Ask HN: Really frustrated trying to get remote work, no luck

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8882122

by grover_hartmann • 12 years ago

18 24 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Those are all the responses I get after sending CV and github account:

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?

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

Why is it so damn hard to get a remote work? They all ask for relocation, etc. I need remote work. :(

Jeremy1026• 12 years ago

Because while you might be a good guy and hard worker. For every one of you there are 10 Joe Schmoes who roll out of bed at noon, eat a bowl of cereal while watching SportsCenter before taking a nap, do an hour of work then call it a day when working remotely.

I 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.

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

I even tried applying to jobs that are shown in https://weworkremotely.com/ and since they post there, one would think that they accept remote work, but no.

They all reply the same fucking thing: "Are you willing to relocate", "We are looking for onsite people now", etc.

So tired of this.

percept• 12 years ago

Are many there asking for relocation? I wonder if 37S is aware of that--after all, that was the whole point of shutting down their older board. (And the new one doesn't seem to have the same volume as the old.)

meesterdude• 12 years ago

if you find a post on weworkremotely and they say they are looking for someone to work out of their office or to relocate, please report it! Their posts should be removed.

phantom_oracle• 12 years ago

I think most of the responses are pretty self-explanatory.

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.

jacquesm• 12 years ago

Why do you post these companies emails to you like this?

That's probably a surefire way to get people to stop mailing you completely.

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

Sorry about that, I wouldn't think there would be a problem with that.

I agree I should have removed links and the like but I completely forgot it.

apawloski• 12 years ago

I lucked into a remote job. Applied thinking it was an in-office position..

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.

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

No, I haven't talked to many recruiters recently. Where do you find them usually?

artmageddon• 12 years ago

I've posted my resume on dice.com and LinkedIn. I still get phone calls and emails from recruiters regarding a resume I submitted several years ago, even today. I should mention that none of positions I got offered were for remote work, which is something I make sure to ask.

FYI you may want to redact the names of the companies you depicted in your original post.

playlist3• 12 years ago

Your approach sucks. Looks like your going around, hat in hand, looking for someone to give you a job. As if people owe you or something.

Look for ways to help people. If you got big bad skills, prove it. Make people come to you.

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

So when you go out and look for a job, do you also expect the job to come to you, or you go after the job?

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.

playlist3• 12 years ago

You are the specialist. Tell prospective employers how you'll solve their problems. Come at it from a position of strength.

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.

wnm• 12 years ago

keep trying, there are companies out there looking for remote software engineers. I wrote a script to collect remote job listings from various job boards... in the last 30 days there were more then 700 of them. sign up with http://remoteworknewsletter.com, we are launching soon.

sighype2• 12 years ago

I apply to everything as well, but don't land anything. However, historically, nothing I've gotten that's remote has come from job ad postings. I've always gotten remote work because I know somebody who knows somebody. However, the market's gotten tight in my field, so I'm in the same position you are again.

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. :-)

grover_hartmann9• 12 years ago

Damn, it didn't use to be this way back then (5 years ago or so). Why is that remote work went to shit?

sighype2• 12 years ago

Maybe whenever someone advertises remote, the pool of applicants is just huge and can't be sorted reasonably. I think the other commenters are right. Reach out to businesses and create the situation once you've established that you're a responsible, reliable programmer who can stick to development schedules.

dcgoss• 12 years ago

Have you tried any of the Who's Hiring HN threads? Command-F for "remote" once you're on the thread...

Ask HN: Really frustrated trying to get remote work, no luck

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