
Ask HN: What do you look for in a remote developer? - daryllxd
I&#x27;ll be applying for jobs soon. I&#x27;m a Rails dev with 4 years exp, currently learning Elixir. I&#x27;ve just created a blog for my future employer and potentially future clients, gotten testimonials from my previous clients, reading interview questions, anything else that I can do to improve my chances&#x2F;add value to the company I&#x27;ll be joining?
======
DoofusOfDeath
My background: Worked many years in offices, and the last ~4 years remote.

Understand that companies hiring remote developers, especially for the first
time, might not be aware of things _they_ need to do for success. These
include:

(1) The manager needs to be above-standard.

(2) They need to be ready to treat communications challenges as first-order,
high-priority problems.

(3) They need someone onsite who will advocate for you, particularly w.r.t.
challenges that are specific to you working remotely.

(4) They need to understand the challenges posed by distributed teams,
particularly if the team isn't _entirely_ remote.

As far as what _you_ can do, I'd suggest:

(1) Learn everything you can about the challenges of being a remote employee.

(2) Address those challenges as best you can at your end.

(3) Be ready to educate your employer about those challenges as well.

(4) Recognize that the employer just might be incapable of properly handling a
remote employee. I'd suggest screening employers carefully if possible, and be
prepared to move on to another job if they're not able to do what they need to
do to make remote work.

~~~
lostcolony
You mention it, but I want to harp on it -

There is a huge, huge difference between being a remote employee on a mostly
colocated team, and a fully distributed team.

I would NOT take a job that had me be remote to a colocated team, unless you
have experience doing that, and the team in question has experience with
remote members already.

Transitioning from an onsite to a remote role on the same team is different,
as you already have carved out what expectations you have with your team, and
going remote doesn't change those. But starting out like that makes it so only
-you- have the communication difficulties. That conversation that changed all
the priorities this sprint that happened in a hallway? You missed it. No one
thought to tell you. Etc. That sort of thing -happens-, and it's very hard to
solve.

A fully remote team, however, hard as it may be, at least doesn't suffer from
that. Everyone -has- to be cognizant of who is involved in a conversation;
every conversation requires a bit of effort, be it on Slack, email, the phone,
video conferencing, etc. That little extra effort that is required for any
conversation ensures all the relevant parties get looped in (unlike a
conversation at someone's desk or in the hallway).

That's huge.

So, if you haven't worked remotely before, look for a fully remote team, or
look to transition from a colocated job to a remote one. I would seriously
consider staying clear of being a remote employee on a colocated team.

~~~
chasd00
"I would NOT take a job that had me be remote to a colocated team, unless you
have experience doing that, and the team in question has experience with
remote members already."

yes! That is very good point and can't be overstated. Being the only remote
worker on an otherwise face-to-face team takes an almost peerless manager and
team. Even if it starts off well i've seen it devolve to where the remote team
member is left out of all discussion and becomes just a place to park tasks.

~~~
longerthoughts
As somebody doing this now I am absolutely out of the loop on certain
discussions but while it's often challenging, it can actually be helpful in
certain cases. Many of my teammates end up being roped into meetings and ad-
hoc tasks as backup but ultimately provide little or no input and just waste
their time. Meanwhile, I'm protected from a lot of the distracting, low-value
work and am left to focus on things I'm leading and anything important enough
to be communicated to the group as a broadcast or call to action.
Additionally, my group has become so accustomed to working in a way that
accommodates remote work that the colocated team members have started working
from home more often, encouraging further adjustment to support remote work.
That being said, I don't think my arrangement would have been successful
without having my manager and a couple of colleagues acting as my advocates on
the ground.

~~~
paulryanrogers
Good management will also avoid including people unnecessarily and encourage a
culture where people can depart when it's obvious they're not needed. I tried
making an early exit from meetings more acceptable with humor. But ultimately
everyone has to buy into the idea.

------
Zyst
I’ll be 100% honest even though it might not be applicable for you:

One of the most valuable things I look for is someone who has _already_ worked
remotely.

From my personal point of view not everyone is suited to doing remote work.

* Some people cannot work up the motivation to get stuff done when the bar for others realizing they are slacking off is a lot higher.

* Some people realize they miss the meatspace interaction and decide to quit after three months which you mostly spent ramping them up, so not quite their full potential.

