Hey folks, we are looking for up to 2 software engineers. Just posted on RI website. I would like to ask the RI tribe: • How many of us feel there is a strong personal need for independent/remote lifestyle? I ask this as being one for a very long time and I have led engineering teams across many startups globally. Currently I am in a new, super early stage startup. Founder is ex-Uber, this is a Valley based startup. We are pushing for remote first. I live in a Himalayan village by choice and this choice also shapes a few of my work-related philosophies.

Very strongly in my case. To the point it makes it almost impossible for me to consider a non-remote job anymore.

Are you looking for full time engineers or part-time would work? Regarding your question, I think I just cannot go back to a non-remote job. The freedom is just too valuable to give up at this point 😬.

First question I ask recruiters -

Is remote-only with once-a-quarter visits to HQ possible?

That filters out all the wannabe cool companies very quickly.

The reason I ask this question here is because a friend just shared that a lot of people are trying out remote due to Covid, but they did not have exposure and honestly are unsure if it will work out. So I feel unless someone was really into it, it is tough for me to judge if they might fit long term remote work. Remote needs way more mental discipline than in office work - something people do not realise. Both the company and the person need to fundamentally think about how they work in a remote style.

a 💯 on the discipline part @wide-carpet-65149. I guess that is what your trading for the freedom. You have to put in extra effort to stay disciplined and make/maintain a connection with your co-workers. personally I value that freedom more, hence huge pref for remote

Sumit, you are right about the discipline part. We have always been remote - plus our team is quite mature (avg of 15 years of experience) - so we work well. But if you are a type of person who needs external motivation (visible co-workers working across or a manager to talk to or check up on you), being alone and by yourself - will be extremely difficult and unpleasant experience. Forget about being productive. Being remote comes with its benefits but the responsibilities are substantially higher than working out of an office (I feel). One example I usually give family and friends that even if you are not feeling upto it and just “turn up” at the office and show up, you will be marked as present (regardless of your output). However remotely, where your work is the only thing that matters, you have to produce even if you are sick (unless you actually take the day off).

@loud-glass-33663 exactly what I am trying to measure in applicants. In this startup this is my responsibility and I convinced the founder to go remote. So I am looking for signals to asses how someone fits with remote work style. It is not an easy thing, I absolutely agree with you. It is a very conscious choice and takes effort. Perhaps you can share some points as you how you ask a candidate about their discipline and "why" they want a remote role?

@wide-carpet-65149 My learning is that freshers might struggle in remote-only setups compared to someone with 3-4 years experience. They miss out on the opportunity to pick up best practices from senior developers around them in the office. We're planning to resolve that by having them visit us after they're fully vaccinated and stay in Pune for 2-3 months (or as long as they want) and then decide if they want to go back to being remote.

@helpful-gigabyte-47939 that is a viewpoint I have not seen in my experience. In fact some of the best young talents I have hired who were totally self-motivated were also most disciplined naturally and could work with me remote. I am still currently a mentor to someone in Canada (for a US startup) and she is also that type. Shown tremendous potential in the internship, all remote.

@wide-carpet-65149 Agreed. I pay close attention to self-driven contributions to open source or hobbies while recruiting remotely. And some of my fresher remote engineers worked out fine, but some did not. So this isn't a blanket observation for all freshers. But some of them actually welcome the opportunity to be an office for sometime (because they feel a bit lost now) and then decide if they want to go back to being remote.

Yes not everyone can be in the same style/bucket. But one thing I have seen consistently is being stubbornly independent helps being remote. You are perhaps remotely working since you value that independence a lot.

@wide-carpet-65149 Indeed. I've been working remotely since 2007. Can't imagine working out of an office every day. I see my co-founder about once a week even when our office is a 5 min drive. 😆

Am bit late to the discussion, but I guess it is similar to hiring interns- for me now i choose to mentor a student only when they show they have done few MOOCs (From Coursera, EDX or Udacity, since they require one to give assignments too) successfully. working remote requires a disciplined and sel-motivated mindset. Something majority (outside the RI club 🙂 ) kind of lacks, especially in younger generation.