Ask HN: Really frustrated trying to get remote work, no luck
Sorry not looking for rails devs
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Are you willing to relocate?
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Hey, thanks for your application. The current position requires being on-site in Amsterdam. I’ll keep your profile for possible future opportunities.
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Hi,
Thank you for your interest in our company. I am sorry to say that we currently do not have remote positions available for our IT department. If you are ready to consider full time roles in Amsterdam, you can take a look at all available positions on our careers page: https://workingatbooking.com/
Best regards, Recruitment Team
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Hi,
Thank you for applying to Sauce Labs! At this time, we are moving forward with a couple candidates whose experience is a better fit to our current hiring needs. We will keep your resume on file and will reach out if anything else opens up that fits your experience.
We appreciate your interest in Sauce and encourage you to reach out again in the future. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
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Hey,
Unfortunately we are looking for full time positions only at this time. Thanks so much for reaching out to us!
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Thank you for your interest. We are looking for a rails developer who is willing to relocate to Myrtle Beach, SC and take on the role of lead developer for a composite of salary and equity for a funded startup. Any interest in that?
25 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 60.2 ms ] threadI find its much easier to transition to remote than it is to get hired remote. Prove you get shit done in the office, then start to transition to remote, one or two days a week at first, until you are in the office once a month for that big client meeting.
They all reply the same fucking thing: "Are you willing to relocate", "We are looking for onsite people now", etc.
So tired of this.
For every position where it wasn't remote, did their job ads say remote? If not, there's nothing you can do about it.
The competition for remote positions is fierce, which is something I've mentioned before.
You seem like a talented guy if they got to the point of offering you relocation and you've also been offered senior positions, so perhaps your initial remote-work should be freelancing for mid-level projects at a decent rate (how about starting at $25-$30 dollars or something along those lines?).
If I had to run a survey asking remote applicants how many times they've applied for multiple positions, the answer (on average) will be like +10.
Take up freelancing or start your own remote agency. If you can't be the worker, be the boss.
That's probably a surefire way to get people to stop mailing you completely.
I agree I should have removed links and the like but I completely forgot it.
Anyway, have you talked to recruiters? As much hate as they get on here, they can be very useful. A great recruiter will know your needs as well as the company's, and can give you an idea of a position's flexibility. In my opinion it doesn't hurt to reach out. Worst case scenario, you end up with some extra emails in your inbox every week.
FYI you may want to redact the names of the companies you depicted in your original post.
Look for ways to help people. If you got big bad skills, prove it. Make people come to you.
Nobody will give you a job on a silver platter.
Contributing to open source is one thing, looking for a job is another one.
Thanks for the advice though.
In other words, use intent as a big magnet to draw people in. Intent is the most powerful word in marketing, and that's what you're doing. Find a way to make firms come to you, hat in hand.
Even if you do spend the time and impress someone. All you get is a standard job offer. They don't make the effort to impress you. So then, why go through the hassle? Why waste a day to make your case when you can easily send 20 resumes and get a higher probability of success?
You're probably on the hiring side. This would explain your skewed and entitled perspective. Getting a job these days is just a numbers game. Doesn't matter how skilled you are. You're either extremely sociable with a large network of people that can get you a job. Or you're spamming job adverts until something sticks. Meanwhile, employers want to be impressed. And can't figure out why skilled people don't come running to their shitty jobs with shitty pay.
It's much harder for me, also. I'm a C++/obj-C/C/R/python/ruby guy who only dabbles in web technology. I try to pitch web people on letting me learn, even at a short-term discount, and that doesn't work either. I thought putting out some iOS work would improve my remote-ability, but no go.
Funny thing is, before reading this post, I would've guessed Rails people had it much better than me. :-)