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Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

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11–20 of 39 posts

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#11
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why should I have to compete with developers of the same skill level who can afford to take a much, much lower salary than I can? Especially when I took out American debt to attend an American university so I can live in America and work an American software job.

Why should foreigners keep supporting American companies that keep our RSUs and 401Ks afloat? Why should they keep buying our debt that allows us to borrow trillions?

How much US debt does Ukraine hold? With the exception of China we don't even really heavily outsource to the 10 biggest buyers of our debt because they're mostly wealthy countries that can't be exploited. Japan owns nearly 10x as much of our debt as India does.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#12
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's just more cost effective to hire anyone in any other country, thanks to living costs and lack of opportunity in some countries.

But why should I have to compete with developers of the same skill level who can afford to take a much, much lower salary than I can? Especially when I took out American debt to attend an American university so I can live in America and work an American software job.

Then stop buying all imported stuff & pay full blown prices for made in US stuff.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#13
post #9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why should I have to compete with developers of the same skill level who can afford to take a much, much lower salary than I can? Especially when I took out American debt to attend an American university so I can live in America and work an American software job.

Why should daily wage workers make Nike shoes in Bangladesh for peanuts when they can be manufactured in America for 10x more?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#14
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why should I have to compete with developers of the same skill level who can afford to take a much, much lower salary than I can? Especially when I took out American debt to attend an American university so I can live in America and work an American software job.

Why should foreigners keep supporting American companies that keep our RSUs and 401Ks afloat? Why should they keep buying our debt that allows us to borrow trillions?

Because Treasuries are the safest asset in the world. Foreigners have no choice but to hold it, nor can they invest anywhere else in the world at the intersection of stability and risk adjusted returns that is the US capital markets.

By all means, find a better investment environment if one thinks they can; it doesn’t exist.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#15
I've hired and worked with many dozens of devs around the world. Some I worked with for 10 days, others for years.

The only downside that I haven't found a solution for is communication. Even with brilliant people who had been speaking English for decades, a lot gets lost because of language.

It's hard enough to talk to other Americans about technical issues. It's harder when the other person is losing small, important distinctions in each sentence.

It's obviously not a dealbreaker. The benefits of hiring internationally outweigh the drawbacks. In fact, no company I've ever helped build could have succeeded hiring only Americans.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#17
post #15

I've hired and worked with many dozens of devs around the world. Some I worked with for 10 days, others for years. The only downside that I haven't found a solution for is communication. Even with brilliant people who had been speaking English for decades, a lot gets lost because of language. It's hard enough to talk to other Americans about technical issues. It's harder when the other person is losing small, importa…

Weird. Half Europe (IT industry) speaks broken English and everyone understands each other just fine mainly because the English used is simple, without fancy words and direct to the point.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#18
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's just more cost effective to hire anyone in any other country, thanks to living costs and lack of opportunity in some countries.

But why should I have to compete with developers of the same skill level who can afford to take a much, much lower salary than I can? Especially when I took out American debt to attend an American university so I can live in America and work an American software job.

And you wrote that comment using an American laptop assembled in China. You get it now?

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#19
post #17
post #15

I've hired and worked with many dozens of devs around the world. Some I worked with for 10 days, others for years. The only downside that I haven't found a solution for is communication. Even with brilliant people who had been speaking English for decades, a lot gets lost because of language. It's hard enough to talk to other Americans about technical issues. It's harder when the other person is losing small, importa…

Weird. Half Europe (IT industry) speaks broken English and everyone understands each other just fine mainly because the English used is simple, without fancy words and direct to the point.

> everyone understands each other just fine mainly because the English used is simple, without fancy words and direct to the point

Fine. So what? Just because it works doesn't mean it's perfect or frictionless.

Lots of software and business concepts are not simple. They take a long time to explain, and they're hard to express with a language (English) that was not designed to express them.

Like I said, it's a problem between two native English speakers, too. It's just more of a problem when one of those people is missing chunks of vocabulary or doesn't understand some of the small, impactful differences in wording in English.

My business partner is Israeli and speaks excellent English, and we still run into these problems sometimes.

Re: Ask HN: What Stops You from Switching Remote US Only to Remote Same Time Zone?

#20
post #15

I've hired and worked with many dozens of devs around the world. Some I worked with for 10 days, others for years. The only downside that I haven't found a solution for is communication. Even with brilliant people who had been speaking English for decades, a lot gets lost because of language. It's hard enough to talk to other Americans about technical issues. It's harder when the other person is losing small, importa…

Would you have the same problem working with non native English speaker immigrant programmers in the US? They’ve spoken English for decades but not native speakers.
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