Module 1 - Finding Opportunities Transcript - Remotive Bootcamp

Remotive
Bootcamp
by Rodolphe Dutel r emotive.io
Remotive Bootcamp
Notes & Transcript for Module 1

By Rodolphe Dutel
remotive.io

1/19
Remotive Bootcamp
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
Module 1: Finding Opportunities
7 Remote Job Boards to Follow
5 freelancing platforms to get started
Free vs. Paid Sites?
Keep an eye out!
Looking for legitimate remote work opportunities
The Different Types of Remote Work
How does it relate to your experience?
APPENDIX
References and further Reading for Module 1

2/19
Remotive Bootcamp
Module 1: Finding Opportunities

Let’s start with some thoughts people share with me each week:

There are so many “remote jobs" websites. So, where should I focus?

There doesn’t seem to be very many remote opportunities in my field of work.

What am I doing? I'm sending out resumes with a wish and a prayer.

I wish I knew if the few "pay for full use" sites I've come across were worth it!

I had some bad experience with remote work in the past. Where are those great remote
jobs?

I’m excited to shed some light on it all! I’m listing here the job boards I trust, as well as the best
sites for remote freelance.

But that’s hardly enough by itself, because once you find a great opportunity, you must
understand how to apply, prepare for the interviews, and land that job!

This chapter will focus on “where” those jobs are and how remote companies are set up. We’ll
explore the rest in future chapters.

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Remotive Bootcamp

7 Remote Job Boards to Follow

So, where can you find remote jobs? Whether you’re looking for a fulltime gig, or to get more
freelance clients, we’ve got you covered: There are dozens of job boards out there and you may
already be subscribing to several of those.

My advice is to keep your job search as targeted as possible, meaning you will have to focus
your search.

These are the seven best job boards for remote workers, based on the quality and quantity of
job offers they are listing.

When I think about job boards, I’m surprised to see how similar they are to weather forecasts
both job boards and weather forecasts give you a sense of what to expect in “theory”. In
“reality”, things change fast. The real weather you’ll encounter may have changed from what the
weather forecast said it was.

This holds true for job boards they give you a general sense of what is going on, and are
helpful indicators, yet f inding an opportunity on a job board is often not sufficient to
successfully land a remote job.

Make sure you also read our next chapters on developing your unfair advantage as a remote
worker to increase your chances of landing this remote job!

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Remotive Bootcamp
Here they are, in the order I recommend you check them by:

REMOTIVE JOBS

Remotive is our own job board, we publish quality remote jobs you can explore by categories
(sales, support, product, engineering, marketing, etc.). We also give you the ability to get a
weekly or monthly email update when new jobs opens up!
Pricing: Free

REMOTEOK.io

Established in 2015 by Pieter Levels, RemoteOK is probably the largest remote job board
available, listing thousands of positions with granular settings you can tweak to go deeper into
your search, by seniority and job type even covering some “nontech” jobs a must visit!
Pricing: Free

WE WORK REMOTELY

Owned by the Basecamp team, who wrote bestselling books on remote work “Remote” and
“Rework”, this popular job board offers you RSS feeds of jobs and is frequently updated.
Pricing: Free

ANGEL LIST REMOTE

AngelList is a great place to look for a startup job, whether it’s at an established company or
joining a small team of 2 people! When you select “REMOTE OK” in their job search you’ll get
to access thousands of jobs. Bonus: You can often see how much you may get paid, and also
see how many people applied for each position.
Pricing: Free

STACK OVERFLOW

Stack Overflow is a community for p rogrammers , and they are serious about remote work!
Looking for remote jobs often returns 100+ results really recommend you check them out.
Pricing: Free

POWERTOFLY

Powertofly connects “fast growing startups with women who are looking to work for companies
that value gender diversity and inclusion” and they have a nice Remote section, you may want
to check out their flexible work options too!
Pricing: Free

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Remotive Bootcamp
FLEXJOBS

FlexJobs has been a solid provider of flexible jobs for over ten years, they mostly focus on the
US with a few opportunities that are global. They list 20,000 jobs, including Freelance, parttime
and flexible schedule this company also runs the remote job board remote.co.
Pricing: Starts at $14.95/mo

I also wanted to list other job boards who are providing remote opportunities. Most of them not
all operate as “aggregators”, so if you already are a member in the job boards above, they may
be less relevant.

