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Francesco Napoletano
Francesco Napoletano

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Let's go remote!

I've recently moved to a new position as Full Stack Software Engineer for a cool tech company in Italy, my home country. I'm super happy with my new job (a really exciting environment, super cool technology, wonderful colleagues, a solid business, a shiny office full of amenities, 2 days of smartworking per week, etc...)

While looking for this new job, I took the chance to think about the job market for programmers. We're very lucky compared to other jobs and the demand for programmers is hitting an all-time high. But...

But... There's still something really old in our job. Most of us are still stuck to a 9-5 (plus commuting) routine.

I spend 2 hours per day commuting. Sometimes, it takes 3 (train delays, strikes, etc...). Let' do a little math.

  • 2 hours per day
  • 10 hours per week
  • 40+ hours per month

It's not only about commuting. It's about what I need for my job. Let's face it: offices are cool, but I just need a computer and a fast Internet connection for 100% of my duties.

If I want to talk to my colleagues I can call, slack, email them whenever I need. Collaboration over the Internet has never been easier: I can share documents, presentations, code with just a couple of clicks.

The Remote Only Manifesto should be applied by every "IT" company, and it's time for us (programmers, devops, IT managers, etc...) to push for this change.

I'll try to do my part and from now on, so, this will be my standard reply to recruiters getting in touch with me on LinkedIn (and elsewhere):

Hello, $recruiter,
I'm not actively looking for a job right now, but in the future I will only evaluate 100% remote positions.

As I said... I love my new job, but I'm 100% sure my next job will be remote.

Share this (and many more articles about remote working) using the hashtag #letsgoremote

Let's go remote!

This post originally appeared on https://coding.napolux.com, but was brought to dev.to for your reading pleasure ❤

Top comments (2)

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martyhimmel profile image
Martin Himmel

Love it!

The commute was a big thing for me. I was a dental technician for 15 years. After switching careers, I did some quick math and realized I lost a little over 6 full months of my life to a commute. 🤮

Trying to convince people to break the old school mentality is a bit of a challenge. I regularly have this conversation with my boss in pushing for 100% remote work (I'm at 60-80% now, depending on the week).

My hope is that with so many people (and companies) pushing for it, it'll become the norm sooner rather than later.

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napolux profile image
Francesco Napoletano • Edited

That's why it's on us to push on this. If a recruiter is not able to find developers that will work from a regular office, they will push for remote with their clients...

If many more companies embrace the remote work culture, all the others will.

Soon one big player (Google? Microsoft? Amazon? Uber?) will start to explicity look for remote workers. All the other will follow.