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The Realistic Guide to Remote Work

Steph Smith on January 20, 2019

This was originally published on my blog, where I often write about remote work, learning to code, and women in tech. Remote Work β†— It'...
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Corey Cleary

I'm glad you pointed out something that many people seem to forget when looking for remote jobs - not all remote jobs are created equal. It's easy to put on rose-colored glasses, thinking remote jobs are the key to happiness, but just because a job is remote does not mean it will be a good company/culture.

I've interviewed for several remote jobs that I found out were 70hr/week jobs or had bad culture, bad managers, etc. Which pretty much did away with the main advantage of working remotely.

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Steph Smith

Yes, exactly! I love the way you put it: "not all remote jobs are created equal".

I think it's so important that people (whether looking for remote jobs or not) vet the position and company. Since people think the remote lifestyle is glamorous, they are especially likely to skip the vetting step, when in reality I think this actually matters more for remote work.

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Jack Harner πŸš€

Great writeup! I'm currently looking to get a remote web dev job. My biggest challenge seems to be a disconnect between what I know (WordPress/PHP/HTML/CSS/etc.) and what I've seen for most "Front End Developer" positions (React/Angular/Vue). I'm in the process of learning React, but I don't really know how to convey "I know a lot of web dev stuff that will help in this position, but not exactly the tech stack that's in the requirements, however I'd sure as shit figure it out if you hired me"

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Steph Smith

Thank you! Yes, being hired as a developer is difficult and unfortunately, I don't have much advice here. I also know how to code but don't have the "chops" to be hired yet so am personally building my own projects while working in marketing. I agree that sometimes the requirements of developer jobs are at times too focused on specifics instead of the ability of the developer to solve problems.

What I have heard that has worked for some is to build something that is relevant to the company you want to work for. I've seen a couple stories of this happening and the developer getting hired by that company because they were so impressed.

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Ben Halpern

This is fabulous. Bookmarked for repeat reads.

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Steph Smith

Wow, thank you Ben! Means a lot coming from you!

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Dani J. PΓ©rez

Is there any way to filter only those with that require?

Thank you! :D

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Boris Borisov

For those of you looking to work remotely...

Definitely check out πŸš€ RemoteMore:
πŸ‘‰ join.remotemore.com/devto πŸ‘ˆ

It is a marketplace for full-time/part-time remote jobs.
With over 300 remote companies hiring through it.

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Julia Moskaliuk

The best detailed guide I've ever read about remote work. Sometimes I think about what challenges as a remote worker are waiting for me in the nearest future. Thnks God I found a post about it, I hope it can be useful not only for me :) I strongly recommend it to read, guys blog.tmetric.com/remote-jobs-3-tre...

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Steph Smith

Yes 100% agree with the test projects! No better way to prove your abilities than doing something instead of "selling yourself"

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Sergi Mateo

Hi Steph!
Awesome article, I enjoyed the read so much :)
You can also find remote jobs from top companies at workew.com
All the best.

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Steph Smith

Thanks Sergi!

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Steph Smith

That's awesome. I want to do a poll and see how many nomads are!

 
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Steph Smith

Yes, I did something similar when I was searching a few years ago. Set aside a period of time a few times a week to look through the best job boards.

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Boris Borisov

There's an easier way to find a remote developer job -
join.remotemore.com/devto