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Ask HN: Where do you find great remote developers?

87 points by flippyhead ↗ HN
I'm curious how people find excellent remote developers. We chose to make our company 100% remote in large part because we wanted access to a wider range of developers from all over the world. The trick of course is you have rely to a larger extent on advertising and methods that can't take advantage of your social networks.

Are there any places you've found particularly effective for advertising? Any other tricks or best practices you've found effective and finding and retaining great developers?

Thanks!

64 comments

[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 166 ms ] thread
dsschnau
I don't have any first-hand knowledge. From what I've read, three main sources are: word-of-mouth, stack overflow, and github.
anonytrary
> I am posting to say that I cannot review the product because I didn't buy it.

An Amazon reviews lurker.

SubuSS
Might be a very dumb sounding answer but money is usually where it is: Pay well and you will magically have them :)

Even though I haven't really considered pure remote jobs, I have always at least peeked at recruiter mails that come in with an impressive number as an opener.

[deleted]
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fyfy18
Having been working remotely on and off for the last few years, I would tend to agree.

I’m flexible where I work, so if I can earn more working in an office I’ll do it - I’m not taking a 40% paycut just to work remotely.

As a company you are already saving by not paying employment taxes (most remote workers are contractors on paper) and not having an office, so don’t skimp more by paying your team a low wage.

milofeynman
The hacker news thread on the first of every month.
zer01
It almost always pays to have your finger on the pulse of whatever industry you're looking to recruit from.

If someone posts a neat article on something that's relevant to your problem space, don't be bashful and reach out to them (same with useful github projects, etc).

Twitter is another one if you've already curated a good base (or your developers/security folks/designers/etc have), just start DMing people who look like they're great and passionate about what they do.

maxxxxx
I think you will find a lot of remote devs here or you could put an ad on StackOverflow.

To retain them, pay well and keep work interesting. Most good remote devs are very self-sufficient so don't micromanage but show trust.

tunesmith
Some of it is finding remote developers that aren't necessarily for hire, and getting to know them. Meetups, discussion boards, etc. Remote developers value their clients because of the flexibility, and finding a good remote client is harder than finding an FTE. So that means that if a remote developer has a relatively solid gig, they're often going to stay there even if they're theoretically open to something better.
vlokshin
We deal with this all the time at Turtle, as all devs on our network are remote. I'm not sure that advertising is the most direct way. If you're fully remote but paying well and have interesting work, you should have an easier time reaching great devs than companies who aren't remote (exceptions exist and some people do like nice space and free food).

Word-of-mouth is huge. Don't expect to get all your great devs at once. Hire a few, do right by them, and they'll help you reach others. Word-of-mouth has been our strongest referral engine yet.

Think about where your devs are most likely to be. Meetups? Conferences? Freelancer communities? Schools? Co-working spaces? Get there or find someone on the ground who can get to them.

A few tips:

(1) Be clear about why your work will be interesting. (2) Set up a process for flexibility (remote devs really value this). (3) Pay well. Mimic benefits in the markets you're hitting (example: if you're targeting Mountain View, consider giving your devs meals at restaurants serving better food than google).

Don't think of remote as a disadvantage (sounds a bit so from your post -- and from you jumping to advertising). Know that remote is seen as an advantage by money devs.

There are also a few remote job boards and twitter accounts but finding great devs within 20 miles or 2000 miles isn't all that different. Have interesting work, great process that doesn't get in the way, pay well, give freedom.

avg_dev
I've been thinking about trying to start a remote job board for devs in Canada. Would you be interested in posting there? The problem is, I'm not sure I could come up with enough jobs to keep it filled.
WWLink
I haven't researched you, but a good piece of advice: Please be honest with your job advertisements. A friend of mine from college was telling me about his company's job posts one day, keep in mind they were a small company that makes b2b apps. They were looking for a guy that had 5 years of experience with the Swift programming language. When I questioned him about that, he suggested they wanted people who developed it at Apple...

what?

It's ok if your company or app isn't going to change the world. Seriously, that's fine. Even respectable! As a programmer myself, I just can't take companies seriously when they ask for the moon from someone, to write them a run-of-the-mill android app or whatever.

[dead] hodl
They wanted Jobs, but they are settling for some ex-Apple.
jamestimmins
As someone that has actively looked for remote jobs, I'm always surprised with how few companies that are open to remote actually publicize that information. They'll both not post jobs on remote hiring sites, and will say a role is based in New York, LA, etc. and only deep in the description will say that they encourage remote workers as well.

This is a major plus for certain folks, so I sometimes wonder if companies don't realize it's such a big selling point.

dizzystar
This is so true. You can't really expect us to be actively looking on job sites for every city and expect us to find you.

Sites like freelancer is full of highly questionable jobs with low pay.

