Comment by onion2k | Hacker News Reader

Comment by onion2k | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

As a remote worker who plans on buying a home and putting down roots in the small, middle-of-nowhere town I live in, no way in hell that I'd accept a job offer from a company that dangles RTO over my head like this.

Amazon refusing to make a firm commitment doesn't mean you shouldn't work for them if you want a remote role. It means you should see that role as just one job in a long career that will contain many jobs. If Amazon decide they want everyone back in the office and you want to carry on working remotely, then you quit and find a new remote role.

Literally any company might decide that they'd like everyone back in the office, and make moves to make it happen, no matter what they might promise today. Your current employer could announce "Yeah, we know we promised, but things have changed so now we're unpromising." A promise from your employer means very little.

My career advice to anyone looking for a job is to find what you need now and to be prepared to find a new role when your needs change. The same is true if your needs remain the same and the company changes around you.

Good point.

But I don't think it's a good idea to build a career on shifting sands -- if you know that you want to work remotely, it would be silly to accept a job at Amazon when you know they could force you back into the office at any time and you can't do that. If the job market significantly cools, or you like your current project and coworkers, it would be a shame to go through another hiring process because of an external decision like that.

If they make a great offer, and you're really excited about the opportunity, though... could be worthwhile. Just another factor to consider in the process.

And that all-remote startup could run into headwinds and run out of funding.

There are larger companies that almost certainly have a longer history of being more remote-friendly than most, if not all, of the West Coast companies. But there are no guarantees anywhere.

I agree with both of you. One can always get a job from somewhere if there are interested and leave if the expectations are not there anymore. And on the other hand, better join somewhere you have more trust that the expectations will be met in the long term.

I'm currently remotely working for a company where the remote part of my hire was a sine qua none condition. Everybody knows this. We are several people for whom coming to the "back" to office (to the extends that coming to the office always was exceptional) is not practical. During onboarding, we are told that the company will help you and find accommodations if you move to another country (though if we can choose a country where there already are people working for the company it would be better). The company has been already, de facto, split in two countries (in which there are offices). The company recently bought a smaller office because people didn't come as often / as many. The company actually could not handle everybody coming to the office at the same time anymore. At this point, a "everybody in the office from now one" would be highly unexpected.

Someone mentioned contracts, indeed my home is one of the two places where I can work from. And actually they don't care, I could work from anywhere as long as I'm reachable and I can work in good conditions as long as they are concerned. Of course, if I hurt myself and I'm not at one of the two places, that would be on me, insurance-wise.

I'm on a contract for working in an office. I was employed to do that, signed up to it. I am offered some remote working capacity, during Covid it was 100%! But whatever I get is not my primary working condition.

If you intend to do a 100% remote job as a life plan, don't take a job that isn't contractually 100% remote.

I feel like we're in a weird place wrt WFH policies atm.

I’ve worked professionally as a software developer since 1996. I was a hobbyist for 10 years before that. The sands are always shifting. My “stability” comes from.

- an always updated resume

- an always updated career documented

- keeping my skills in sync with the market

- keeping a strong network

- having sufficient savings

>A promise from your employer means very little.

This is true, and I think actions speak louder than words in this case. If you see your company not renewing lease, or growing without expanding office space, I think you can take that as a good indicator they won't change tack so hastily.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com