1

Anybody have any ideas or success with this? I am interested in trying to find some remote work, preferably full time. My area of expertise is a cross between systems administration and data analytics.

It seems that it’s sort of a crap shoot though; It seems that if you’ve got a telecommute job, it’s out of luck and not very common. I like my job, I just don’t like commuting… Want to throw up every time I get in my car. Sick of driving. haha

6 Spice ups
2

Do you live in a city where commuting is just that terrible? I live in a smaller sized city in the upper Midwest so my commute is 5 minutes. I am keeping an eye on this topic because I am interested as well.

I have only ever saw two types of remote jobs and those were low paying or due to an employee injury.

3

Good luck, seems super tough, sign me up when you find something.

4

We’re all looking for that.

2 Spice ups
5

Have you looked into alternatives?

  • carpool
  • bicycle
  • motorcycle
  • public transport
  • negotiate instead of full-time home maybe one or two additional days you can work from home

etc.

EDIT:

  • moving closer?
  • looking for a new job that’s closer?
6

The problem with finding full time remote work is you are competing with a ton more people.

The bar is set pretty high.

7

Most remote jobs are also a per job/contract. They want your expertise temporarily for a project and then the in house talent can handle the rest.

8

Only real way is to search for them. Most either don’t pay very well or they have a very high standard of candidate they’re looking for. Being that the candidate can be anywhere, you also end up with a lot more competition for that single position.

1 Spice up
9

I’m with you. Two hours in my car does not seem like a good use of my time or earth’s resources. I’m looking for remote work, or failing that, something closer to home, or at least with public transport available.

1 Spice up
10

I live in upstate New York. For a large variety of family reasons, we cannot move. I live in a rural area where the closest true city is 60 miles away.

11

The only thing I would recommend is to bite the bullet, find a job where the ODDS of being able to remote work are high, and commute/move to that one. Put up with it for a year or so, and THEN push for them to make you full-time remote if the position will allow for it.

12

You all might hate on me… I’m living that job now. Gotta say, it’s nice!

13

Yes.

There’s plenty of it.

There are plenty of remote operations jobs out there but have you thought of leaving hands on IT?

Field SE’s for vendors tend to not work from an office. I was mucking houses today with some who all work from home.

My job was listed as “must live in Palo Alto” (I’ve also seen similar jobs as requiring to lives in staines or other silly places) but if you asked quietly it was work from home.

Note, a LOT of work from home jobs involve MORE travel than a commute. Why not just stop driving.

  1. take a bus.

  2. Move close to the office (I moved 3 minutes from one job to solve this problem so I could walk).

  3. Pay Uber or a professional driver. (Very common if working in places like Bangkok, or Manilla).

In my case, I didn’t “find my job” It found me. I established myself as a top subject matter expert on something and the companies Chief Technologist reached out to me on twitter asking if I wanted a job. I put in work on blogs, podcasts, videos, conference speaking gigs and other things to get myself out there. Even though I work remote I travel quite a bit (I might break 100 nights with Marriot this year). I don’t drive much (~1500 miles a year), but I uber to the airport then fly everywhere. This year I’ve been to… Manilla, KL, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Seoul, London, Barcelona, Mexico, Indonesia, and Vegas and the bay area more days than I can count. Travel isn’t bad as long as you mix it up on where you go.

14

Exactly.

I have seen a few people who get this kind of role, but dont last long. You become disconnected from the company and its difficult to prove your worth when you are just a voice that no one really sees, even with the best technology that could integrate you with the company such as video tech etc.

15

Most of my company has thousands of remote employees (note, we have 20K employee’s).so I’m going to disagree.

  1. Have the right tools (my team LIVES on slack all day). We also have standing team meetings.

  2. Have team offsite (we meet up as a team for the purposes of teambuilding, and planning once a year, on top of seeing each other ~4-5 times a year or more at events conferences, or trainings).

  3. We can integrate with the wider company using internal tools (Beyond slack, we haveSsocialcast a sort of internal facebook) as well as other ways to interface with the rest of the company. We also will fly out for important meetings. Working from home doesn’t mean you NEVER leave your house (I may hit 100 nights in a Marriot this year).

  4. Do non-work things with people at your company. When SE’s are in town I’ll grab beers with them. Today 200 people from my company showed up in Houston to help Muck houses out that had been flooded. I volunteered with them.

Some things to make sure.

  1. Your boss and everyone on your immediate team is remote.

  2. Your company has a culture of remote employees and has tools.

  3. You get out and meet people in person every once in a while.

  4. You are not an anti-social person. Work from home works best if you are a highly social person because then you will make sure you stay involved.

16

Why not do a travel job. Still “live” there but be a field SE who covers the state or something. Fly out for the day and fly home?

17

This is true on my team. We considered someone in Perth Australia (as far as possible you can get from me and be in civilization). Our newest team member is on a different continent as we needed his skills and didn’t care where he was.

Teams that mandate the candidate be in Silicon valley either need to pay a large premium or just accept what they can find.

18

Why don’t you just move?

I’ve had 7 addressing in Houston (in 10 years) because of this (last 3 haven’t moved as I now work from home). It’s far cheaper to rent and live near work than burn tons of money on a car that you burn through the miles on quickly, and the quality of life is way better.

Home ownership (and not being willing to sell/move) seems to be the real problem most people complain about. Short of being legally barred from moving (Parole, or divorce decree) I just don’t get why people cripple their careers by staying in one place. I like my family, but if they were going to cripple my salary by 75% (what it would be for me to have to find local work near my parents) I’d either move them or hire someone to take care of them.

19

Some companies are known for having more remote jobs than others. Make a list of them and check their postings regularly. Even better, reach out to HR directly. You might have to be flexible as to your job role. Keep in mind, many of those jobs require some travel as I’ve noticed.

As to how exactly land one of those jobs once you find it? Beats me. I tried many times. Lots of competition. I guess, you just have to wait for luck to swing your way. Keep trying. Nothing will happen if you sit on your hands and don’t try.

20

I think this is the wrong focus. You are talking about trying to find the job, and not knowing how to “get it”.

Focus instead on…

  1. Being Awesome at something. Find something you can become an expert in.

  2. Helping others with that thing you are good at.

Are you going to be the master of all things VMware? No. Could you be recognized as one of the best subject matter expert on using Photon, Admiral, and Keyhole with a little bit of lab time and blogging? Sure. If/When there is a headcount for a TMM to cover Keyhole the guy who’s got 20 blogs on it would be the first one in line for that job (likely actively called upon, not having to apply).

www.yellow-bricks.com/2015/02/24/how-do-i-get-to-the-next-level/

and

www.yellow-bricks.com/2016/05/26/get-next-level-part-2

are great reading on this topic.