Also, I haven’t worked with them directly it’s trickier for me to give an educated opinion on
those. Here are another twelve job boards:

Job board Pricing
WORKING NOMADS Free
SKIP THE DRIVE Free
VIRTUAL VOCATIONS Free
JOBSPRESSO Free
EUROPEREMOTELY Free
WFH.IO Free
OUTSOURCELY Starts at $47/quarter
REMOTE.COM Starts at $19/month
GITHUB JOBS Free
LANDING.JOBS Free
DRIBBLE Free
AUTHENTIC JOBS Free
OLD GEEKS JOBS Free

6/19
Remotive Bootcamp
5 freelancing platforms to get started
Freelancing can be a great way to get started with remote work or embrace a new career
altogether!

One of the upsides is that you could freelance for companies and keep your day job, so that you
get a feel for remote work.

If you’re new to freelance and would like to know more about it all, I ’d recommend you read this
article to start learning from the freelance community.

I picked 5 websites I trust for you to get started in 2017. There are many other great platforms
and this list isn’t exhaustive:

HIRED FREELANCE

This famous platform has recently launched a freelance portal. You can now look for remote
freelance gigs. Signing up will also have you in the loop for fulltime opportunities.
PRICING: Free, you’ll get a $1,000 bonus when you work 500+ hours through them!

LINKEDIN PROFINDER

LinkedIn is now offering to match its freelancer users who are looking for gigs, a great way to
leverage so many components of LinkedIn (online CV, references…). You’ll need to apply to join
as ProFinder is only available in selected locations today.
PRICING: Free signup

UPWORK

Upwork is one of the most popular and largest sites: it’s a global freelancing platform for
independent professionals to work remotely.

CLOUDPEEPS

CloudPeeps is a “platform and community for the future of freelancing” matching nontechnical
who enjoy working remotely with companies that need assistance

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Remotive Bootcamp
FIVERR

Fiverr is an online marketplace offering tasks and services, beginning at a cost of $5 per job
performed, from which it gets its name. If you’re new to freelance, Fiverr may be a good place to
start exploring the dynamic of the client/freelancer interaction!

Free vs. Paid Sites?

A recurring question I get is “I wish I knew if the few "pay for full use" sites I've come across
were worth it”

This is a fair concern. It can be tricky to know whether it’s worth paying to see what a
platform/service is all about.

My best advice is to start by getting a clear idea what you are looking for.

If you’re looking for a job that is outside of the tech industry, I would recommend you to
consider checking out FlexJobs and possibly paying if that feels like a good fit.

If you’re still unsure about what you’d like to achieve, I would advise you to finish reading
this guide before committing to one or multiple services. This might help you save time
and money.

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Remotive Bootcamp
Keep an eye out!
Applying through job boards is one of many ways to land a job. Here there are three other ways
you should consider:

The Big List: 200+ Startups working remotely!

In 2016, I was looking for a list of startups who worked remotely, but I couldn’t quite find one.

There were several small lists scattered around the internet, but it was tricky to find an
exhaustive one, so I made my own!

Over the last year, t his list of 200 startups that work remotely h
as received hundreds of
thousands of views.

Browsing this list helps you see what type of companies are hiring so that you can get a better
sense of who is currently hiring.

Lodging a spontaneous application can also be a great way to go!

The Usual suspects: 12 Startups who are hiring!

I’ve been keeping an eye out for years to check which companies are hiring the most. This may
change with their needs but checking those companies out first is a safe bet!

