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70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

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Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#201

Post by midrus »

endisneigh wrote: post #3

70% Of Startups Offer Remote Work during Pandemic, YC data shows. Let's see how this looks 2 years after the pandemic is over.

I don't know about other industries/professions, but... for developers? Not gonna happen. The demand for our skill is incredibly high, we're in a power position and as long as it is that way, pandemic or not, we can choose. And I know many people that, as me, would rather take a pay cut than go back to an office every day.

Salaries might at some point stabilize I suppose, as people will prefer to relocate to cheap places and overall there will be more offer of developers charging less money.

Overall I think this is a win-win for everyone (except middle managers that like micromanagement, those are the ones worried right now).

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#203

Post by HatchedLake721 »

midrus wrote: post #193
nostrebored wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because everyone who seriously invests money in businesses knows that there’s a performance hit you take as a remote company. People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Engineering is one segment where this penalty seems to be lower. However, engineers seem to be unable to understand that every other function functions better in person. The tradeoff you’re hoping to make is that the…

Not my experience at all. The last two companies I've worked for where 100% remote, in both of these places engineering was a lot more productive. I personally invested less total time in work (about 7 or 8 hours total) and got a lot more done. Both of these companies had a culture of writing things down, so everything was documented, an all important conversations where posted in the open for anyone to see. Everythi…

Out of curiosity, where and how things were documented? And where were important conversations posted?

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#204

Post by missedthecue »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #197
mullingitover wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you balance that against the performance hit of working on-prem? You can't just hand-wave away the unpaid labor and risk to your life that you undertake with every trip to and from the office. You can't ignore the drive-by conversations you get roped into when you're trying to do head-down work or the overall noise in an office. Yes, in ideal conditions your office might approach what you get working at home,…

>Yes, in ideal conditions your office might approach what you get working at home, In my experience I am more productive in office, lots of other people seem to feel the same. I guess I'm just lucky to have worked in lots of more than ideal offices, or, as seems more likely people's home conditions vary to such an extent that you can't make a blanket statement.

It's interesting to me how everyone seems to agree that remote school and college are huge failures and students are falling behind, but when it comes to their remote jobs, they'll go to great lengths to deny any reduction in efficiency, collaboration, or productivity.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#205

Post by missedthecue »

mulmen wrote: post #189
nostrebored wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because everyone who seriously invests money in businesses knows that there’s a performance hit you take as a remote company. People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Engineering is one segment where this penalty seems to be lower. However, engineers seem to be unable to understand that every other function functions better in person. The tradeoff you’re hoping to make is that the…

There is a precisely zero percent chance that customer service works better in person. I have done it personally. My mom did it for over a decade from home . Engineering is not the only task that can be done remotely.

I actually work in customer service for a tech company right now. We do some days in the office and most days remote. Being remote is worse for productivity. For instance, when I need to ask a team mate a question, they respond in slack at their convenience. At the office it takes 20 seconds. Communication and collaboration seem orders of magnitude more difficult remotely.

Yes, client services can be done remotely. Yes I like not having to commute every day. Yes, I can see the number of tickets we close and remote is just more unproductive.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#206

Post by scott_w »

moises_silva wrote: post #113
tikhonj wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep on saying this but it's just not obviously true. > People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Companies do so many suboptimal things that this argument isn't credible. We've seen how many organizations can barely limp through a "digital transformation", so why should we expect them to be operating anywhere near optimally along other axes? They could just as easily be payi…

> People keep on saying this but it's just not obviously true. How is it obviously not true? I mean. I love remote work. I started working remotely way before it was mainstream and I'm advocate for it. I've managed remote teams for many years too. Even so, I can't claim there's no performance hit. I just think the performance hit is small enough that in most cases the benefits for people and businesses outweigh it.

OP did not say “it’s obviously not true,” they said “it’s not obviously true.”

They’re saying the statement requires more evidence to back it up.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#207

Post by missedthecue »

runako wrote: post #143
colordrops wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've nailed it. I can't afford my mortgage and kids school if I take a startup gig unless I start burning my investments. It's way too risky, especially since the investments are doing well. I totally would love to work for a startup, even do longer hours, but no one is willing to make offers for people in my class. I'd even be willing to burn some of my current investment if the startup gave a serious equity chunk…

> Startups are way too greedy with equity. And this has gotten worse. During the .com explosion, the war for talent saw younger engineers (<= 5 years of experience) were getting 1%-3% in companies that had already received VC funding, while also getting raises from other firms. Compared to the grants on offer today, the risk/reward is completely inverted.

The valuations today are just so much higher though. Pets.com, the poster child of dotcom era excess IPO'd at a $250mm valuation.

Companies today are raising 2x or 3x that in their series C these days! 1Password picked up $620mm in their series C just the other day.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#208

Post by Cwizard »

I live in a smaller city in Europe where wages aren’t anywhere close to what you often see mentioned on HN, with the shift to remote, should I start considering a full-remote position? How do you find these positions? Any advice on this topic would be appreciated. (For context I have 2 YOE, mostly backend, kubernetes, aws and I currently earn around €50k a year which not a bad salary for my area)

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#209

Post by missedthecue »

MattGaiser wrote: post #66
mint2 wrote: post #57

It’s interesting how divergent opinions on attending in person is for work vs school. At this point though the ship has sailed for the work debate. Going into the office to do zoom calls with people at home means the pros of office are mostly removed, while the cons remain.

Nobody seems really willing to tackle improving remote learning. It would be as if companies worked remotely by putting everyone on Zoom calls all day. Education in general refuses to move beyond the damn lecture.

I don't think the problems that plague remote learning are technical in nature. They are fundamental. It's just hard to learn in a non-collaborative environment.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#210

Post by jzoch »

missedthecue wrote: post #204
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes, in ideal conditions your office might approach what you get working at home, In my experience I am more productive in office, lots of other people seem to feel the same. I guess I'm just lucky to have worked in lots of more than ideal offices, or, as seems more likely people's home conditions vary to such an extent that you can't make a blanket statement.

It's interesting to me how everyone seems to agree that remote school and college are huge failures and students are falling behind, but when it comes to their remote jobs, they'll go to great lengths to deny any reduction in efficiency, collaboration, or productivity.

perhaps if you are driven and understand what you are supposed to be working on remote work is not a tall order. School, on the other hand, is not intrinsically as interesting as whatever career you chose. You don't get paid. You are younger (and thus may be less able to concentrate on boring tasks).

They are different. In some contexts more than others but still different. I love going into the office but pretending its magically more efficient is a bit silly. I like getting distracted at work but don't think it makes me more valuable to the company. I certainly don't write better code at work - if anything my home office allows me to shut out distractions more easily (a luxury not everyone has). This entire argument is silly - not allowing remote work is denying a large portion of a workforce. That workforce may or may not be better or worse but its certainly cheaper for the employer. Why deny yourself a large talent pool?

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