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Comment by untog | Hacker News Reader

IMO the really big news here is where he'll be working for Etsy- which is to say remotely, on an island in British Columbia. A stunningly beautiful part of the world, and a really interesting outlook on working in the 21st century- a startup hub this is not. Everyone should read the end of his post where he discusses his reasons and plans for Galiano Island.

I'll be interested to see how working remotely like this works out for both him and Etsy, because I wouldn't mind spending a little more time in the Gulf Islands myself one day...

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"like Etsy sellers, who are empowered by the internet to run their businesses from anywhere, I’ll be working remotely, with only occasional trips to Etsy’s New York office. Not only that, but the default assumption for those on my team is that they, too, will be working from anywhere in the world."

The bad news is that this attitude isn't very common yet among employers. The good news is that it is getting better all the time. I live in far away (wrt SF) Bangalore and just turned down a remote job offer from a great startup in SF. (nothing wrong with the job, I just didn't have the time).

I think it'll come with time. Startups are disproportionately staffed by young people who actively seek living in city hubs- I know I'm one of them. But as that population ages, priorities will change (having a family, etc.)- I'd like to believe that the industry can shape itself around the wishes of those who create it. We'll see.

Etsy has always had remote working coders and they've always been aggressive about hiring talent. Their CEO is a genius at doing this, which is a great trait for a tech leader.

Agreed. As a soon to be college grad in CS, I've resigned myself to the spiky world theory and the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in the tech hubs of SF, NYC, and maybe Boston. It's good to see someone is able to hack from an island.

I've been to Galiano a few times, and from what the locals tell me, the internet connections there are pretty crappy. It's fine at the resort inn next to the ferry terminal, though.

At Hybridgroup (http://www.hybridgroup.com) we cater to that exact working environment where anyone can work from anywhere (For the most part. Timezone seems to be an issue so we stick to the Americas/Can for now +3/-3. You still have to treat it like an office.).

It's a new age. The workplace of the future is everywhere.

Galiano isn't that remote. It's less than an hour from Vancouver International Airport by floatplane, or a couple hours from downtown Vancouver by the (2+ times daily) ferry.

It is beautiful though, and I envy him. I have a place on Salt Spring Island (right next to Galiano) and I don't spend nearly enough time there

By my standards, that's pretty remote. I used to live in Victoria and even that was cut off enough at times.

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