I've been keeping tabs on the following companies, and they are keen to recruit remote workers
this year:

Elastic.co GitHub.com InVisionapp.com GitLab.com Hotjar.com
Zapier.com HelpScout.net Crossover CleverTech Wikimedia

Foundation
MobyMax Launch Potato Toptal.com

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Remotive Bootcamp
BONUS f or T
echnical A
pplicants, L
et t hem r ecruit y
ou!

For those of you with technical profiles, such as engineers, designers and data professionals,
there are services for companies to apply to YOUR profile! It’s pretty simple, you fill in some
information centrally and companies get in touch.

Hired is one of the largest online recruiting platforms, and they have an increasing
number of remote jobs available. A pply to HIRED! (This is an affiliate link, meaning that
if you land a job HIRED will give you a $1,000 signing bonus, and I’ll get a reward too!)

Toptal is on a mission to connect great remote workers working as freelancers with
thousands of their clients, big or small. They have you go through a series of tests to see
whether you qualify l earn more about them over here

10/19
Remotive Bootcamp
Looking for legitimate remote work opportunities

Whether you use a free or a paidfor service to find remote work, sometimes job boards will
display links to companies you don’t know some of those may even reach out to you after you
sign up for an online service.

Most platforms, such as Flexjobs and HubStaff are constantly working on removing scammers,
yet sometimes you may find yourself wondering whether an opportunity is legitimate or not.

Hadyen is a Remotive Slack community member from Florida, he was looking for a remote
position as a remote developer. Here is the story he recently shared with us:

I p
aid F lexjob's f or a o
ne m onth s ubscription a lthough t here w ere q uite a f ew l istings f or m y
specialty. 1 o
ut o f t he 2 c ontacts I r eceived w as t hrough a s cam. S o p lease b e c autious. I
applied f or a p osition t hat l ed m e t o a nother j obsite c alled h ubstaff.
The v ery n ext d ay, I r eceived a n e
mail f rom w hat a ppeared t o b e h ubstaff, c laiming t o w ant t o
interview m e t hrough G oogle H angouts. I c hecked t he e mails o f t he i nterviewer a nd t hey
actually s tole t he i dentity o f t he h uman r esources d irector.

Same n ame a nd p icture I f ound o n t he c ompany w ebsite. T hey u sed t he c ompany N anogate
as t heir f ake. I t hought I d id m y d ue d iligence b y r esearching t he c ompany, b ut t hese
scammers a re g etting m ore a nd m ore t horough.
They e ven k new t hat t he c ompany w as s etting u p a n o
ffice i n M iami, w hich I h ad t o d ig
through t he N ews s ection o f t he N anogate s ite t o f ind t hat i nfo. H ence, w hy I b elieved
everything w as l egitimate. N ever a gree t o i nterview s olely t hrough a G
oogle H angout.

There i s m ore t o t he s tory, a nd t hey d id m
anage t o f ool m e, w ith a f ake c heck f or b uying
office s upplies e tc. I a m a l ittle e mbarrassed t o m ention i t, s ince i t o nly h appened 2 w
eeks
ago.

I d
id r eport t o H ubstaff a nd F lexjob's a nd t he j ob p osting w as r emoved. N either r eally k now
who i s t o b lame, a nd n either t ake a ny r esponsibility, a lthough, I n ever w ould h ave b een
scammed i f I d idn't a pply t o t hat j ob p osting.

Just k eep i n m ind, t he s cams a re e ven o n p
aid s ubscription w ebsites.

11/19
Remotive Bootcamp

A Scammer’s email screenshot Hayden shared with the Remotive Slack Community

I do believe that both FlexJobs and HubStaff teams are trying their best to avoid listing
scammers, but it may still happen.

It’s critical that you do your research about every company that gets in touch with you before
agreeing to meet them, we’ll detail how in future chapters.

Also, remember that you will never be asked to purchase items/services or send money through
in order to land any interview!

12/19
Remotive Bootcamp
The Different Types of Remote Work

Why should you know about the different types of remote work? Each remote team works in its
own way. It’s important for you to know what’s out there to avoid surprises…

For instance, let’s consider two businesses who are both restaurants, yet operate very
differently:

Think about grabbing dinner at a fancy restaurant or at your local McDonald’s.

