

Ask HN: How far can you take a telecommute career? - cmorgan8506

I've been doing telecommute and/or freelance for about 4 years now. When I think of the future, I feel like a career via telecommute has a ceiling. Do you think a career based on telecommuting can continue to grow like a typical in house career?
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orangethirty
Great question. I don't think social norm would allow it to grow in the same
manner as a non-remote position. Given how a lot of promotions are based on
office politics.

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cmorgan8506
That's sort of my line of reasoning, as well. Particularly when you move into
any form of management or leadership position.

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pc86
Can you imagine the flip-side of the anti-remote argument if the manager was
remote and the team wasn't?

"What do you mean I got a bad performance review? My boss isn't even _here_."

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caw
There's some coworkers of mine like that. They report to someone remotely, or
they're responsible for a team that is entirely remote from them. Your metrics
for success have to be a lot more thought out, and there's always frequent
interaction between you and your manager. It's not for everyone, but generally
the people that are on these remote teams aren't new hires, but rather
experienced people that have proven their ability to execute over time.
They're normally on the teams investigating organizational pain points and
doing strategic initiatives.

I'd like to think "pretty far" but it definitely depends on the organization.
For freelancing, you might have to put in a bit of face time, but nothing's
stopping you from charging very high rates and doing part of the work
remotely.

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10dpd
We by nature are social and while teleconferencing has improved exponentially
over the last couple of years, you cannot beat in-person communication. If you
eventually want to lead a team, you must be there in person. If you want to
socialise with your teammates, you must be there in person.

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logn
I lead a team, and I work remotely. Actually I manage two teams. But I work in
a mid-size company (400 people) that's completely remote.

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fexl
Yes, I've been doing it since 1998, and that includes three major separate
gigs including (1) a corporate job, (2) free-lance, and (3) a founder of our
own firm. So that's 15 years and counting! Best wishes to you.

