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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

#191

Post by agustif »

vivekv wrote: post #153
Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That'll make it much easier to hire you across borders. And at that price, you can surely afford the $1000 annually for a tax advisor retainer. In my experience you shouldn't need to do this. In fact, I suspect doing this creates both a taxation and legal nightmare. You should have a re…

Can you elaborate on Deel please. How does it help? I cant seem to find a link online. appreciate the help.

Domain it's letsdeel.com, they act as intermediaries and you invoice through them..

I've worked for american startups, and the contract/invoicing was through them

remote.com is another such similar service.

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

#192

Post by Consultant32452 »

StefanWestfal wrote: post #46
amacasubstack wrote: post #15

My main trick has been to specialize in things that all companies like a lot (AWS, js, python), jumping gigs, and leveraging Remote Contracting networks [1]. To get to ~200k remote salaries is hard, but not impossible if you make clear what kind of business leverage you bring and what responsibilities you can take. In addition, you might not actually need such a high Remote salary if you choose to live in cheaper tow…

Interesting point, would you say it makes more sense to focus on adopted technologies rather then interesting ones in thier growth phase? Concrete: I learned React a while ago but find Svelte interesting and think it has potential. I am no SWE but interested.

I'm in that $250k range. When I'm looking for a new gig I would much rather have skills that 100 companies are hiring for than skills that 5 companies are hiring for.

That said, I do need something to differentiate myself from any other rando they might hire for less. That could hypothetically be a niche technology. I once met someone who specialized in making databases of 3D artifacts. He made a ton of money bouncing form one defense contractor to another creating their object databases for simulation purposes. That's the "niche knowledge" path.

In my case, that's soft skills. I'm a great communicator with a history of using those skills to land big project successes. In particular, I don't make the business people feel dumb when I explain technical things to them, and being a small business owner myself I have a better balance of understanding between business needs and technical needs compared to most devs.

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

#193

Post by mark_l_watson »

Well, it is a workers market right now.

Professionally there is nothing special about me except that I really enjoy working, but for the last two remote jobs, the offer letter I received was more than what I verbally agreed on with HR. Since I am also 70 years old, I take this as good evidence of how pro-worker the job market is right now.

I offer free mentoring (see my web site) and always talk about the importance to having a beginner’s/learner’s mind. I think that what companies want is: prioritizing the company’s interests, being flexible, and being observant looking for opportunities to improve the business. Fairly straightforward strategy.

Good luck reaching your financial goals/salary number but also please remember money isn’t everything, and is much less important than our relationships with other people.

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

#194

Post by baobabKoodaa »

Jensson wrote: post #132
bitcharmer wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, going for equity in these scenarios is a mine field and almost never as profitable as advertised by the employer.

Getting $100k sticker price worth of stocks per year is worth about $100k a year. If stocks go up they are worth more, otherwise less. On average they will be worth more than cash, and for a big company it is rare for them to go down a lot, so I'd say that getting the $100k worth of stocks a year is at least as good as just getting the cash. Edit: Not sure why people think otherwise. Maybe they are used to companies…

> at least as good as getting cash

This claim is patently false. If you receive $100k in cash, you can immediately exchange that to $100k in public company stock. The opposite is not true (if you receive stock with a vesting period, you cannot immediately exchange it to cash). Therefore, getting cash is at least as good as getting public company stock, not the other way around.

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

#195

Post by lotsofpulp »

jasonkester wrote: post #140
lotsofpulp wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is especially not the same due to loss of tax advantaged benefits like health insurance ($20k+ per year if you have a family), 401k matching ($10k+), DCFSA and HSA matches ($5k), and then the 8% FICA taxes up to $10k that have to come out of your pocket.

That's all stuff you can calculate and price into your rate. It's not like you just take the salary number they offer and divide it by two to get your rate.

I was commenting on the comparison of a $150/hour independent contracting price to a $300k salary.

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

#196

Post by BrandoElFollito »

Scarblac wrote: post #184
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In France you get 5-8 weeks of vacation that are counted in addition to the official days off.

In general you work 272 days a year and the rest is vacation and days off (this is also the reason we get a different amount of days off every year).

I have about 40 working days off, of which the company can choose the dates of 10.

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

#197

Post by intuitionist »

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.

I think many people on HN may be too young to remember the early 2000s, when you’d kill someone for your stock price to be down only 60% over 3 years, but it absolutely happens to good companies too.

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

#198

Post by syshum »

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.

Yes... I will cash out any vacation my employer allows me to, unfortunately they require that I take most of it as time off not cash

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

#199

Post by deagle50 »

yosito wrote: post #174
pembrook wrote: post #167

If you're inside the US, just apply to any private unicorn or public tech company (the ones that get media coverage). Anecdotally, roughly 50% of them are now cool with full remote and virtually all will pay 250k or more in total comp. If you're outside the US, forget about salaried roles. I've found that a vast majority of companies mentioned above will have blanket policies against hiring non-US workers (most HR de…

> any private unicorn or public tech company (the ones that get media coverage) Can you give some example companies?

Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc.

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

#200

Post by boppo1 »

treeman79 wrote: post #118
mustyoshi wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of meaningful job produces enough value to justify making 7x what the median US worker makes?

When young, I was asked to take over reporting for a couple weeks while someone went on vacation. It was a full time position that required 7 solid hours a day of work. I had the position fully automated by the time person got back. Thankfully they took it well and they got more interesting assignments. 2 weeks of my time saved several years of salary for company. I did this many times.

How do I reach this level of confidence in programming ability?
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