If you’re going to a fancy restaurant, you’ll have to make a reservation. When you show
up, they will greet you at the door, walk you to your table, and help you navigate a
complex food and wine menu.
If you’re going to McDonald’s, you’ll have to place your order with the staff, they’ll get it
ready for you for here or to go?

Both the fancy restaurant and McDonald’s are complex businesses who are eager to serve their
customers. They operate in very different ways though their hours, staff and methods are
nothing alike.

At the end of the day, they both do business very differently to please customers in their own
ways.

The same thing holds true for remote teams. Whether you’re a fulltime employee or a
freelancer, working remotely can have many different flavors.

For instance, some companies will let you work 100% remotely, while others may expect you to
come into the office some days each week.

Also, two questions that come up a lot with job seekers is “Why wouldn’t this company hire
outside of the USA?” or “Why does this company only hire in certain timezones?”

This is often connected to both legal and operational issues:

Some USbased companies may not always have a good legal understanding of what it
means and how it works to hire outside of the USA, so they prefer to hold off.
Some companies decide to only work certain hours in order to have “standard business
hours” so that all employees work, or rest, simultaneously.
For customer success roles, some companies choose to hire for a specific time zone in
order to cover business need and ensure 24/7 support (or at least business hours).
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Remotive Bootcamp

Truth be told, unless you have access and/or trust from the company’s executive team or
investors, it’s unlikely companies would make “exceptions” here.

5 varieties of remote working in companies

Joel is the CEO of Buffer, he leads 80people working remotely and s hared his perspective on
how the remote work spectrum of companies looks:

1. Not remote / officebased culture
2. Officebased with a workfromhome option
3. A remote team, in a single time zone
4. A worldwide remote team spread across numerous time zones
5. A fully distributed team with nomadic team members

Each set up brings some new opportunities and challenges. For example, If a company hires
from anywhere, it can access worldwide talent but it’s also trickier to collaborate across time
zones!

Why those differences? Companies operate differently, and depending on what they are trying
to achieve, they may choose a setup that fits them.

For starters, it has nothing to do with company size. Automattic is a 5 41people strong startup
building wordpress.com, they have 541 people who operate as a f ully distributed team with
nomadic team members (#5). S maller teams can do just that as well, R
emember The Milk has 8
fully distributed staff around the globe...

Here are a few examples to illustrate this:

#2 E lastic.co and GitHub are “O fficebased with a workfromhome option ”

Companies such as GitHub and Elastic.co have part of their staff working from the office, and
the rest works remotely.

GitHub’s HQ is located in San Francisco, whereas Elastic has a few offices they call “HUBs”,
distributed across a few countries.

Also, companies like GitHub a re very intentional about replacing meetings with chat, so that
communication doesn’t only happen behind offices walls and can also be had asynchronously.

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Remotive Bootcamp
Steven Schuurman is the cofounder and CEO of Elastic he shared a bit more with me during
an interview:

"Executives at Elasticsearch must work at one of the main hubs, partly because they need to
interact regularly with the company’s investors and board of directors.

The entire company gets together about twice a year but Elasticsearch also takes every
opportunity to bring employees who are not in the same office together.

When you hire junior people in a commercial organisation we believe that we can train people
best when they can work with each other and when they work out of “a” HUB, doesn’t matter
which one.”

#5: InVision and Buffer are “A fully distributed team with nomadic team members”

Both InVision and Buffer hire team members from all over the world Matt Borgato is a Senior
FrontEnd Engineer over at InVision and he recently blogged about his experience:

“Working from home – or anywhere!

Unlike the traditional office, we are not bound to a single physical location. We can work from
home or wherever there’s a decent Internet connection. Away from the noise of the office and
stress of commuting, in our hometowns or even in exotic locations.

I joined the company more than a year ago, and so far, I’ve traveled and lived in six countries
and two continents. I was able to do a road trip in Italy, marry my wonderful wife in Brazil, and
meet with my friends in the Netherlands and United Kingdom. I love it.”

