How to Get a Remote Job as a Developer

The last two years have entirely revolutionized the global work environment, and the number of people working remotely has grown exponentially as well. This new trend has also impacted the tech community, with tech companies leading the charge in remote work since the beginning of 2020. Since then, many have gone completely remote, improving the chances of developers going remote.

Discover how to get a job working remotely as a developer with the following tips and start looking for the right opportunity for you.

Is remote work the right choice for you?

Remote work is not for everyone. Yes, it has great benefits such as not having to commute, organizing your schedule, cutting transportation and eating costs, and the opportunity to spend more time at home with your family, but it also has its drawbacks.

Terminal’s 2021 State of Remote Engineering Report illustrated some of these drawbacks, including a lack of day-to-day interactions with coworkers, considerable difficulties to collaborate and feel part of a team, burnout or lack of motivation, home-based distractions, and loneliness.

There are several things you need to keep in mind if you are considering pursuing a remote opportunity, including:

• You will need a home office, free of distractions and equipped with the necessary gadgets, with a good internet connection.
• You need to communicate more effectively and frequently with your team to stay in touch with your colleagues and boss, and some people can find this challenging.
• Your lifestyle and personality. Introverted individuals tend to work better alone, while extroverts need to interact more frequently with others. Having the chance to do so outside of work, either with their family or with friends, maybe a good way of counteracting the time you spend alone.
• Good organizational skills and concentration. You need to be able to organize your schedule effectively, take advantage of your working hours and focus when you need to.

Before diving into how to get a remote developer job, make sure to outweigh pros and cons and reflect on what you want.

How Hard Is it to Get a Remote Job?

Before the pandemic, remote work wasn’t as popular as it is now. The number of fully remote positions has grown exponentially and so have the offers and flexibility.

In fact, according to Owl Lab’s 2020 State of Remote Work, 56% of global companies are fully remote or hybrid companies, and just in the U.S.​​, 85% of companies offer a hybrid model. Also, in the U.S., 26% of the total workforce will work remotely in 2022.

Several tech companies have decided to switch to either hybrid models or completely remote models, including tech giants such as Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter. Companies like Dropbox, Atlassian, Hubspot, Salesforce, Reddit, Quora, and Slack have opted for a fully-remote approach.

Moreover, according to August 2021 LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team stats, the number of remote job postings “skyrocketed,” with a 357% rise compared to the same period in 2020.

So, if you are looking to get a remote job as a software developer, there is no better time than today.

There are different ways of working remotely: you can get a 9-5 job as a work-from-home developer, you can get a part-time job and take on freelance work during the rest of your workday, or you can work from home doing freelance work entirely. The first choice might be best if you are starting to get a full grasp of the position and learn from a team. At the same time, freelancing might be best for a more experienced professional, especially one with a portfolio, since you’ll find it’s much easier to get work.

Getting a remote job doesn’t necessarily have to be challenging, but you need to consider the differences with traditional, in-person hiring processes to prepare accordingly. The hiring process for remote jobs is, of course, remote, which means it has its own set of additional challenges. You need to get your personality across, interact and connect with a recruiter or interviewer you’ve never met face-to-face and have built rapport with and either of you might experience technical difficulties making the conversation harder.

Having a solid portfolio and previous remote experience can help with the hiring process, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t get a remote job without them. Remote entry-level positions are also available.

How to Get a Remote Job: 6 Must-Read Tips

Finding the right remote opportunity for you takes preparation. Consider the following tips for landing your next remote job.

Tip #1: Get Your Remote Workspace Ready

Before we delve into how to get a remote web developer job, let’s discuss the workspace. It’s a must for remote workers, and it should be a priority. Recruiters will be looking around to see that you have the right equipment and work environment.

Make sure you:

• Select a quiet, comfortable space, preferably with a door to keep noise minimum.
• Remove any potential distractions from the space.
• Avoid spaces with family traffic: kitchen, living room, laundry room, etc.
• Choose a space with a strong Wifi signal or internet cable to avoid technical problems as much as possible.

Yes, everything can be expensive, but consider that you will spend 8 hours of your day working there. So, buy your furniture with care look for comfortable, functional pieces.

Here are a few items we recommend you get:

• A suitable desk for you. There are several different types of desks, including a sitting desk, a standing desk, an ergonomic one, etc. If you are prone to aches and back pains, standing desks might be the best choice for you and have been proven to be the best, allowing you to stretch your legs more easily. Or you can have the best of both worlds and get an ergonomic desk.
• At least one monitor. You can be more comfortable organizing your screen with a broader view. When it comes to setting up the monitor, make sure your spine stays in a neutral position, that the monitor is at least 20 inches from your eyes or even further away if it’s a larger model, and tilt it back 10 to 20 degrees to make sure you are looking down. If you have a monitor, a keyboard and mouse might be helpful.
• Good headphones. A big part of remote work is meetings and effectively communicating with your team. For this reason, having good headphones is vital. This guide may help you select the right ones for you.
• A comfortable chair. If you choose a fixed desk or an ergonomic one, a chair is in order. Keep in mind that you will be spending a lot of your time there, so make sure it’s height-adjustable to fit your desk that it has built-in lumbar support, a 360-degree swivel base, adjustable seat depth as well as an adjustable backrest and armrest.

