Remote – I want to hear from people working remotely

Question

coworking

Finally moved to work from home, albeit with a decrease in wages. I do not want to return to office slavery.
For the last month I've been browsing job sites, and you know, I'm disappointed.

There are views on my page, there are offers, I look at the pages of employers. I’m not ready to freelance yet, but working extra, for a salary, is another matter. I don't like to count how much I'll get for this or that, I need to know that during the month I'm dripping exactly that much, even if I recycle. Here is such a warehouse of character.

But this month, I came to the conclusion that finding a job remotely is unrealistic. And the most annoying thing is that when you complete test tasks, communicate with the secretary and send them out and you turn out to be unnecessary. Okay, when there is not enough knowledge, but when this girl (here, of course, I want to insert another word) does not notice the phrase “Work is only interested in remote work” in the process of communication, and as a result, you start to brainwash on the topic: “Come, we have a very cozy The office and dining room are amazing." What it is?

Several such cases per month. I have such a feeling that Muscovites are simply violet that you answer them there. Now I spent the day again, completed 11 tasks out of 13, 2 are simply absurd, I didn’t even waste time, and in the end it turned out that (I quote):

Hello, Vladimir.
We do not work remotely. All work in the office and all the questions that have arisen in the process of work are immediately resolved.

So what the hell was on me to come out and give assignments?

I repeat once again, I am not talking about those vacancies for which I am not pulling - I am aware of what vacancies I am applying for, and from the test tasks I can understand that I am not ready for this job. To get a back-breaking job and in 2 days to fail the task is not set.

Honestly, it's already boiling. The guys working remotely, can you share your experience - how did you leave the office, how did you look for a job, what to focus on? Where to look for companies that are really satisfied with remote developers?

Answer 1

Test tasks in general should always be performed with caution - so that they are simultaneously useful to you personally for your future portfolio. My statistics of the success of passing with test tasks over the past years is 5 - 20 percent, and (much) more often they were hired without asking to do test tasks. Those. it’s generally harmful to perform them if there is something to show instead of them or do something in an hour or two online or at a meeting. In rare cases (one out of 10) - when they do not even answer the test task.
On topic - it matters in what area you expect to get a remote job. The backend is generally more in demand for remote and piecework-remote (maybe not much), but in general, remote customers are poorer, if you look at Russia, so when looking for work, you need to proceed from the financial capabilities of companies (yes, don’t consider individuals, unless what to work for interest) and first find out if they already have remote workers. In the field of web programming, I got the impression that companies that are not afraid of remote work are 7-10% of the total, and the words “not afraid” should be understood as “already working” with remote employees. Only if they have experience with remote work, they will cooperate with you. Next comes the question of finance. Some companies consider (in Russia-CIS), that a remote worker receives 50-75% of office workers. Maybe they will find some, but be prepared for this, especially when it comes to piece work with a fixed budget. And there remains only a small part of the companies (well, 3 percent, if we estimate from all) that consider hourly work with a normal rate. However, piece work can be with a normal rate, if there is some kind of administration, but not for the realities of web development.
So, the search algorithm is a company already working remotely + hourly calculation. Perhaps among Western working groups such conditions are more common and the percentage found will be higher.

Answer 2

Odesk will help you, but there, hourly
remote work is usually always paid after the fact, I have not heard about a monthly fix for freelancers. This is justified by that. that the employer may vary the interest in the remote employee depending on the production needs.

Answer 3

As already advised above, you can try oDesk. The payment there is hourly, but you can work out your own schedule and receive exactly as much as you want every month (within the available, of course). You only need to look for long-term vacancies (quite often there are), then there will be no freelancing, in fact.
True, there is one drawback, the project can “suddenly” close. It was like this for me, ~ 1.5 years of cloudless work, which ended in one night :)

Answer 4

Apparently I will disappoint you a little, but it is very difficult to find a permanent remote job right off the bat. It's not even about your qualifications. Even when they take on a permanent job, and that is, there is a risk that the employee will turn out to be “none”, and in this case even more so. Usually you just need to work with regular customers, and if you show yourself well in a few months, then it’s quite possible to talk about permanent work (I speak from my own experience). In general, the specifics of freelancing and exchanges are when you urgently need to complete a one-time task. The point is to look for a remote worker (read unpredictable in terms of timing and anything) when you can find an employee in the office and have full control. his? So there is only one advice - work with everyone and after a while you will either have a permanent circle of customers,
Good luck to you anyway! All will be :)

Answer 5

All my life I have been working exclusively on full-time remote work (replaced 2-3 large companies), now I generally work with a European company (also remotely, unfortunately :) for some reason). There has always been complete mutual understanding and job satisfaction with employers. However, you need to understand that for remote work you need to be very self-organized. And yes, sometimes you have to recycle in some cases (however, this is also not uncommon in remote places). In general, I want to assure you that it is realistic to find such a job (although it is quite difficult) and it is even more pleasant to work with foreign companies. Personally, I can’t imagine “office slavery”, but for some reason freelancing doesn’t suit me either, so a full remote schedule is ideal for me. I think the number of recommendations (specifically on remote work) also play some role, so at first they may be treated with some distrust (although there is always a way to increase trust, for example, by software or something else). So I wish you success in your job search!