Hacker News and whoishiring.io has been a valuable resource to get my resume out there. I'd definitely suggest getting your stuff on each of those sites. In an ideal world, indeed would have a remote section, but they didn't last I checked.

Anyways, OP, it really depends on the developers you are looking for. The strategy for finding FTE and contractors are different, from the search to how you interview, how you deal with them as a worker, to your expectations.

avg_dev
> Hacker News and whoishiring.io has been a valuable resource to get my resume out there. I'd definitely suggest getting your stuff on each of those sites.

If I understand correctly, it is not possible to post your resume on either HN (this site) or whoishiring.io . If you have other sites please suggest them.

z4chj
A lot of posts on the "Who is Hiring?" Thread (at least the good ones) that happens every month will contain contact information of people at the company often times who are in charge of the actual hiring. I assume this is what that was referring to
dizzystar
I only have my resume on indeed. I used to have it on other places, but eventually removed them.

The other comment is correct, I meant sending out my resume, not posting it.

elbrian
I posted my resume on Indeed and it was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made.

I get a phone call at least once every hour or two from an Indian recruiter with an American name who is trying to pitch me a 24 month contract-to-hire role working with technology that isn't mentioned on my resume or website.

I have to use call blocking apps just to maintain my sanity.

shuus
here is the link twitter.com/remote_ok
BatFastard
There are a number of remote only job boards like weworkremotely.com finding all of those and posting there is a good start. Good remote jobs are highly valued by developers who have worked remotely in the past. I have been working remotely for 22 years, and each new job is a bit of a herculean task to find.
jdbernard
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I'm considering a job change myself and will be prioritizing remote opportunities. I didn't see any contact information in your HN profile or on your website or I would have contacted you there. If you are interested in talking my contact information is available in my HN profile.

More generally, consider remote specific job boards like Remote OK (https://remoteok.io/) or We Work Remotely (https://weworkremotely.com/).

As others have mentioned, StackOverflow's job board is also a good resource. You can tag your posting as being remote.

flippyhead
I didn't want to presume myself, but I've now updated my profile. I'll reach out to you directly too, thanks!

We usually advertise on both of those but didn't have much luck some years ago with StackOverflow, but maybe we'll give it a second try.

misiti3780
1) pay well 2) offer max flexibility 3) pay bonuses 4) make sure you handle all client problems
oceanghost
Hi. I'm living in the middle-of-nowhere California.

I'm a generalist, have written software for half a dozen of the worlds major corporations. I live 75 miles from OC, SD and LA, but have family obligations that keep me where I am.

If any of this sounds interesting please say hello :)

DoofusOfDeath
February's "Who's Hiring?" story should arrive in about a week. If you're serious about getting a remote job, that's a great place to start.
pouta
How can I reach you with an opportunity?
oceanghost
I'll put an e-mail address in my profile.
tastyham
I keep reading online about how remote teams are so great, but in real life they are tough as fuck and require 5x the discipline and communication skills of in-person teams.
williamstein
A lot depends on the people and the job the team is doing. I work 100% remote, but it happens to be on software that is for web-based collaboration, so the challenges of remote work are benefits to us (at least in terms of dogfooding our products).
flippyhead
This is definitely true. It's taken us many years to develop practices and most importantly a nose for the type of people that can thrive working remote. It's definitely not for everyone.
pandler
Also adjust that 5x number based on how many hours apart your time zones are. Remote in the same time zone is really not as bad compared to even just 3 people on different continents trying to collaborate.
DoofusOfDeath
Agreed. Making remote work well requires just about everyone to be firing on all cylinders: you, your team, and especially your manager.

And side note: The common wisdom about don't be the only remote person on a team is true. I've done it, and it absolutely sucks.

carlmr
If you're the only remote person, you're excluded from everything and there's probably no Slack or equivalent group discussion. I'm doing partially remote and I use that time to get done with some things that need more focus, but if I was fully remote I'd have big issues getting all the information I need.
olemartinorg
I am the only remote person at my work. Sometimes I feel there's too much going on on Slack at the same time, and I haven't had any issues getting the information I need in a long time. There's always exceptions. Even though we've hit a few bumps in the road before we got to where we are now, I think it can work even for a 'traditional' company like ours (as long as you obsess about procedures and keeping things documented and in writing, which we've always done).
antjanus
absolutely! Ability to work remotely well is another bullet point on hiring requirements. It's not for everyone and you have to have a good culture around remote working at the company in the first place.
austenallred
In my experience whenever you post remote jobs great devs come out of the woodwork to find you.

StackOverflow jobs with the remote flag was perhaps the most beneficial before we joined YC and could post to HN.

harlanji
For an out there perspective, I am a big fan of fixed price contracts. I know what I can do and what it's worth. Can't speak for others but I want to share because I don't see people talk about it. A product can be dozens of pieces if you can integrate them.