* And some others realize they cannot really focus at home for a plethora of reasons.

Anyway, hiring someone with no remote experience always feels like a risk.
Perhaps you could find a way to assuage those concerns, and improve your
chances that way.

~~~
JBReefer
Second this - I worked remote for 3 years, and it's a unique skill set. I
don't think I could do it again, until I have kids at least - the loneliness
and "you're never working, or done working" thing gets _weird_. I'd need to
know someone has already worked through all of that.

------
Finbarr
Our team is entirely remote (mostly contractors currently). Here are the
things I look for:

1) Productivity. Is this person working and getting things done? Can I rely on
them and trust them?

2) Quality. Is the work being done to a satisfactory standard?

3) Communication. Can this person speak English well enough?

For number 1, do you have a github profile with private contributions showing?
It's the first thing I look at when talking to anyone. If you have a wall of
blank, I'm immediately less interested. Obviously there are false negatives
here, but there are so many candidates that it's easier to just move on to
people who look productive. Other things I look for here are positive reviews
on sites like Upwork or good tenure at previous positions.

For number 2, we typically hire very quickly and just give people test tasks.
If they are completed well, we keep on giving more test tasks. Eventually the
tasks become much larger.

For number 3, this is really simple. If the writing is good, then I'd look to
have a video call and see how good the verbal English is.

------
zachruss92
This is a pretty good question! When i'm looking to hire this is what I look
for: (1) Excellent written and verbal communication. Since there is limited
in-person interaction it is paramount that a developer can clearly and
effectively communicate about a project/status/whatever.

(2) Asks lots of questions. Builds off of communication.

(3) Be a self-starter/self-motivator. Supervision is very low, so I need to
make sure someone can get started/done without a ton of oversight.

(4) Knows how to ask for help. Don't be shy about not knowing something and
getting stuck. Sometimes it's better to ask someone for help rather than
trying to brute force the issue yourself.

Edit: formatting

~~~
arkadiytehgraet
Unless this is a some kind of deeply sarcastic/ironic answer, I love it as a
prime example of how interviewers do not actually know what they are looking
for, and most of their questions are just there to reinforce their initial gut
feeling about a candidate.

How can points 2 and 3 even remotely co-exist? They are like completely
opposite of each other! You _by definition_ cannot be a self-starter and get
work done without oversight, if you require to ask a lot of questions to do
anything. Yes, it is always helpful to ask clarifying questions whenever you
are not sure about something (and sometimes even when you are sure), but this
is like the very opposite of a lack of oversight.

Now you may try to clarify whatever you meant, but, oh no, that would mean
that you yourself cannot communicate effectively about what you are actually
looking for and what you mean, which makes the first point very vague as well.

~~~
mping
Of course you can. Someone may not need oversight, but may need guidance. If I
hire the best developer on technology X, he will still need guidance
navigating my own problems before fixing X's usage.

Also bear in mind that _initially_ you will need some orientation, but the
expectation is that you will progress to self starter.

And finally, a good communicator doesn't really need to communicate well all
the time.

------
jfaucett
I'm a Freelancer and work a lot of remote projects. Here's the most important
skills.

1\. Clear communicator. Get in front of and clarify issues so you dont waste
anyones time.

2\. You get things done on your own. You dont waste time on irrelevant stuff,
but you constantly pludge forward getting stuff on the agenda done, without
anyone having to watch over you / motivate you.

3\. Excellent Communication skills. Did I alread mention that? Ita that
important. You better be able to clearly communicate and be able to manage
sending emails, answering chats promptly, etc.

