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Dumebi Okolo
Dumebi Okolo

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Lack of fully remote jobs

Does it look like there's been a significant decrease in the number of fully remote jobs available?
Most jobs seem to be remote to a specific location these days.

Top comments (46)

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jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Edited

It's not you, at least in France and Germany but probably elsewhere, there is a huge backslash against full remote from the companies side while devs want it more than ever.
You can find remote job offers on remoteok.com and such but there are probably dozens and dozens of senior devs applying.
At the same time many companies spend lots of time and money trying to find senior devs because they don't allow full remote.
A pure lose lose situation

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Yeeaaahhhh. The idea of senior devs applying to almost all the jobs is a hearache on its own. I do understand why companies would do that though, but its no fair on us junior devs. :'(

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jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Edited

Actually it isn't obvious at all why companies are doing that.
Full remote advocates have plenty of good arguments why full remote work, done properly, training people how to do that, work pretty well and you get the best talents, not those that live near you.
But those arguments do not register.
Why?

An obscure reason is real estate :

A naive argument for full remote would be that you spend less money on office building, since the employee is working from home.

Not so fast !
What about companies that have huge existing buildings ? Even worse if it's a GAFAM with one of those campus so big that only them can use. They have long term lease on those buildings. If people don't come to the office, it doesn't save them any money. They still pay the same price for huge half empty buildings. Worse than that since less well paid jobs are coming to the office, the whole area near their office has a demand crisis. Therefore the local value of real estate goes way down. Therefore their own precious real estate takes a cut as well.

So it's counter intuitive but when you hear "Full remote doesn't work" from big companies, think real estate.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

This makes total sense, and I absolutely agree!

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sapegin profile image
Artem Sapegin

Or they want people to quit instead of firing them when they suddenly require everyone to go to the office.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

😂 This too.

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bogomil profile image
Bogomil Shopov - Бого

At some point. I was looking for a fully remote job, and I realized that some companies put the location in the description for legal reasons but were hiring for a remote position. I think it's worth connecting with the poster and asking them questions. I hope that helps.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

This! You're absolutely correct about this, and it is worth reaching out to the recruiter to find out.
Thanks a lot for sharing!

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jackynote profile image
Jacky

In my opinion, I believe that working remotely allows us to enjoy greater freedom with flexible hours, but it is only suitable for individuals who can proactively manage their work and have good time management skills. These qualities are just a few examples.

Personally, I prefer working in the office because it provides the opportunity to meet people, communicate face to face, and engage in more effective in-person discussions to collectively solve problems. It also helps in building corporate culture, fostering teamwork skills, and gaining a better understanding of the personalities of fellow team members.

Another advantageous approach, suitable for both proactive individuals and businesses, is hybrid working.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

My main reason for liking in-office work is the lunch (for companies that give free lunch/have canteens). 😅
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I try to find the bright side in everything.

Well, I still think remote work is valuable and gives the worker more time to actually work, than when you're in an office. In a remote work setting, you're able to better manage your affairs and finish projects.

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codenjobs profile image
codenjobs

You can find some at codenjobs.com/jobs

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Thank you for sharing!

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codenjobs profile image
codenjobs

You are welcome. You can sell your freelance services or share your blog posts as well on our website.

codenjobs.com/freelance

codenjobs.com/blog

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

I'm having issues signing up on the blog site.

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codenjobs profile image
codenjobs

Is this solved? Isn't this your account?

codenjobs.com/user/dumebi

Let me know if you have anything we can help.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Yes, that's it. But it wasn't letting me log in. Let me try again.

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codenjobs profile image
codenjobs

Ok, please notify if you need any help.

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juandadev profile image
Juanda Martínez

It actually is! at least here in Mexico, I've found it harder to find a fully remote job, most of them are hybrid in co-workings. I don't like this because I had to move out far from my hometown, where everything is expensive as hell, and now that I am unemployed, I can't get back to the cheaper life because I need to stay due to the lack of remote positions, and that gives me anxiety for the pressure to find something suitable until I ran out of money 🥹 but it seems that is the reality and maybe we need no accept it for now...

