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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

#181

Post by DeanWormer »

loydb wrote: post #112

If you want a base salary that high, move into Product Management or Sales/Sales Engineering. Maybe Data Analytics/Engineering if you're really good at math and find the right company. Or, as others have said, start your own company.

I agree with this and have experience with the Sales Engineering side of it. Any enterprise software company needs a field sales team with technical people to back up the sales reps. Sales Engineers or Solution Architects own the "technical close" of a deal. Once the customer says your technology solves their problems and they're not looking at any competitors, your job is done. Rarely do you have to do any salesy activity like negotiating contracts, "closing deals", cold calling etc.

You give demos, proof of concepts, and talk shop with your customers. Most of it can be done remotely, but for important customers, you travel in your territory. As long as you're close to an airport, you're good.

Base + Commission can be easily $250k plus equity.

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

#182

Post by indymike »

menomatter wrote: post #38
k__ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A lot of companies now do consulting in W2. Is it still the same in terms of favorable taxes as c2c or 1099?

W2 means you are an employee, so no, the tax situation will be different.

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

#183

Post by mojomark »

rco8786 wrote: post #149
jdright wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3 years receiving vested stocks. If price stayed the same, it would be worth 200k. Today it is worth 80k. So no, thanks. Stocks are not worth unless you're FAANG

Incredibly untrue. I’m sorry that your particular company saw a 60% decrease in stock price over 3 years. But this is not the norm for any reasonably healthy company.

Fully concur. I recieved stock appreciation rights (SARs) as a bonus at one company for a few years. CEO drove company into the ground that effectively wiped out all of these SARs. I was bitter at the CEO for making stupid decisions, but not at the fact that my bonus was in the form of SARs. If I'd have stuck to my guns more, the company would have probably succeeded and the SARs could have had significant value.

Bottom line, with stock payment, you have a say in their ultimate value. Do good work, company value invreases, you enrich yourself.

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

#184

Post by Scarblac »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #145
sofixa wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 weeks vacation per year is pitiful. Do people really get on and are happy with only that? I get 5 weeks ( minimum legal in France), i use it to the max and it's okay, but sometimes insufficient.

10 total days off would be below normal. Usually, vacation time is quoted as an addition on top of normal holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving and other days. Average professional job has about 8-9 paid holiday days, plus vacation time on top. My worst number of vacation days was 10 at my first job right out of college (they had to change after they struggled to attract employees) but every other job has been mor…

I'm quite sure the five weeks he mentioned don't include official holidays. In the Netherlands it's also five weeks on top of a number of official holidays, and we gave the lowest number of those in the EU (7 iirc, some of which may be weekend Sat's in some years, like Christmas now).

Of course good companies typically don't offer only the minimum.

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

#185

Post by karmajunkie »

jerrygoyal wrote: post #124

Many commentators are suggesting exploring a freelance/contract role instead of a full-time job to make $250k. Now, If we do the math you should be charging ~$125/hr working 8hrs 5 days a week to annually make 250k. You need to charge even more if you plan to take leaves. My question is where do you find these generous clients? From what I've heard even the top paying freelancing sites like Toptal don't have clients…

if you want to make $250k, you need to charge much closer to $250/hr. Billing hours as a contractor or consultant is not the same as working hours as a FTE. You need to basically figure you’re going to average 20 hours/week to cover non-billable time, leave, taxes, etc.

The good news is that clients paying these rates will actually listen to you rather than treat you as a cog in a machine. (Another reason i prefer the term “consultant” to “contractor”)

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

#186

Post by sokoloff »

kitten_mittens_ wrote: post #155
sofixa wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 weeks vacation per year is pitiful. Do people really get on and are happy with only that? I get 5 weeks ( minimum legal in France), i use it to the max and it's okay, but sometimes insufficient.

American weeks are only 5 days long if you use employer accounting when evaluating an offer. I have "3 weeks" but it's only 15 days.

Assuming you’re working 5 days a week, 15 days is 3 workweeks.

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

#187

Post by guitarsteve »

rco8786 wrote: post #48

You just need to apply for roles with public companies that offer liquid equity. Very few of us are getting 250k+ on base salary alone. Most of us have the salary bands you’re already in, but have additional equity pay on top. It doesn’t have to be a FAANG either. There are loads of public companies out there hiring engineers at 250k total comp .

Agree! At least in the US, this kind of total comp is possible at my employer (Datadog) and many other public companies, not just FAANG mega-corps. Typically you’d have to be “senior” or “staff” engineer, or get lucky and join during a period of stock growth. The pandemic really changed things to make remote work more viable. Previously many companies limited it to exceptional cases (long tenure in-person followed by the move to remote).

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

#188

Post by deagle50 »

sofixa wrote: post #116
300bps wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$150 per hour is $300,000 per year including two weeks vacation per year. I have a side client that I met 11 years ago that I charge $150 per hour for remote development. They feel lucky to get that rate! Most people around us charge $200 per hour but since I work full time for someone else and can’t always be available I give them that discounted rate. I don’t think they’re hard to find at all for consulting. Being…

2 weeks vacation per year is pitiful. Do people really get on and are happy with only that? I get 5 weeks ( minimum legal in France), i use it to the max and it's okay, but sometimes insufficient.

2 weeks (as in 10 non-holiday days) is pretty normal in the US, even if you get more. I get 4 paid but I barely take two and bank the rest. My European parents think I'm crazy but they're used to a pretty nice safety net when you get old, and the concept of early financial independence never entered their mind.

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

#189

Post by jokethrowaway »

You need to find companies who pay enough. 99% of recruiters, jobs on LinkedIn are not paying enough, you need to network, find job opportunities through friends. Use your references from previous jobs. Join tech communities and make friends / show your technical prowess. Most of the jobs I accepted in my career were via word of mouth and with ex coworkers inside the company to put a good word.

I'm living in Europe, working for a European company and pulling 200k$ in base salary with no equity (as a contractor in a different country, treated like an employee, but no sick pay or paid holidays) + some other online businesses netting some variable amounts. I live in a low cost and low tax location - so I can pocket roughly 85% of the profits. One way that really helped me to negotiate higher salary is to have recurring revenue on the side which could support my lifestyle. I'm transparent about that with employers and they know I'm running some side businesses.

Given you're already making a significant amount of money I would focus on optimising taxes / location and then focusing on creating other passive / semi passive revenue streams.

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

#190

Post by karmajunkie »

mypalmike wrote: post #101
nickjj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Btw. as a freelancer you could end up paying less taxes, because more things are deductible. But you're also paying a lot more in base taxes and lose out on a bunch of bottom line income. I've been a freelance worker for ~20 years and recently switched to a full time position to mix it up. Your employer pays half of your social security taxes but as a contractor worker you need to pay both ends, that translates to…

One way to reduce your tax load is to contract through your LLC, pay yourself a salary from that, and get taxed as an S Corp. It helps to hire an accountant who knows how to handle most of this for you.

yeah i was coming here to suggest this. LLC with the S-corp election will save you ass-tons in taxes. the paperwork isn’t worth it until you get to around 100k in consulting income but from there on you can basically cut your SE taxes in half (although technically you don’t pay SE taxes with this setup, you’re paying yourself as w2 so their employer taxes)
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