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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

#381
post #372
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why in God’s name would you list them both? It’s a resume not a deposition. In the US resume fraud is a thing. Some companies like telecoms selectively check resumes for accuracy. Resume fraud can be a fireable offense.

If you lie about having a job this can be found out (they can call the place) If you omit one or several jobs, I don't know how they would know (call all places to see if you also worked there?).

> I don't know how they would know (call all places to see if you also worked there?).

It can be tracked during your background check (using SSN). They will make you sign a form that you authorize them to perform such a check. Fail to sign the form - job offer is rescinded. Again, depends on employer.

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

#382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 55. I'm tired of learning. I've been learning for 30+ years of professional software work, and none of it applies to any new jobs I might want to seek (I'm talking about specific languages, platforms, buzzwords, etc.) The pace of change is faster than the average person can keep up with and still be competent. I can see that by the time I retire, the knowledge I have spent my adult life acquiring will be useless…

Same here. I've been in technology for 30+ years. I cannot wait for the day, I can close my laptop lid and just walk away. It cannot come fast enough.

A piece of unasked for advice: why wait? Honestly, life is too short. Go do what makes you happy.

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

#383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 55. I'm tired of learning. I've been learning for 30+ years of professional software work, and none of it applies to any new jobs I might want to seek (I'm talking about specific languages, platforms, buzzwords, etc.) The pace of change is faster than the average person can keep up with and still be competent. I can see that by the time I retire, the knowledge I have spent my adult life acquiring will be useless…

> The pace of change is faster than the average person can keep up with and still be competent. The pace of change is faster than the average person can keep up with each change, but because more and more new technologies and niches are being created, there are more and more opportunities to be competent in a certain niche. It's also so much about your mindset. Seeing the difference in positive and negative mindset b…

I used to have that positive outlook. Work was exciting, and fun. Over time, the reality became impossible to deny.

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

#384
post #315
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why in God’s name would you list them both? It’s a resume not a deposition. In the US resume fraud is a thing. Some companies like telecoms selectively check resumes for accuracy. Resume fraud can be a fireable offense.

That's for lying, and I've never heard of anyone going to court over it. Omitting isn't the same. If you ask for references, I probably won't list people who will give me a bad reference, either.

Comparing Jobs and references is not apples to apples,. One is understood to be a list of employers you've had in recent years,. The other is understood to be one to three people that would recommend your skills not every single person you've worked with the last 10 years..

You can easily lie by omission.. The root of it is deceitful intentions.

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

#385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example faang salaries of the similar roles i’m currently in. Not to mention that i’ve overgrown it.

Okay so arrogance determines it then?

$250k is a decent new grad offer at FAANG in the Bay Area. Assuming that you're at L5 level, you should be easily able to clear that with a remote position.

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

#386
post #256

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…

If you are providing services online which programming is while being a non resident alien through your LLC you are owning 0% taxes to the USA. There are nuances and you should check with proper tax advisors, but that is how it should work.

This is the same in most countries i.e. income = expenses means no profit and therefore no tax.

However, you need to pay tax in your country of residence still. You also need to file with the IRS for the corp indicating zero profit. Plus US registration fees.

You also need to maintain a legal paper trail i.e. the money coming into the US corp needs to be paid out to an international company anyway.

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

#387
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i did it for years. You don’t pay employment taxes on dividends/distributions, just income taxes. so you’re still paying taxes on those but you’re saving 7.5% on the employment taxes side. maybe “ass-tons” is over selling it but coupled with business deductions you can take you can save quite a bit. the IRS may take a closer look at you if you’re taking less than half your revenue in W2 income but otherwise it’s perf…

> You don’t pay employment taxes on dividends/distributions, just income taxes Did you have multiple employees? I think that changes everything, we're talking about a solo business owner in this case. All profits from a single employee LLC get treated as income tax. Here's a quote from Intuit[0]: > Single-member LLCs are disregarded entities. A disregarded entity is ignored by the IRS for tax purposes, and the IRS co…

that article makes no mention of s-corp implications, butthis isn’t an unusual strategy. Here’s an article outlining it:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/electing-s-corporati...

edit: article from the IRS itself (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...)

> If a single-member LLC does not elect to be treated as a corporation, the LLC is a "disregarded entity," and the LLC's activities should be reflected on its owner's federal tax return.

(emphasis mine)

That “if” is significant. As an SMLLC you can elect either C-corp or S-corp (pass through) status, and that changes things completely.

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

#388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t do hourly in London, the lowest you can go is a day rate, hours being 1:1 with fees is a great way to leave money on the table as a contractor. As a contractor you want to structure your deliverables on your terms so you can choose how the spend your time. Alan Weiss wrote a lot about this and his writings changed my life. Also, if you’re hourly in London you can’t claim to be independent and you’ll get sma…

> Clients should pay for value, not hours sat in a chair. I think the implication is that if one party is capturing the excess value produced disproportionately, that is screwing the other side. Particularly if this occurs because of information that is asymmetric in negotiation.

If that’s the case, getting screwed is pretty common.

If my SAP implementation is going to save over 1 million per year in increased manufacturing efficiency, how should I price my services? The floor is set by the cheapest contractors in my market, the ceiling is how ever high I can negotiate.

The client will capture far more value than me over the lifetime of the product. I also don’t want to charge by the hour because there’s a conflict of interest and I want to detach hours worked from fees charged otherwise I’m just slaving away.

Hourly is for blue collar work, it’s not professional at my and your level.

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

#389

The easiest way to make a lot more money… Get a job making 120-180 but 4 days a week. It is possible to do this. Make sure it is not an exciting company, but rather a corporate, slow moving one. Now you can pick up a contract making 100+ per hour. 15-20 hours a week. Do 4 hours of the main job. Do 4 hours of the freelance work. You’ll easily be making 250k. Another thing to note, as a developer you can solve a proble…

[deleted]

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

#390
post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with Alan Weiss, lawyers are unprofessional and mostly terrible at maximising income. They charge 1:1 hours to fees which is a bad deal for a professional.

The legal work I did was for an expert witness case as a subject matter expert (not a lawyer). There is no way we could have/would have agreed to a fixed fee up front unless it was for a really outrageous amount. (Well, it ended up being a pretty outrageous amount anyway but there's no way we could have reasonably scoped the work.) Most of the work we did in general was for specifically scoped deliverables and we act…

Lawyers are mostly pretty bad at pricing, let’s not use them as a benchmark for our industry.

But yes, you did some law work and they want you to charge hourly rather than based on value.

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