~~~
ztbrown
pludge?

~~~
mooreds
Maybe plow + trudge? I've been on a few projects where that was a valid verb.

------
mooreds
So you are really asking two questions:

How can I improve my chance of being hired?

And, if I am hired, how can I improve my chance of success at the company.

I will defer answering question #1 to folks who have hired plenty of remote
devs (I have only hired a few).

For question #2, I have a few things to say, based on my experience as a
remote developer and observations of others. Many of these are predicated on
working for a company where remote work is not normal.

1\. Set expectations. This will be a conversation between you and your
manager. Depending on how experienced the manager is, you may or may not be
driving the conversation. But have it either way. This will include things
like:

How is status communicated?

Are there core hours of availability I need to keep?

What are the best tools to use fot asynchronous and synchronous communication?

Can we set up a regular meeting to check in about my remote work performance?

2\. Be proactive. Proactive about communication. About your work. About making
sure your manager or lead knows what you have done and are doing. Don't let
any needed question go unanswered.

3\. Perform above average, at least for the first 6 months. This is important
when starting any job, but especially when you aren't there. This means being
on time to every meeting, going above and beyond in helping other team members
and in general bringing your A game. This will pay dividends when your
situation comes up in future management discussions.

4\. Be prepared to ask a lot of questions. Discussions will happen without
you, and you need to be able to confidently ask how decisions were arrived at.
If possible, document how the decisions were arrived st (Google docs, slack).
This discipline will benefit everyone, but is easy to slack on when everyone
is onsite.

5\. Be prepared to have a slower career trajectory. Even for remote friendly
companies, management is typically a onsite function (unless the company is
100% remote, of course).

I love my remote commute (roll out of bed, walk a few feet to the office).
Good luck!

------
colemorrison
Aside from all of the usual hot fluff, I know some will disagree, but..

a) open source activity b) github activity c) active blogging on knowledge or
topic related to dev

The reason? Remote work takes a lot of independent work (obviously). And
external activity from just a job is a great signal that "hey they like this
enough to do it in their own time." This indicates that their interest goes
beyond just what they're getting paid for.

I know, I know. "But that's not necessarily a great indicator!"

When you're on a big time crunch to fill the role, and you have 100s of folks
to look through, you've got to filter somehow. And quite frankly things like
this are going to be far more proving than just "well I have nothing up
because it was all company work so I can't show you" or "I have a life outside
of coding" etc etc.

------
manoa
At Envoy ([https://envoy.com/](https://envoy.com/)) we have roughly 33% of our
engineering team working out of their homes so I can speak to both what we
look for and what we've found that works:

(1) High I/O. Communication between folks on and offsite can be lower
bandwidth due to tech, not always face to face or synchronous, and fewer
serendipitous interactions. You need folks who love hearing from and reaching
out to people, such that they have a bias to compensate for these limitations.

(2) Overlapping time zones. Related to above.

(3) Fully formed, mature human beings. Related to above.

(4) Evidence they've been effective doing it. Not everyone can self-manage and
motivate. I, for one, suck at it.

(5) Working experience. It's harder to have less-experienced folks tether to
teams in other locations, because by nature they need much more communication
both ways.

As a bonus, here's what you should look out for when seeking your next team:

(a) The same stuff as above :)

(b) Unintentional biases. Ask when the meetings are scheduled. What tech they
use to "dial in" folks. Unclear differentiation in comp, benefits, etc. (it
may be different by location, but there should be a methodology behind it)
Even clues like heavy use of the word "remote" (which sounds 2nd class) vs
something like "distributed".

(shameless plug, we're hiring.
[https://envoy.com/jobs/](https://envoy.com/jobs/))

~~~
anotheryou
Yay, you are looking for a dedicated Product Manager. Too bad all your job
offers seem to be relatively non-remote (I'm in Europe).

------
tmaly
When I have a side project, and I need remote developer, communication skills
are the number one skill I look at. Secondly, I look to see if they can code
according to a technical specification.

There have been countless times where I have had to spend excess time going
back and forth due to lack of these two skills.

Your situation might be a little different if your employer is not someone who
can write technical specifications. If this is the case, I would say the skill
of translating the customers requirements into a specification would be an
important skill.

------
CyanLite2
Most important thing I look for as a manager is the candidate's driving/travel
distance to a common location.

Example: If the job's main HQ is in Atlanta, you can work remote and live in
Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, etc. If we're having a new kickoff
meeting and we need everybody to be on site for an in-person meeting, then a
short 2-3 hour drive can solve a ton of issues.

Upper management gets to see real live people tackle a project. (If you think
your CFO isn't internally questioning spending 6 figures on a remote developer
then you haven't spent enough time with him/her). It also builds rapport with
the rest of the team. For the remote folks, after working in a house for so
long it can start to feel like a prison, and a road trip is a good excuse to
get out of the house. I also work remote, so when I travel it's actually a
good break during the day.