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

I'm so sorry about this!
I lost my job too, and finding a remote work has been challenging for me. I feel you truly.
We will make it. ❤️

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wraith profile image
Jake Lundberg

I’m seeing this a lot as well, at least here in the US, and especially with larger companies.

There are of course theories as to why…companies want more control over the people, managers want people in house so they can justify their jobs, or the whole real estate thing.

But regardless, fully remote jobs are definitely still out there. I see them a lot for smaller companies.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

I am having a difficult time finding them. 😢
Maybe I need to alter my search terms.

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wraith profile image
Jake Lundberg • Edited

Yeah a lot of the job boards will have a filter for company size. You might try that.

I also discovered this site called Y Combinator during my recent job hunt. I didn't use it much, so can't speak to how well it works, but it's dedicated to finding jobs for startups. Maybe you will have some luck with it!

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Yeah, I've seen some jobs at Y combinator. None successful though, but still worth the try.
Thank you for the tip!

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theaccordance profile image
Joe Mainwaring • Edited

Tech jobs as a whole are still recovering from all of the layoffs that have occurred this year, so there are fewer jobs available compared to this time a year ago.

As far as the distribution of remote vs. hybrid/in-office, I'm not noticing that trend in my area as I'm specifically looking to transition away from 100% remote to hybrid or in-office; of course my results may differ than yours depending on your geographic location.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Oh. 🤔 I didn't factor in the layoffs when I was thinking of this.

But is the impact of the layoffs that there are now more hands to hire, so jobs are filling up more quickly; or that companies are uninterested in hiring?

As for the remote work setting, I have noticed it a lot that most of the jobs I come across require you to be in a certain country/city before it can be remote.

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sapegin profile image
Artem Sapegin • Edited

I see the same from what I read (mostly about the US where it's worse than in Europe) and from my friends (most are now required to go to the office 2-3 days a week). At my work (in Germany) we're required to go to the office 3 days in every two weeks.

Personally, I'd be fine with work-from-home (unless the employer is in the US :-) but this isn't happening anymore either.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Hmmmm, so companies are now shifting towards more hybrid type jobs? That's interesting.
I used to think they did these location specific remote jobs because of payment issues and labour laws.

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sapegin profile image
Artem Sapegin

That's what I see now ;-) However, I think hybrid is a trick companies use to attract people with "almost" remote work but at any moment they could require (and probably will) people to come to the office every day. Hybrid still requires people to live near the office or at least in the same city.

I think it's partially true that laws and taxes are the reason for not hiring people remotely but I don't believe these issues are unsolvable if employers would consider this important for hiring and keeping existing employees which then don't, at least now, when the market is oversaturated with developers who were laid off from other places.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Yuuup. Definitely the over saturation. They don't feel the need to do more than the bare minimum to attract talent.

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pavelee profile image
Paweł Ciosek

I notice it as well, but I am on the other side of table.

I am working as team leader and don't want in my team full-remote devs. It's really hard for me to create good working team when we do not have face-2-face connection. Team need know each other to be well integrated.

Although, personally I recommend hybrid mode. Home office has benefits, but face-2-face connection is priceless.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Hmmmm. This is a first I'm hearing this and seeing it from this perspective.

I worked in a hybrid working arrangement, although I and some people stayed out of state, so it was fully remote for us.
We really integrated with ourselves and were able to work well with each other.

At a point, we stopped being hybrid and became almost fully remote even when the management noticed that the workspace wasn't being put into much use.

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Jacelyn Sia

While there has been a shift towards jobs being labeled as "remote to a specific location," it's important to note that many companies still offer fully remote positions. Staff augmentation companies play a crucial role in facilitating these opportunities. They connect candidates with remote work options and assist companies in hiring remote developers, ensuring a thriving remote job market despite the evolving terminology used in job listings.

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dumebii profile image
Dumebi Okolo

Interesting. Thank you for mentioning!