Answer 6

Intermittent income is a feature of freelancing. There is always work, it's just that all employers have different prices, and freelancers have different tastes and approaches. Someone is ready to take any orders and several hundred rubles each, and someone only from a certain amount and only interesting ones.
I don’t know where you looked, but on freelance.ru and free-lancing.ru, vacancies for remote work appear every day, several at least, or even five to ten. From juniors to team leads, there are even job contests.
You also need a portfolio, and you can’t get promoted on freelance in a month. Here on Habré there were several articles about freelancing.

Answer 7

We go to hantim ru, freelancim ru, free-lance ru. We drive in the search for the words "removed" or "requires". We see a lot of different vacancies specifically for remote work.

Answer 8

Look, I often come across vacancies 100% deleted, from the same phpclasses.org. I myself have been working remotely for more than 3 years, and we are constantly looking for talents. www.firstbeatmedia.com/jobs/view/0

Answer 9

Yes, on ordinary sites with vacancies, of which there are a cloud, something constantly appears. Freelance exchanges also sometimes have similar ads. At first he worked remotely on an hourly basis, now the monthly rate

Answer 10

Just go to odesk
pumainthailand.com/category/rabota-2/
Don't count how much you earn for this or that, just earn a hell of a lot and live in peace.
Well, it would be nice to indicate your specialty, I don’t think that an intelligent programmer can have such problems in a city like Moscow, where there is a terrible shortage of personnel and exorbitant salaries.
And of course, it would be nice to indicate how much you expect to see in your month.

Answer 11

I have been working remotely with different customers since I was 11 years old, java/js/c++
* it is difficult to find a good remote worker with a good customer, in my experience you need to look for 3-4 months
* I consistently earn about 2.5K $ per month + -500
* to find at least some remote work is possible quite quickly and the number of offers is growing
* it happens that they throw money for money, I have a record of $ 4K, but before that I earned much more from them
* opened an IP, steamed for about a week, my brain exploded, but I did everything, I recommend the system Elba from Kontur, it is still poorly promoted, but cheap and good
* I tend to think that there is no need to do long test tasks, especially if they are transmitted by HR when you cannot ask questions
* the process of finding a remote job should be perceived as searching for a diamond in the sawdust - a completely random process, you need to look for a very long time, but if you find a good job, you will be much more satisfied than in the office
* Dangerous mode slipping in the dark
* I can’t imagine after remote work to yourself office work, when strangers look at your computer and sometimes you need to live together with unpleasant colleagues
* be sure to have an emergency supply of money for half a year / year! this is very important in remote work
* a lot of people cheat when doing test tasks, does it make sense to be honest?
* without English anywhere!

Answer 12

I think if you look among Russian companies, but at first you can work a little in the office, talking about your plans for remote work, and then the boss, perhaps, will brighten up, put up a bike rack and understand that remotely you will cope with the work just as well. It's better to come to the office right away with your computer and a cup) The most promising place for such plans is start-ups, and not big stiff companies with inflexible bureaucracy. Well, that is, to look for work in an interesting startup, as if in passing wondering if they are against remote work. Do not proudly carry the idea of ​​​​remote work ahead of the work itself. Well, do not do test tasks to anyone hitting)

Answer 13

I work as a .NET programmer remotely at Toptal . We all work remotely. Here is my post Toptal remote work for programmers on the Payoneer blog. There I described in detail who is suitable, and who is not. There will be some questions - contact us .

Answer 14

In remote work, in addition to the ability to perform this or that job, you need to be able to properly offer yourself and find an employer!
I started my transition to remote work with training. There they taught how to find a job on the Internet, gave advice on how to put pressure on the employer on the right points so that he would become interested in you, and not let him pass by his ears in the bustle of work. This saved me a lot of time for self-realization in freelancing.
I could not believe at times that those methods could work, but whoever just took it and did it worked for everyone!
That's what we were told in the courses, don't waste your time judging these methods, but spend them doing them. Their effectiveness has been tested by time and practice, so just trust.
There will be questions, I will be happy to answer https://vk.com/bondar_evgenii_aleksandrovich