I live in a small country that doesn't have that many job openings for developers.
I noticed that most remote openings require the developer to be at the mid-senior level, so I was wondering if there's any possibility of gaining a remote position as a junior developer and if so what can I do to better my chances of making this more likely.
I plan to start applying in about a year or so, so any advice at this point will be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Top comments (5)
Most people are going to tell you that you should work in-house before moving to remote. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I'm self taught and have worked remotely from the very beginning. I took a slightly different approach though. For the first year or so, I spent my time working small freelance jobs that paid terribly but built up my resume and portfolio.
So should you work in-house somewhere when you first start out? Maybe. Is it possible to work remote right from the get go? I'm proof that it's possible, however anecdotal it is. So take my example with a grain of sand, but also remember that just because someone on the internet tells you to walk a certain path, doesn't mean that's the right path for you.
Good luck man.
Thanks, appreciate the response
Firstly, I don't really recommend a remote job as a start in your career. There's so much you can learn from physical interaction that will be valuable later on in your remote job. So if possible, try to get out first from your city and spend 1 or 2 years in physical office. Having said that, we did hire a junior developer in the past. We met her at a conference and were impress with her presentation. So we approached her and asked if she's interested to join us. She still at uni at that time so she joined us as an intern first.
So you can make yourself stand out from the crowd by focussing on certain skill set (she's in UX and her presentation also about UX). Demonstrate your understanding in that area. The major concern when hiring remotely is whether that person is dependable. Dependable doesn't mean you have to be online 24/7 but you have a predictable behavior. For example when we need something from you, we know for sure you will come back to us in certain amount of time. Lot of people seem to fail at this, especially if this is their first remote job, even though they're quite successful in previous job.
You can read more about communication in remote work in our blog - blog.xoxzo.com/2016/04/22/the-comm....
I would say before you go completely remote get a job that is in office that allows you to work from home. Thats where I'm at now and I'm just a few months shy of the first year of my career. Having the option to work from home sometimes has helped me get used to the idea of remote work. At some point I could see myself doing 100% remote.
I started my first full time dev position in January, and it's remote. And when I was looking for jobs, I interviewed with several remote companies. It's definitely possible.