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Discussion on: I am a remote Fullstack developer who runs his own software company, Ask Me Anything!

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embpdaniel profile image
Daniel Montano • Edited

Hey Mohammad, there are many different ways. I think the main problem you will have is not that you won't find any, but you will find way too many jobs. It is overwhelming, so I think the first thing is you need to decide what kind of remote worker you want to be. This will help you narrow down your search. There's 3 types:

  1. Remote full-time employee = You are an employee of a company and you work with them full-time. You have all the employee benefits they offer.

  2. Remote contractor = You are in this weird place between employee and freelancer. You work long term (for years) for a company, but technically you are not an employee. You have no employee benefits, you work at their schedule, you answer to a manager of the company.

  3. Freelancer = You are not an employee, and you work only per project. You most likely work directly with business owners or executives. You work at your own schedule, you are considered more like a partner to them.

You might be open to only one of these types, or maybe all three. Depending on what you want.

If you are starting out I recommend full-time employee first. It is the easiest way to find remote work. The hardest is as a freelancer, because it is the most unsteady one, and requires that you learn some crucial marketing and sales tactics.

Once you know what type you want to look for, use the correct tools.

For all types, check with your friends and colleagues first. This will probably be the fastest way to land a job. Many times this way you don't even get interviewed. You get hired because your friend recommended you.

If you already did that, then use some online tools:

For full-time employment, you will most likely find it at angel.co, indeed.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, or similar sites like this that favor full-time jobs (although you can find contract work there too). You can also do local searches, maybe you will find companies that you can cold-email to see if they have remote openings. Many companies have needs that are not posted on their site or anywhere, and you could email them at the perfect time. LinkedIn will also have tons of jobs you can look for to see if you can find remote. I have found most posted by companies are not remote, but you can get lucky.

For contract or freelance work, I personally favor Upwork. I slowly built my reputation there and have landed good contracts. You can do the same. It takes time to get hired at first but don't give up. You can also try toptal.com or freelancer.com, etc... I have not tried these but I know colleagues who get work there

If you want the hard way that has the biggest return on investment, you should start a blog and post/engage in social media. This will get people to know you exist, see what you do, and if the right person finds you, they will reach out to you for work. This is the hardest to do because it takes time to build a blog and audience. This is what I am working on myself. I have slowly been building my blog, and engagement in social media, and I hope it will pay off in the long run.

The top ways I personally have found remote work in the past and now has been:

  1. Upwork
  2. Friends
  3. LinkedIn (by being found in search and being contacted directly)
  4. LinkedIn (by finding a post from someone needing a developer, right in my feed)
  5. Local companies via Indeed

I want to mention that it sounds easy to do the above, but it takes a lot of time to search and find the right fit. Just be patient with the process. There's plenty of opportunity out there.

The most important thing is for you to do good work. Make sure you work on improving every day, learn new things, practice and do the best work you can.

Also, communication is extremely important as a remote developer. It is just as important as good programming skills. This is the biggest fear companies have with remote developers. They need someone who responds promptly, is going to communicate any problems early, and is not going to be a burden. Be helpful and take initiative.

I hope this helps!

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mmizanrhn profile image
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman

Thank you