

Ask HN: Are certain languages/skills better for remote work? - mlp

So I&#x27;m looking to get a part-time, remote job in web development.  I&#x27;ve spent the last year on .NET after graduating, and while I&#x27;m not thrilled about it, my skills are strong.  Unfortunately for me, I have two interests in my life: theater and coding.  While the combination worked really well in college, it&#x27;s been very hard to balance them both after graduation.  I&#x27;d like to be able to audition for shows, performances, and commercials, which take place during the typical 9 to 5 work period, as well as havethe freedom to follow the work.I&#x27;m looking for some advice on what to work on in the next few months that would allow me to pursue both of my interests professionally.<p>In particular, I&#x27;ve gotten the impression that the Ruby on Rails community is big on remote work. Obviously you can do remote work in any language, but in your experience, is it true that it&#x27;s easier to find remote work with some languages and skills? If so, which ones?
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hkarthik
I've been working remotely for the past 3 years, so I feel qualified to give
you some advice here.

Don't go for remote work simply because you think it will give you the
flexibility to sneak out during core business hours to pursue hobbies or
personal interests.

Remote workers have to work extra hard to fight the stigma that we are
slacking off at home in our PJs and not doing any real work. Our output is
measurable and often scrutinized by in-office management teams that are always
looking to stack and rank employees to dole out raises/bonuses. Personal
biases come into a play a lot and human nature is hard to fight for many
people in our industry, especially those that are naturally distrustful.
Disappearing in the middle of the day can actively harm your employment as a
remote worker in such organizations.

That being said, you should be able to work out something with your manager
regardless of your location so that you can go to auditions, as long as you
make up the time later. Focus on organizations that support this, not whether
they have remote workers or not.

Another option is to focus on consulting roles where you make it clear with
your clients that your availability during the day will shift. You may not
make as much money or have as much stability, but you're more likely to have
the flexibility that you need to pursue acting.

I can put you in touch with one of my coworkers, who's an Android developer in
LA and has done a few TV shows in the past as an actor. He can probably give
you some good advice on finding a balance to pursue both. My email is in my
profile.

Good luck!

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iends
Ruby, Python, JavaScript, & PHP seem to be the languages where there is an
abundance of opportunity for remote work, at least in my little webdev bubble.

