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Comment by germainelol | Hacker News Reader

What kind of experience have the people here had when applying for remote positions? Did you guys find it difficult to get a remote job (that you enjoy!)?

When I was last looking for a job, I applied to several remote positions in the hope I might get one but was unsuccessful in all of them. In general, I found it a lot more difficult compared to the local companies I spoke with. I don't think it's anything to do with my experience, but I suppose you are competing with the world rather than your local area.

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The supply is much more limited for remote jobs so the pool is even smaller and the entry is higher.

Zapier goes over their hiring process (https://zapier.com/jobs/our-commitment-to-applicants/). It lines up with what I've experienced in that technical assessment is valued to the company, but more than anything they value ones ability to communicate and articulate in the interviews. So much of working remotely is trust and that is pulled out in different ways during the interviews.

It's more difficult than finding local jobs. Supply/demand does not work in your favor.

Edit: Besides many companies look for previous remote experience. So it's hard to get a remote position without having had a previous remote position.

You are right that getting a remote job is probably more difficult than finding a local one. OTH the existence of remote jobs market definitely works in your favour in some situations because you simply have more choices.

Fo example, I am a machine learning scientist / engineer currently based in Prague. The ability that I would be able to easily find a remote job definitely increases my negotiation power which would other way be quite limited in Prague because there are not as many great local options in my field here.

You're right. As an individual looking for a remote job you also have many more options than if you focused in local jobs. And I would definitely recommend anybody not living in a major tech hub to get a remote job.

> It's more difficult than finding local jobs. Supply/demand does not work in your favor.

Don't both depend entirely on where you're based?

I guess... Assuming relocation for a local job is not possible.

This was definitely a big thing I noticed when looking around. A lot of places thought I might be suitable from a technical perspective, but that I lacked remote working experience. I've worked in places where it's common to have colleagues working in different countries for extended periods but never in a fully remote environment.

I do wonder how people get their foot in the door with a good remote company. Did you just get lucky when you were first hired? Did your communication skills have to shine a lot for them to hire you?

My first remote job was for a company I had been working onsite for a few months that also had a small amount of people working remotely. I didn't join the company with the intention of going remote, but at some point I decided I wanted to work remotely so I just asked.

After that I joined Toptal and got a couple of projects through them.

IMO Toptal is not a bad choice to get started in remote work, although long term it's better if you find your own work.

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