Incentives are what you need to focus on. Why are they working remote? Why are you seeking remote? Are you investing or just using their labor? I appreciate when somebody is honest and treats me like shit over a dishonest time waster. Really, if given a choice I'd go back to a direct a-hole over a shifty smile. A little brief and all opinion, but my 2c.

git-pull
If you're at an incubator / coworking space, that is the best place. Second to that, meetups. Third, you can start interviewing en masse - but when it gets to that point, both sides decay in quality.

I've gotten most of my work through incubators, people using my open source projects, and finally through HN.

In hindsight, the reason why incubators/coworking spaces were so effective is people can form a connection beforehand and know your personality. They can see that you're in front of a terminal happy getting stuff done, "in the zone" with your headphones, and not yapping about politics or meta stuff.

If you do python, django, or stripe, check my profile.

RomanPushkin
Depends on definition of "excellent". Usually great engineers tend to live in the most expensive places, because 1) they can afford it 2) there are many companies which offer relocation. So here you just have to pay a big buck (and compete with top tech companies for the talent), so devs can pay for the housing and expensive life, let's say in SFBA.

If you're not looking for stars with Google on their resumes or 5 year SV experience, which is also OK, there are plenty of engineers who can do a great job without Google on their resumes. Maybe little bit slower, maybe not. If you can't find them, your interview process is broken.

If something doesn't work right, it means you're looking inexpensive talent in expensive areas, or exceptional talent in places where you can't find it. You're remote, but talent often is more about geography.

Also, use GitHub (or git-awards.com) for your search. I have pretty popular repos, in the top 100 JS devs for San Francisco, email is specified in profile, but recruiters don't reach. They just don't use this channel. They only know about one site - LinkedIn.

zerr
Pay 6-figures, even if they are located in "cheap" locations. Offer flex/part-time. Forget about office-like holy 40 hours per week.
Mandatum
You still need to separate the wheat from the chaff. Compare yourself to your old colleagues, do they make a lot more than you? Are you more effective than them? What about the reverse?

There are plenty diamond in the rough engineers. By nature, a vast quantity of people don't know their worth, and what's available to them - so don't just seek those that already know, seek skills and reward them for those skills.

Mandatum
Take a look at where great companies hire outside of the US.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Estonia, New Zealand - all not very well "known" as offshore, but great because there's plenty of people working at local companies that you can poach at a discount compared to your head office. Now start invading their local hangouts.

Generally speaking you should advertise where those people hang out weekly or daily. Pay for an advertisement in the latest tech-framework-that-relates-to-your-work-newsletter with a project donation, that really specific podcast that people who work in your stack listen to, StackOverflow (targeted), subreddits, Slack and Discord channels all centered around your stack.

LinkedIn and recruiters generally won't get you the crème de la crème, because it's not as cost effective for them.. You have to work to find them. So go out, seek and offer!

RantyDave
The New Zealand dollar is brutal right now (USD1 = NZD1.35) so it's not going to be much of a discount.
wonder_er
word of mouth. make an easy-to-forward email and send it to your remote developers, saying:

> "we're looking to find a great person on our team, but job postings are low-value. Could you forward this email to someone who may be interested, or someone who might know someone who's interested?"

Remote devs keep tabs on other remote devs.

Source: on year 3 of full-time remote work, spread across many time zones.

I like to connect good opportunities to good people, and vice versa. I'd forward that email to three or five people.

Good luck!

sixhobbits
This might be a bit harsh, but the other comments point you in the right direction for general remote hiring and hiring developers in general, so specifically:

* After I see the quality of your website and copy, I assume you don't have $$ to pay a decent front end designer or copywriter, or even $ to outsource this.

* If this is true, hiring good devs is going to be difficult. If it isn't, I would iterate on your frontend and copy ASAP. It's the first impression for your customers and potential employees, and currently the design is not great, there are many front end bugs, and the copy sounds like it was written in an evening by the founder.

Not trying to be overly critical - shipped is better than perfect. But your current first impression means I didn't even look at your jobs page, so it might be something you want to focus on before going into full hiring mode.

muzani
A lot of websites have poor design but plenty of customers. It sounds like they would source most of their customers offline rather than online, and that the website is just an official presence or pamphlet.
flippyhead
Heh, yeah this is exactly us. We're growing, profitable, doing well but also twelve years old and so is our website. We are, in fact, in the middle of redesigning it but the quite correct commentary here is a great reminder / kick in the pants. Thank you!
jorams
Relatedly, there's a typo in their HN profile: "We're hiring remove developers". Sometimes it's the little things that leave a good impression, no matter how seemingly insignificant.
hokus
Maybe there is a remove.js framework to remove UI elements.
sixhobbits
I nearly added exactly this, and then didn't want to be that guy. Glad it's not only me..