Remote work is a double edged sword. If an American can do it from a cheaper place and a bigger home, the job will stay like that for a very short time before being shipped to Canada or Colombia for 1/3rd to 1/5th the cost. Why? Because execs and big shareholders always want greater returns for themselves and beyond a tiny fraction of truly high-skilled jobs, most of the jobs are pretty run-of-the-mill simple ones without many barriers.

I am seeing that play out first-hand at my workplace. During COVID, we went fully remote due to shutdowns. Then the leadership embraced it fully. Then all the systems were set up to onboard anyone working from anywhere smoothly. Phase two was multiple rounds of laying off American workforce over the last 12 months. And now phase three has started where all the engineering headcount is abroad (India, Eastern Europe, Latin America) in the name of cost cutting.

Please excuse my strong language but the American engineers clamoring for remote work are short-sighted idiots who are killing the goose laying golden eggs. Great for developers in the third world countries though.