And we don't do it often. Perhaps once a quarter or so.

~~~
lostcolony
If it's once a quarter, the cost of a flight + hotel is minimal. An extra $1k
a trip (and that's cross country in the US + expensive hotel), for four trips
a year, is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a developer
(especially if they're living in a cheaper area). Driving distance shouldn't
be a factor if it's that infrequent; I'd happily pay $4k if I could save even
more on salary costs, or if it meant the difference between hiring someone who
nails the interview and looks like a great addition, and waiting another month
as we keep interviewing.

------
maxxxxx
I think number one is the ability to work independently without constant
handholding. But there is also the need for willingness to fit in with what's
there already. I had remote developers who got a kind of an ego trip and wrote
beautiful software but it used some tech that didn't fit with our code so in
the end it was useless.

It's really important to listen a lot and understand current processes first
before you try to add some innovation.

Be willing to clarify things a lot and if you go the wrong direction be
willing to drop your work without hard feelings.

~~~
moltar
Ability to work independently is a double-edge sword.

I’ve been in situations where independence was communicated to be desired. Yet
CTO was a micro-manager and very nit picky during code reviews. This kind of
approach backfired and I ended up asking a lot of questions and consulting
them on every decision to make sure I don’t waste time writing things that
were not up to his unwritten/uncommunicated standard.

------
chasd00
I've been working remote about 4 years and have managed both good and terrible
remote workers.

You have to position yourself as someone who can handle working remotely. Some
otherwise great people just can't do it very well, no knock on them, it's just
the way some people are wired.

Join a coworking place and put that in your blog. That says to an employer
even though this person is remote they appreciate a workspace separate from
their personal life. Intermingling work and personal life, even trivial things
like folding a load of laundry over lunch, only leads to problems.

Also, say up front that you're up to traveling from time to time to meet face
to face. I try to spend about 4 days a month at corporate having lunch and
coffee with the people i chat with on slack all day. It goes a long way both
for them and for me.

~~~
systematical
I disagree. I am consistently doing small things around the house and have
been for the past 3 years in my role. I view it as my break time or the time
people in the office spend at the ping pong table, talking in the break room,
or on social media. No one is 100% productive. We're not machines.

As for coworking spaces. I am only now joining one because after 3 years I am
beginning to get a bit lonely. The one I am looking also has a ton of other
benefits like an onsite gym.

