Just curious for those of you who work a fully 100% remote job, how did you go about finding it? What field are you in? Did you specifically target a remote job or did you work somewhere and it eventually turned into that? Or are you just a freelancer? Do you have to meet up with the heardquarters and if so how often? Do you like it?
Up until recently I had no clue there were websites that aggregated remote jobs, so I've been somewhat browsing them. I'm very happy at my current position and make great money and the company is great, however the work has started to get a tad stale and that is what even got me looking. But just for the hell of it right now I'm targeting these remote only jobs. I'm targeting senior software engineer/achitect/lead jobs.
If I landed one and it meant I could basically live wherever I wanted to, that would be pretty sweet. I do think it would be kind of weird though not having to go into an office and interact with people, and I do think that has a lot of benefits, but I've also worked as a co-founder the past year in my spare time remotely with a few other developers so I'm also familiar with it, and am comfortable using some of the tools to communicate.
So just curious about those of you who do have a job like this if you could let me know how it's working out.
UPDATE is my reply on 3/16 - it's also a question so I didn't just put it in the OP as well.
Smart, good workers are always in demand. Especially true for good developers.
I'm not sure what field you are in, but in software development, the cliche "you get what you pay for" couldn't be more true.No offense meant to the OP, but is it really all about "good developers"? Or are these companies just finding a lot of underqualified or incompetent workers? I wonder what the % break-down would be.
Oh gotcha. I do web-app dev too. I think in general software devs stay in their positions long if they are comfortable, because most people are scared of change, and most software devs are introverts and don't want to deal with new people and change.^ what I mean is if they're getting a lot of underqualified candidates over the course of their hiring process (or even in recent past), they have to work harder at finding good developers, offering higher salaries / packages to entice them. I'm curious what the % of finding deadbeats vs. good performers during the interview process are. I bet it's worse than 10:1.
I'm a web app dev'er. We tend to stay in our positions a long time if we're comfortable. Less talent constantly available.
Holy crap, that's one thorough interview.Am talking to another remote company and had a really great technical interview yesterday. Well it was more of a coding test than a interview. It was a very interesting coding exercise, where I did a screen share with the guy while I solved a problem. I was a bit intimidated/nervous at first just because I've never really had anyone watch me work, especially write an actual application like this while interviewing, but it didn't really bother me once I got going.
I had 90 minutes to basically make minesweeper in javascript. I didn't have to do any of the actual game logic, as they had 2 endpoints that built the board for me on a server, with me passing it the number of bombs, height, and width, and then I'd hit another endpoint based on where I clicked, and the response would give me the results of the board and I'd have to update it. I basically finished it in about 40-45 minutes and he really liked my approach and how clean it went.
There are 2 more of these types of technical "interviews" left but he basically told me based on what he saw that he doesn't think I would have any problem with the next to. We discussed salary after the fact and it sounds like they can be pretty competitive with an offer I have on the table with another company now. So I'll see where this ends up going...
Yeah I have never seen one similar to this before. I kind of think it is a decent idea, although I also think giving a timed project to work on is just as good. In the real world I'm not coding with people looking over my shoulder so it's a bit intimidating and weird. But I also get that they want to see the thought process and stuff so I get it. He was flat out honest that some people simply are turned off by the process and don't want to do it, which I can also understand. But I also told him that is why I wanted to talk salary up front because I don't want to waste anyone's time on this, and neither do they.Holy crap, that's one thorough interview.
Yeah. I mean it really is hard to interview for developer positions in my opinion. Like to really gage a person. The worst types of interviews in my opinion though are the kinds that ask questions that you would see on a college exam. Like the types that purposefully try to trick you up. I've been asked questions about details of how the HTTP protocol works and just really technical shit that, as a developer, doesn't really matter. Then the thing I hate the MOST (which ties into the whole college exam type of question) is asking me the big-o notation of algorithms. I can't tell you that because I haven't used that notation since school, but I can sure as shit tell you which algorithm between 2 is more efficient and where things can be enhanced for better performance.I do like the sound of that interview process though, would definitely give you a decent feel for the applicant.
I would love to WFH a few days out of the week. Even if it's just 1 day. I could pretty much write my staff reports in a day working from home a few times a week. I wouldn't want to do it full time though. I need adult human interaction. I had a 2nd interview in my field on Tuesday and it was a weird one. Interviewed with department heads for about 50 minutes, then the staff that I would managing came in and they interviewed me again. Caught me off guard, but it's not a large department and I thought it was actually a good idea to have them give input on the hiring process.
How much is this position offering- just the range?To be honest I am not even 100% sure it is for me either. But there is only one way I can find out and it's something I've wondered about because my wife and I would like to be able to move to the west coast, San Diego specifically, at some point, and having a job like this makes that a lot easier to actually do. Or hell even moving to Hawaii for a few years. We're also talking already about if I got one, moving to the Caribbean for like a month, just rent an apartment or house and keep our house back here, and I could work from there and take a week off to also enjoy a full week straight. That kind of flexibility is worth it to me, to at least try it out. And the worst case scenario, if I don't like it, I go back to a normal job.
I will still have interactions though. I'm going to be going to the gym Monday through Thursday still so I'll get out of the house. I also plan on eating with friends like I do now. But it will be different than going into an office and seeing a bunch of people and talking to them in person every day. The remote position still has standups every day and they hang out in chats and communicate via video chat, but yeah it's definitely not the same as in person.
I'm going to have a decision to make though. The other position I have an offer with said it will be for a lead position of a small team (2-3 other people) and it will be building software from the ground up. That is a very good role to move up into but it won't give me that flexibility obviously.
I won't get into specifics, but let's say it's closer to 200k than 100k. The remote one knows that offer and said they could get that high if there is someone they can't let go, but could definitely go $10k less than that company is offering. They said they have the actual ability to go higher but they would just have to work to get it. The remote company has pretty poor benefits compared to what I'd get at the other one, and they know. And by poor, I mean that they don't offer 100% company covered insurance and they don't match 401k, and they know that they would have to also overcompensate for that as well.How much is this position offering- just the range?
I'm incredible what devs go through to make pretty penny.
I won't get into specifics, but let's say it's closer to 200k than 100k. The remote one knows that offer and said they could get that high if there is someone they can't let go, but could definitely go $10k less than that company is offering. They said they have the actual ability to go higher but they would just have to work to get it. The remote company has pretty poor benefits compared to what I'd get at the other one, and they know. And by poor, I mean that they don't offer 100% company covered insurance and they don't match 401k, and they know that they would have to also overcompensate for that as well.
Maybe I'm already closer to 200k than 100k too... (or am i!)Good stuff. I'm closer to 100k than 200k as a PM. I always admire capable dev folks. My job comes with its challenges and tons of headaches, but it's amazing how I can make similar to you while possessing none of the hard skills.
You deserve it!Maybe I'm already closer to 200k than 100k too... (or am i!)
So this is going to be a pretty huge jump as well.