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Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

blog.stackoverflow.com

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Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#81

Post by nthj »

winter_blue wrote: post #79

> #1a: You don’t lose people to silly things like their significant other going to medical school. I really don't like the attitude here. Your significant other moving, is _not a silly thing_. > I’ll let you in on a secret: most of our remote developers work longer hours than our in-office devs. Yet another reason not to work remotely -- to maintain your work-life balance. Home is a place you spend with family and/or…

> I really don't like the attitude here. Your significant other moving, is _not a silly thing_.

I don't want to speak for the OP, but I took this sentence as, "Losing a good developer because his significant other is headed to medical school is a really silly thing for a company to do", which I would completely agree with.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#82

Post by fatbird »

mylittlepony wrote: post #78

I wish I knew how to get hired remotely. I'm an experienced programmer, but I happen to also be a security paranoid, so not only I have not bothered building an online persona, I have also removed every trace of myself on the internet. I can prove my experience, but not to an HR guy. I also think I have good written English, and yet I haven't even had a response to any emails I've sent for remote work in other countr…

You have your own answer: Someone who's invisible on the Internet, with unproven skills to the first tier of hiring, applying for remote work. No one in their right mind would hire you because you're impossible to vet. Any manager seeing your email would likely think you're an outsourcing firm in Bangalore trying to present as a lone wolf.

You want to get hired for remote dev? Build a strong online profile by working visibly with a prominent project, and network through there to get someone who's worked with you to vouch for you.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#84

Post by neebz »

ed209 wrote: post #11

I've worked remotely for 10+ years for various companies. I really appreciate the trust and commitment my employers have for letting me be in this situation. As a result I always try to go beyond expectations and pay a lot of attention to communication. Some of the things I do which I think give my employers confidence in me are: 1. Constant communication. Don't leave it to the imagination what I'm up to. I have a we…

+1.

I've been working remotely for 3 years.

I am not a super-genius developer but communication is something I really focus on. If they email me I try to respond as quickly as possible. Any meetings during the weekend, I squeeze time out. Even if I am going for a bathroom I just leave a small 'brb' campfire. Update my daily sheet, be very vocal on what I'm upto and make sure my progress is communicated in timely manner. These are important for good scenarios but in worst case scenarios (client being badass, deadlines are in danger of being missed etc.) this is vital.

Plus it's important to understand from employee perspective that the onus is more on us to make sure we communicate better. For on-location workers, colleagues/managers can drop by and check out progress but for remote workers it's us who have to step up.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#85

Post by MortenK »

mattmanser wrote: post #69
MortenK wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually the individuals are not employees pr. Se, unless the company in question has a local legal presence in the country of the employee. Instead they are hired on a simple business contract containing similar terms as a standard employement contract. The employee then sends invoices for their salary. In theory this makes them contractors, but in practice they are employees. The employee will however most often hav…

In the UK this is not legal. It's not even vaguely close to being outside IR35. While I have no familiarity, I doubt it is legal in many other countries with a socialist state that requires employers to pay things like national insurance. Basically if you walk like an employee, and talk like an employee, you're an employee and shouldn't pretend to be an independent contractor and you probably should not set up your o…

Isn't IR35 used to cover cases where there is actual tax avoidance though? Where it is not a sole propriertorship, but rather a Ltd, and the owner is extracting his salary through NIC exempt dividends?

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#86

Post by eriksank »

jacques_chester wrote: post #77
kintamanimatt wrote: post #2

I wonder what the legal issues are for an American company having cross-border employees. How do they take care of national insurance and income taxes etc for their UK-based employee when (presumably) they have no legal presence there? How does this work for them?

This is when you call a payroll company and let them sort it out for you.

Nothing beats moving to a low-admin country, though. Since you're working remotely anyway, you could as well do that from Ecuador or so. The lower/non-existing tax bill will easily pay for any flights back home. Enjoy the beach!

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#87

Post by eriksank »

socialist_coder wrote: post #31
chris_mahan wrote: post #5

Likewise if someone is a Japanese citizen, with official residency in Japan, and is in the US as a tourist or a student, and works remotely for a German company, a Canadian company, and a Guatemalan company, and gets paid by wire transfer to his bank account in Japan from his three clients... is he breaking the law in one or more countries? Perhaps there will be a telecommute country, with laws designed to let teleco…

The laws and boundaries around citizenship and taxation really need updating in these high-tech times.

Not really. I like them the way they are. You end up paying the lowest common denominator, which is usually zero dollars.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#88

Post by eriksank »

analog wrote: post #28
tferris wrote: post #23

In general I agree that remote working has lot of advantages. Especially if you are a programmer you get the peace and quietness you need to get into the flow, no discussion here. I wrote my best code when I was alone with me and my music. But things are different if you want to build the next big thing with cofounders and there I experienced three big disadvantages: 1. All big (and finally successful) ideas and vent…

"All big (and finally successful) ideas and ventures were born by sitting together, day for day" Github are a distributed team, Digg's programmer was a remote employee (from elance IIRC). Linux would be another biggie.

It is probably exactly the other way around. All big ideas were born NOT sitting together. If Linus were sitting in a traditional office, the linux kernel would no longer exist by now.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#89

Post by eriksank »

dschiptsov wrote: post #83

Because of Linux kernel, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and countless of successful high-quality open source projects done remotely?

Exactly. There is not one interesting piece of software nowadays that is not done remotely. Everything else is going bankrupt because they simply cannot compete. Just for cost/quality reasons, remote will have to become the norm.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#90

Post by eriksank »

nilkn wrote: post #51

Are cost of living adjustments made to the compensation packages for remote workers, or does a developer in rural Iowa get the same six figure salary that seems like nothing in Silicon Valley?

Remote workers tend to be freelancers/self-employed. There may be no compensation package at all ;-)
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