Ask HN: How is the status of remote working in Europe? - bontoJR
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wayn3
Absolute shit. Its easier to get a contract from a US firm working from europe
than it is to actually work remote in europe for a european company.

Besides, the pay is shit. European companies think 40k is a great salary for
an engineer. Better rates to be had in murica. much better. 3-4x+ better.

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zerr
How easy it was to get US clients? In my experience, Americans are afraid of
dealing with people from "overseas". I did have a couple of US clients though.

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wayn3
well, its simple.

Step 1: Don't call yourself a freelancer. Freelancers are the idiots who get
paid after the fact, can't speak proper english and have to deal with money-
conscious clients who think $5000 is a lot of cash. If you do contract work,
you are a CONSULTANT. You CONSULT. The word implies you know more about what
you're doing than your client. Words are powerful.

Step 2: Have a skillset that is in demand.

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Get Rich

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zerr
Yes, I'm consulting, for European clients mostly.

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a-saleh
(Czech republic) - in my peer-group, fully remote work is rare, but not
unheard-off (for past two years I have worked with colleague who was fully
remote, even though he lives in the same country, and we are about to hire
another one. Both of them were hired as senior engineers)

What is really common, is reasonably generous attitude towards working from
home. Few of my colleagues have arrangement with my manager that they can work
from home indefinitely and basically come to office only when they feel like
it, because of ~1h long commute from one part of the city to the other.
Company policy is 1xWFH/week.

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tjansen
(Germany) In smaller companies it's certainly possible to arrange it - not
sure how common it is. In larger companies, this is very unusual and usually
not even considered, except for contractors.

There are a million of workplace laws and regulations that are hard to apply
for someone who's working from home. E.g. I have heard from people working at
home that their desk and chair needed to be inspected to make sure it is
compliant (ergonomics etc).

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Zelmor
Linux software tester reporting in from Eastern EU. I am fully remote and
would not have it any other way. My client company (I'm a subcontractor) is
located in the same county so it's not like I work overboard. This is pretty
standard for some companies, and completely alien to others. Look for the
former ones and ask during interviews.

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pyb
In the UK, I've noticed remote working has become more and more common,
particularly in the last 2 or 3 years. Not only are there more distributed
companies, but commutes in the London area are quite long as people have to
live far out.

So yes, it's happening. I say this as someone who generally prefers to work
onsite...

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gt2
What hourly rate range have you been seeing?

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mrcold
In Europe software companies are more like factories. You punch in, work like
a slave all day, then punch out. The socialist mindset created retarded
managers. So anything deviating from the standard factory setup is seen as
depravity. Europeans don't understand technology. For them software
development is like manual labor. Get some monkeys, throw them some peanuts
and use a whip to make them do stuff.

Overall, remote working in Europe is mostly done for US companies. EU
companies are usually mentally disabled.

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andyy
That's weird thing to say, I guess no replies from guys in UK (London & rest
of the country). It's similar for Netherlands and I know (from my experience)
in Germany (Berlin).

'In Europe software companies are more like factories. You punch in, work like
a slave all day, then punch out.' > again not sure which countries you speak
about (ukraine or romania lol?), maybe it's like that in some, but some have
very relaxed attitude

'Overall, remote working in Europe is mostly done for US companies. EU
companies are usually mentally disabled.' > again, there're tons of EU based
remote work, and I just won't comment on the rest of this generalisation.

I've got a nice remote offers from Spain and Netherlands as we, despite being
in UK. I'm getting them all the time.

So just to top the thing about working like a slave all day... \- my EU
company gives me remote because I do work better in this mode, \- my EU
company gives me a lot of benefits that guys in US don't see (despite that
average salary I'd say is lower in here), \- basically it's yet another EU
company that hires me and gives me total freedom because I deliver

i.e. if you're good you will always find a remote job with conditions you
want.

btw. your comment shows your ignorance and nothing more (and a lack of ability
to produce some facts instead of meaningless offences)

'EU companies are usually mentally disabled.' \- seriously? you work for some1
or you're building your own 'empire' with this kind of attitude and beliefs?

Overall, your post is full of bs.

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ddorian43
What benefits does the EU company give you more beside more free days compared
to US ?

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andyy
I'll just mention one thing, maybe that's not important for you - US maternity
law, come on... it's a joke ;) all of this stuff is way in favour in most
countries of Europe.

btw. I like my free days, I like a lot the extra ones (not the ones that
companies are obligated to) if you work for good company.

time is precious so a lot of companies are very flexible, in here it's nothing
new & nothing uncommon to do 4 days instead 5 etc. or change any day with any
weekend day if you please.

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mrcold
I think you drank too much of the kool-aid. You're very happy about things
that are normal in Europe. And you are willing to be underpaid to get them.
You don't have to be. You can get a good salary and the benefits too. It's
funny how you're fighting the guys that want this to happen.

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gt2
I know several people working remotely for European companies. They do
complain that the pay is less, but that's probably not related to being
remote.

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Heraclite
Unfortunately we're not there yet. It's doable if you negociate it with your
local small-midsized company.

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tetek
Not sure what are you asking. Could you be more precise?