The same holds true for Buffer h
ere is a video of how it feels to be part of such a team, as
reported by Youjin Do, who directed o newayticket.io a documentary on Digital nomads.

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Remotive Bootcamp

While every remote company will operate a different way understanding a company’s culture is
the first step of doing your research when applying for a job.

How does it relate to your experience?

Regardless of how remote they are, those teams often meet facetoface d uring company
retreats so that they can cultivate their culture face to face, for a few days per year.

Here’s one of the best summaries I read, as reported by J oel Gascoigne , CEO of Buffer.

What that does is create parity and a culture of work where location doesn’t matter. There are
no advantages for people who come into the office, no disadvantages to staying home to get
your work done
Jason Zimdars

Another cool example I got from Alana Silva, who works in HR at Expensify.com, where 90
people work remotely:

Alana shared that If two people were sitting in the same location and about to hop into a video
call, they would each use their own laptop instead of being two people behind one screen, so
that it doesn’t feel odd to the other participants.

Next time you interview for a role in a remote company, do make sure to ask them about how
they work remotely.

Are they remote first? Do they have offices? How do people work together inside the company?

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Remotive Bootcamp
If you’re curious about how those remote companies work, here are two bestsellers that have
recently been written to give you an “insider’s look” of how remote teams work:
“The Year Without Pants”, by S cott Berkun
“Remote” , by D HH & Jason Fried

17/19
Remotive Bootcamp
APPENDIX
References and further Reading for Module 1

http://joel.is/5varietiesofremoteworking/
https://medium.com/@rdutel/200startupshiringremotelyin20161d4299e5163f#.usewsitsh
https://zachholman.com/posts/howgithubworks/
http://www.binpress.com/blog/2014/10/21/binpresspodcastepisode16shaybanonelasticsear
ch/
https://www.elastic.co/about
https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2360equalityandremoteteams
https://zachholman.com/posts/chat/
https://zachholman.com/posts/remotefirst/
http://joel.is/questionsiaskmyselfaboutworkingasdistributed/
https://zapier.com/learn/remotework/howmanageremoteteam/
http://engineering.invisionapp.com/post/makingremoteworkingwork/
https://automattic.com/about/
https://jobs.remotive.io
https://Remoteok.io
https://weworkremotely.com/
https://angel.co/jobs#find/f!%7B%22remote%22%3Atrue%7D
http://stackoverflow.com/jobs?sort=i&l=Remote&d=20&u=Km
https://powertofly.com/jobs/page/1/?submit=Filter&location_type=Remote&location_type=Hybrid
https://Flexjobs.com
https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs
http://www.skipthedrive.com/
https://www.virtualvocations.com/
https://jobspresso.co/browsejobs/
http://europeremotely.com/
https://www.wfh.io/
https://www.outsourcely.com/
https://Remote.com
https://jobs.github.com/positions?description=&location=remote
https://landing.jobs
https://dribbble.com/jobs?location=Anywhere
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Remotive Bootcamp
https://www.authenticjobs.com/#remote=true
https://blog.bufferapp.com/findingsuccessfreelancingbufferchatrecap
https://www.fiverr.com/
https://www.cloudpeeps.com/
http://Upwork.com
https://www.linkedin.com/profinder?trk=d_flagship3_nav
https://hired.com/freelance
https://medium.com/@rdutel/200startupshiringremotelyin20161d4299e5163f#.usewsitsh
http://joel.is/5varietiesofremoteworking/
https://automattic.com/about/
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/
https://zachholman.com/posts/chat/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nLVtGpcl0
http://onewayticket.io
http://engineering.invisionapp.com/post/makingremoteworkingwork/
https://37signals.com/remote
http://scottberkun.com/yearwithoutpants/
https://zapier.com/learn/remotework/howmanageremoteteam/
http://joel.is/questionsiaskmyselfaboutworkingasdistributed/
https://open.buffer.com/internationalpay/
https://www.google.fr/webhp?sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF8#q=bitcoin+buf
fer&*

19/19

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