~~~
aikitengu
I would definitely agree here with @systematical. As a remote worker for about
11 years, at least strictly remote with no office travel (ever), there is a
real need for human interaction. Be it at a local coffee shop, or a coworking
space. We are more than simple task robots, we are humans.

~~~
cjalmeida
Seconded. I like to take a break and go to nearby park with a coffeeshop just
to see other people. I don't miss office interaction at all and I have good
off hours social life.

And discussing tech stuff at HN is better than doing it with "average" peers
at work anyway.

------
greggarious
Proactive. You're not having those serendipitous water cooler conversations,
so you need to go out of your way to be proactive and think about what work
should be done in the future, what issues may arise, and make decisions based
on those projections.

This can take the form of brainstorming potential future features/issues, but
it can also be as simple as trying to schedule quick 1:1s with coworkers to
allow for unstructured verbal conversation.

(Personally I don't think Slack/IRC allow for the same sort of interaction as
a verbal conversation)

------
codingdave
Self-awareness and self-motivation.

I worked for 5 years in a fully remote company, and every single new hire
spent a few months iterating and tweaking their own work life -- their office
setup, working hours, home life, etc. You have to be able to do that, and
manage yourself in general, to be effective. There is nobody there telling you
how or when to work, when to relax, when to slack off or not, etc.

Everything else can be practiced and learned, but to be remote it is a
fundamental requirement to have the ability to manage thyself.

------
amw
When we hire (we are a 100% remote company), our questions focus on conflict
resolution and communication. We like to be able to see assumption of good
faith by default, and red flags are things like "automatically blames X for
issue Y" or "constantly says negative things about management they've worked
with in the past" (people are definitely allowed to have whatever conflicts
and opinions they have, but the red flag is bringing that up as the inherently
unsolvable obstacle to happy and/or productive work rather than treating it in
the same class as any other work-blocking obstacle). We want people to focus
on how issues can be fixed rather than who broke them. We look for signs that
someone is comfortable receiving guidance from disembodied words in a
chatroom, and willing to proactively ask clarifying questions, as well as to
patiently answer clarifying questions from other people. Familiarity with
remote-collaboration tools is a plus (the usual list of suspects--git and the
fancy website UIs built around it, ticket-tracking software, some form of CRM,
and IRC/Slack/Discord/keybase chat/whatever, everyone uses some form of group
messaging app and this last thing is a really low bar). If the candidate
hasn't worked remotely before, we want to suss out how comfortable they will
be not being able to see their workmates in person on a daily or weekly basis,
because there are a surprising number of people who aren't chill with that and
who don't know it until they try. We want some indication that the person can
be productive without someone breathing down their neck, although honestly
this shakes out pretty fast (once you're with us, we know your commits and
your releases and we're either happy with them or not, whether you spent
exactly forty or fifty hours a week on your butt in your home office producing
them isn't really relevant).

------
simonebrunozzi
I might sound pedantic, but try to write in correct English:

"reading interview questions, anything else that I can do to improve my
chances/add value to the company I'll be joining?" -> there should be a ;
after "questions", or even better a full stop and a new sentence.

As an employer, I value your grammatical skills as much as your coding skills.
I believe that the two go hand in hand.

------
linsomniac
As someone who ran a company that spent most of 18 years with all employees
working remote: The most important thing to me was that workers had the
ability to treat it as a job. During interviews I'd ask where they planned to
work, if they had an office, if they had a family and if so what their plan
was for having an office at home.

For example, I had one employee that I spent a significant amount of time over
nearly a year trying to help with his performance. The situation seemed to be
that his stay-at-home wife just wouldn't respect that he was "at work". One of
our discussions he said "My office currently doesn't have a door on it, and
she's always coming in to ask me questions."

But, of course, just being at an office doesn't mean the job will be treated
seriously. Another co-worker would do maybe an hour of work a day, and spend
the rest of the time dicking around on the Internet. Actually, I'd say this
described the bulk of my co-workers when I was at the phone company...

------
kull
Background: we are 20 people all remote, 2 years old startup, with employees
across US and Europe.

The key is a great communication. You need to show you can easily communicate
via emails, slack, video. And I mean: being quick to reply, never keep
unanswered questions, be proactive and be able to write and say your thoughts
and difficult concepts is simple language.

Example: after the interview, send a follow up email to the interviewer. Send
me daily updates on the status of the project even if I did not ask.

------
gesman
Don’t mention remote. It’s unrelated.

What you need to convey is low risk and high fidelity service that you
deliver.

All with constant communication.

Make employers realize that requiring someone to sit on their local chair can
mean more risk and less quality to them then to hire you.

~~~
jdbernard
In my experience looking for remote positions (in the last few months) it
needs to be part of the conversation. It is related because most companies are
not going to be open to a new hire going remote unless they have already
considered it for the position.

For example: at one company I talked with the dev lead/manager was 100%
remote, so I assumed it was at least a possibility and didn't directly address
being remote until I got to the last round of interviews. Ultimately they
passed because "we have no doubt of your ability but we want people in the
(open) office regularly."

Mentioning it at the beginning would have saved us both time.

~~~
botskonet
As a remote senior lead who's hiring developers right now, I'm making a point
of telling people whether we'll consider remote or not. Unfortunately my
company _really_ wants on-site but given their location and the talent we're
after... not happening.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
I hope you consider posting your job openings in the upcoming "Who's Hiring".

~~~
botskonet
I sure did, posted last month too.

------
itamarst
Being able to work independently. You're not being closely supervised, so you
want to make sure your resume, and interview, convey your ability to work on
your own.

------
jcadam
Name != 'jcadam'

I mean, as far as I can tell. I've been trying to land the mythical 'remote
gig' for years.

------
mindhash
In past I have looked for candidates with a bit of experience working
remotely.

If you have never done this, you could partner with someone (from different
location) on a side project. Product hunt community has a slack channel for
finding people.

------
sebleon
Excellent communication and responsiveness. If you’re able to respond to any
question on Slack or email within 2min during waking hours, that drastically
improves the remote dynamic.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
But do you really consider that a reasonable bar to set? I don't think most
_onsite_ employees want to be that reachable when they're outside the office.

