MANGA companies. It didn't take HN long, did it.

What I will never understand is how harmless old Netflix found its way into an acronym for the big beasts of tech. Not even Microsoft gets that privilege (for some reason).

$600,000/year compensation for programmers

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#30

Post by jacknews »

fxtentacle wrote: post #11

Leverage. If your work improves the productivity of 100+ other people, you're surely worth the price. If your work saves $500k+ in annual costs, you're surely worth the price. If hiring you cripples key competitors, you're surely worth the price. If you can enable new revenues streams through knowledge that only you have, you're surely worth the price. If hiring you does not increase productivity, reduce costs, fend…

> EDIT: And if you're outside of the US, set up a local LLC so that US-based companies can treat you like an independent contracting business.

By local, do you mean a US-based company (eg delaware), or local to where you are?

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