
Ask HN: How to get a first remote job - sathishmanohar
I&#x27;ve been freelancing on front end and fairly basic backend web projects for a decade and now I have a full time job as a web developer. How do I get the first remote job, Since many companies who offer a remote job require few years of remote work experience.
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brudgers
Reading your question, I was reminded of this post by Spolsky,
[https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/06/finding-great-
deve...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/06/finding-great-
developers-2/) I suspect that job listings for remote positions increase the
volume of applications and in particular the volume of low quality
applications.

I'm not suggesting that your applications are low quality. I think that
requiring a few years of previous remote working experience provides a filter
which removes low quality applications in bulk and that removing some good
applications is a price worth paying from the hiring side of the market.

My suspicion is that most people who work remote either gain experience when
working in companies traditionally oriented toward face to face offices as
such companies expand to incorporate remote work. Of the remainder, I suspect
people get remote jobs by knowing someone who knows about the job (in that way
it is like any other job).

Maybe one way to get experience working remotely is to talk to your current
employer. Perhaps it could be pitched as "a technology the company should look
at" rather than "I want to work remotely". Also consider pitching one day a
week rather than full time remote work.

The reason for starting out one day a week is that remote work is not for
everyone. There's a lot that is missing that is not obvious until the remote
worker is working next to dirty dishes in the sink instead of coworkers.

Good luck.

