Ask HN: What is the best way to find remote full time work?

Are there any tools that make the search easier?

80 points | by afro88 1962 days ago

13 comments

  • pieterhg 1961 days ago
    I make a site called https://remoteok.io where I collect most new remote jobs from traditional job boards, as well as have fully-remote companies post directly.

    You can also set up email alerts on there to get notified first when a new remote job appears in your specific niche (like DevOps).

    Hope it helps and let me know if you have feedback.

    • whydoineedthis 1961 days ago
      I like the site, but It keeps crashing the chrome browser on Android unfortunately.
  • arvigeus 1961 days ago
    As they say: "Looking for a job should be a full time job", or in other words: put your full time and effort in it. When not applying for job - study. When you are applying - do your research about every company you send your mail to. That way even with shittiest tools you can have success. Good luck!
    • sdegutis 1961 days ago
      Yep that's the approach I took when I started my job search a year ago. Took notes on every potential employer, managed my interview schedule very carefully, made sure always to have my phone with me. It worked very well and within 6 months I got like 20-30 really good paying jobs at reputable and respectable companies, and several of them were remote (or mostly remote) positions. So it's doable if you make a point of it.
  • davidscolgan 1952 days ago
    The best jobs come when you have an in. Someone refers you, someone you know is a manager inside, etc.

    You get ins by building your network. Meet people, talk to them, make what you do public. This can be easier in a big city.

    But, if you aren't in a big city, one strategy: find a Slack channel for a big city nearish to you and hang out in there. Get to know people. Demonstrate competence.

    The Chicago Tech Slack is a great example of a place that would be great for this.

    Jobs are posted all the time in there. There's a guy in there who does job placement services and I got added to his rolodex just by existing inside of the Slack.

    Another option: participate in Hacker News. I got one job by saying "Yeah I spent a year traveling and doing remote Django work." To which someone responded "Are you still interested in doing remote Django work? I need someone."

    Finding work is "all luck", but increasing your "luck surface area" by exposing yourself to more serendipitous events can systematize that "all luck".

  • yatsyk 1962 days ago
    This repo https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job contains plenty of resources
  • dyeje 1961 days ago
    The easiest way is to have an office job and slowly switch to remote. Once you have remote experience, it's much easier to get a fully remote position from a job board or connections.
    • strikelaserclaw 1961 days ago
      i second this approach, get an office job, prove yourself to be valuable, request remote, I've done this successfully twice.
  • darkseid 1962 days ago
    I send out a newsletter every 2 weeks with a hand curated list of remote jobs which I think are interesting - https://remotejobsclub.com

    You could also look at the popular job aggregators like remoteok, weworkremotely... etc

    • wingerlang 1961 days ago
      How is the conversion on the leave-site popup?
      • darkseid 1959 days ago
        To be honest, I have no idea. I should really add some tracking, but haven't got around to it yet!
  • blegit 1962 days ago
    I find remote work by simply demanding it, but be willing to do office visits if needed. If the hiring manager likes you, they’ll come around. Also I find not budging on rate because of working remotely is a better look. Don’t be desperate. Be Patient.
  • ainiriand 1962 days ago
    I had luck in the past being a solid member of a dev team and asking for more remote time. Finding good devs is really hard and a remote one is better than a new one.
    • toomuchtodo 1961 days ago
      This is great advice. If you're in demand, it's usually straightforward to turn an in-person job into a remote job.
  • s992 1961 days ago
    I found my current job (remote, full time) on https://weworkremotely.com/. It's been a little over two years so I'm not sure how the site is now, but at the time it seemed pretty decent. Maybe a little low traffic compared to non-remote boards, but I think that's to be expected.
  • jumbopapa 1961 days ago
    Is working remotely something you put on your resume? I am currently a remote intern for a company that would be a Fortune 500 if it did not domesticate to Switzerland. I am graduating in next month and will move into an office based full-time position, but remote work does sound great. Is it in the realm of possibility for a new graduate?
  • acconrad 1961 days ago
    I keep a list of 50+ sites that focus on remote-first (or remote-only) jobs:

    https://userinterfacing.com/here-is-the-full-list-of-my-50-r...

  • unnouinceput 1959 days ago
    upwork.com - I am a remote developer for over a decade now, started working remote when was still odesk.com in Dec 2007. Best decision ever, I have my own hours, bid on what interests me, get to have time with kids all day.
  • saluki 1962 days ago
    Like most jobs it's who you know, start asking around/working in your network.