Tip #2: Consider Which Skills You Need to Work as a Remote Developer

Any company looking for remote workers has a large talent pool they can tap and an even larger one if they decide to hire international workers. For this reason, they will have access to top talent, and to get a shot at the job, you need strong skills. There are many ways around this: you can specialize in one specific language and take advanced courses and build projects with that particular language, or you can learn more than one.

According to GeeksforGeeks, the top 10 Programming Languages to Learn in 2022 are:

• Python
• Java
• Javascript
• Kotlin
• R
• PHP
• Go
• C
• Swift
• C+

However, you can learn newer technologies like Docker, React or Vue, or opt for older ones, like ColdFusion or Magento and apply for jobs with fewer candidates.

There are many ways in which you can learn the skills you need. You have more than 75 online full-stack coding bootcamps and courses available. Learning online is an excellent way of getting remote experience: you can know more about autonomy and learn all about remote communication tools like Slack and Zoom and organization tools like Trello or Jira.

Tip #3: Get Your Portfolio Ready

Your portfolio is your chance at a great first impression. Build it as a professional website: include your most relevant skills, your professional experiences, and showcase your projects. Make sure to include your most relevant social media profiles like Linkedin or your GitHub. Web development courses can also help your portfolio shine.

Tip #4: Gain Some Remote Experience

Remote work isn’t that different from office work, especially if you are an experienced developer. However, starting up as a developer working from home might be more complicated. Having an in-office job for the first year might be more rewarding to learn the dynamics and have an in-person senior developer guide you.

Fortunately, developers are in high demand so you might get more chances without much experience. If you want to get a remote job, gaining experience might be a good idea. Start working independently in smaller, more freelance jobs on your own to get that experience and deal directly with clients. This will not only translate autonomy, but it will also give you time-management skills and show that you can work without having a supervisor looking over your job. Try Upwork or Fiverr for paid jobs or Donate: Code to volunteer.

Open source work can also be a great way of strengthening your skills and gaining remote experience. Yes, this requires a lot of collaboration, and often, the work is asynchronous, so you need to coordinate with others to get the job done in the best way. This experience can also be accessed by others since it always happens in public. Recruiters can see your obstacles and how you solved them and have a real sense of how well you work with others.

Tip #5: Where to Look for Remote Jobs

There are several different ways to look for remote jobs, including job boards and professional networks like Linkedin.

Taking advantage of your professional connections, if you have experience in the industry, have worked in more than one company, or have met several professionals in tech, this can also be a great way of finding the right opportunities.

You can learn all about this in our recent article “Where to Find Remote IT Jobs.”

Tip #6: Take Time to Prepare the Remote Interview

Remote interviews can have a greater focus on your personality and who you are as a person, so make sure you show them who you are. Share your hobbies, discuss your interests, where you see yourself going. Be genuine, don’t try to focus too much on what they want to hear.

What Skills Should You Show In an Interview?

Trustworthiness is essential, and so is showing that you are passionate. If you are not passionate about web development, working from home won’t change that. Passion and motivation go hand in hand, and it’s easier to be motivated when you enjoy your work.

Problem-solving skills are always crucial for developers, primarily when working from home. Your team may not always be available, especially if you have time zone differences, so you need to manage and solve problems on your own.

You may be talking to team members worldwide, so effectively communicating what you think is important for remote work.

Asking questions is also essential. Web developers sometimes need to find creative solutions, and for this reason, learning, being curious, and being interested are also important.

Questions during a Remote Interview

Questions may vary from interviewer to interviewer, but they will generally ask about your work-life balance, problem-solving skills, and communication style. You may be asked about:

• Your schedule
• The tools you use to collaborate with others (Slack, Trello, Github, Zoom, Google Drive)
• Your ability to stay motivated despite not having a supervisor around
• How you deal with productivity slumps
• How you would solve a problem with your team

Asking questions to the interviewer is always good, but it might be difficult to think about what to ask in the spur of the moment. So here are a few questions you can ask:

• Which are your expectations for the position?
• What is the onboarding process like?
• Which hours am I expected to be online?
• Do I need to come into the office now and then? (if the company isn’t fully remote)
• Will I be working with people in different time zones?
• How will I be given feedback?

Before the interview, make sure to test your setup to see if the shot looks good, if the lighting is correct, and if the space is clean behind you. Be ready 5 to 10 minutes before so you can be sure you’ll be only.

Now that you know how to get a remote job as a software developer consider our tips and get started!

Nearsure is a remote-first company with many IT  positions available all over Latin America, so you might not need to look far to find your next remote opportunity. Be sure to check out our website and social media profiles to get to know us better.