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Ask HN: Why the lack of remote work?

25 points by amatxn ↗ HN
With the Bay & other areas exploding with software developer jobs at increasingly large salaries, why do more companies not look to in sourcing positions to lower cost areas or to use remote workers?

I'm an experienced developer but am location constrained to the Texas panhandle (shared custody of my daughter) for the next 11 years. Not much of an IT industry here and no growth options.

I'm finding it hard to find positions that allow remote only or occasional travel onsite. I'm open to freelancing also but not much luck.

I'd love to relocate but that is not an option now, and quality of life here is really good.

Another option is to try build a tech presence locally, but that is an uphill battle.

17 comments

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tupshin
Datastax is committed to a highly distributed workforce, and is hiring like crazy. Almost all of our engineering positions are "anywhere".

http://www.datastax.com/company/careers

(Most of the engineering jobs represent multiple openings)

logfromblammo
Such things are driven more by the needs and biases of management rather than the capabilities of the remote employees. The current trends and fashions are apparently to have everyone on-site.

Except for the offshore employees.

Logical consistency is usually not a factor. It is simply not popular now because it is not popular now.

amatxn
Don't get me wrong, I like being in the office - I think there is more creativity and idea flow. Our team has 2 remote employees in DFW, but they are former employees and know the domain quite well.
amatxn
I should note that while Java was my main area of focus (now Rails & Java), I'm language agnostic and we use a variety of technologies at work - it keeps me from being bored.
eshvk
I work in a company with a transatlantic workforce. We do a really really good job of communicating on IRC, going on Hangouts and such. But it is really hard. If you have clear, concise problems that need to be solved, it becomes easy. But if not, you kind of need facetime. There are so many problems which get solved on a whiteboard, or while talking in the corridor. Sure, we travel often to meet each other but that is not the same as how much easier it could be if everyone is in the same office.

What I am trying to say is that I completely understand the situation you are in. Your best bet is to find a company that has done this for a while and knows that having a remote person who is fucking good is not a bad thing. However, what I said might give you perspective as to why people don't really do that unless it is a truly rare exception.

JSeymourATL
I've found the reverse to be true, there's tons of remote options (with the possible exception of security driven work).

Forget the job boards, focus instead on reaching out to senior executives at interesting companies that you can help. Point of strategy-- attend conferences and meetups in major markets for networking.

No need to justify your home base location. But if it helps your narrative, 'I'm a Dad raising a young daughter, my commitment is to stay here.' Subtle message, I'm dependable.

amatxn
thanks jSeymourATL - I had thought about using LinkedIn to extend my reach - I work in the payments industry (card issuance & processing) so my knowledge is specialized to a degree.
JSeymourATL
That specialized industry knowledge adds tremendous value.

Here's a list of potential leads for you> http://www.paymentssource.com/conferences/card-forum/attende...

If I can assist further, see my contact info here> www.linkedin.com/in/justinseymouratlanta/

amatxn
Thanks for the help - I will keep in touch with you.

My team is a small group (3-5 devs). We have kicked around going freelance separately and as a group.

Atlanta is big in the payments industry correct? I previously worked for First Data / with a unit that was driving 50K ATMS at one point and issuing cards for 120 banks. I was on the issuing side.

thanatropism
I'm not a software developer. But my economist guess is: a developer's job is to map vague, not-entirely-defined conceptions into program specification. Why don't people just learn programming? Because they're busy and they hire nannies to take care of their children too, but also because they need a bridge from business logic to software engineering logic.

Actual code-monkey work is easy to find online on Fiverr, Rentacoder or Odesk.

thisisdallas
Someone else in the Texas panhandle knows about HN? Crazy. This place is stuck in 2001 technologically speaking. Anyway, Amarillo is pretty much exclusively .net but I'm sure you know that. I have seen one place that uses rails and that's it. Java is probably used in a couple of places too. If you are comfortable working with the .net stack I can give you some suggestions about local employers.
discohead
https://weworkremotely.com

http://workingnomads.co

https://www.wfh.io

http://www.remojobo.com

http://www.authenticjobs.com/#onlyremote=1

http://www.dice.com/job/results?caller=advanced&src=19&u=1&x...

http://ratracerebellion.com

vijaymv_in
thanks for the list
kull
[Warning! Self-promotional comment] www.area301.com - free web dev leads aggregator which filters jobs from many sources and tries to show you only those which are with your time
ASquare
Check out the companies of people that spoke at this conference: http://officeoptional.co/ They all belong distributed workforces by definition & encourage it. Their company websites should have info on job openings