How do you move into senior positions, and then lead positions as a remote developer? Is it even possible? As a remote software engineer I have low visibility and do not work with a team of on-site developers so I feel stuck in a holding pattern. Not to mention half the time my roles are temp roles. How do I cement myself as a bigger team player while staying remote, and gradually take on more leadership?
You change jobs. That's it. Even though you might think it's a simple approach, no, it's not. It takes guts. And on the positive side, you also get a chance to show off, demonstrate your true abilities.<p>It's a gig economy. Mobility is one of the features. You can spend your life proving your "worthiness" at one company when other will see it right away.
It's very difficult unless the entire company is remote. It's a very simple human bias. We feel greater connection and trust with people physically present, which naturally makes remote workers less likely to seem like a good choice for a promotion or leadership role. If it's something you really want you need to explicitly start working for it. Talk to management, explain your career goals, determine what it is they are looking for in a higher level position, and then become it. Make it obvious that you can do that job and keep revisiting the issue.<p>Even if you do this you may find that they still just prefer promote someone on site. It happened to me after 2 years with a small startup. It wasn't personal; they just preferred someone who could be there for social outings, in-person standups with other managers, and other obligations at the office. You have to be ready for that outcome and plan your career accordingly.
I work for remote for 4 years now, one in employment and three as a freelancer.<p>I have the feeling most of business stuff is gut feeling and story telling.<p>People aren't interested in what you can do for them, but in what they think you can do for them.<p>The will gladly promote someone over you just because they sit in the same office or at the same floor as them. Often it's enough that they both believe in the next hype or both play tennis.<p>What I have learned in the last years, is, you need to create visibility. Put yourself out there. Create articles, podcasts, videos, whatever. The more people get a feeling for "you" in it, the better.<p>When I didn't write articles, people would simply ignore me, mostly because they didn't know I existed.<p>When I started blogging, people one day contacted me for collaboration, but only like 5 or so.<p>When I did a podcast, people suddendly took me as a human being they could potentially like. I didn't tell them new stuff, I wrote about it for years, so I don't think they considered my skills. A voice simply made me more approachable. Suddenly more important people wanted to contact me.<p>What I want to say is, put yourself out there, try to make youself seen as someone skillful others can relate to. It certainly helped me.
As a person leading a remote first company.<p>I believe that it is first depends on the company and leadership culture.<p>If they look at you as an "outside" help, they will less trust you with important roles and responsibilities.<p>I have two suggestions:<p>1. From my experience even a week on site can make a huge difference. Is it a possibility for you to reach to the office?<p>2. Try to understand more about the bigger picture /context and do the extra step of bringing areas you feel strong vs other team members. It will show the leadership that you are able to lead.
Work on something alone, and become the subject matter expert. Then petition for a helper, and build a team that did not previously exist.<p>If you don’t get assigned to an area where you can do this, look around and spot the subject you are going to master and the team you are going to build and petition a manager to get you to solve that new problem for the company.<p>(15 years in the last 20 remote)
Fully remote worker (from another country) on a leadership position here.<p>Hard work and exceptional availability and communication skills. I was the guy who would work weekends, be the first the show up online etc. Never procrastinate. Keep track of other people's work and make your efforts in moving things forward crystal clear to your boss. Deliver.<p>People are not going to bet on a remote worker for displaying exceptional commitment or leadership skills. You have to actively display them yourself, but not in a pushy manner. Just be the absolute most useful and reliable person you can be. Soon enough you'll have enough responsibilities and involvement in projects that a leadership role will emerge naturally.
This is my game plan. I freelance my rates have been edging up.. started at $30/hr now at $50. Hoping to get them to $90 by next year.<p>I'm in the same boat sort my game plan is:<p>1. Schedule bots to post on reddit in all the forhire subreddits w/ alternating message templates. This gets me new leads and sometimes people find me from stuff I posted a few months ago.<p>2. Write 2-3 blog posts per week on medium, w/ a blurb about who I am and how to hire me. These should be VERY technical and thorough. Some of these posts have made me a could hundred $$ just from media partner program so it's definitely not wasted time.<p>3. Write a book. This is something I'm wanting to do when I get the time, haven't yet. Something targeting your target market (for me that's just SaaS entrepreneurs, so I might do a book on building and scaling a SaaS business eventually.)<p>4. Keep your resume and public github active and maintained. The better your online presence the more likely you are to get hired.<p>5. Eventually word of mouth should be your #1 source of new gigs if freelancing, so build the warm market as you can.<p>I also feel stuck quite often, and I don't always meet my goals for self-marketing. But I have seen things grow a bit, and am hoping it continues. I think the key is just consistency.<p>Some other things be sure to post to all the HN who's hiring/looking-for-work/freelancer-seeking-freelancer.<p>If you want a remote gig there are plenty out there, and if you can land one with a big company like gitlab then name recognition could lift you up.<p>Also places like toptal can get you decent pay but I'm reluctant to go through their lengthy on-boarding so haven't tested them myself.
If you have enough experience, try to change teams or companies and apply for a more senior role. Try bringing this concern up in your next 1:1, see what your manage thinks about it - he or she is probably well positioned to give you a game-plan.
You might get some answers here but for your company the main way is to talk to the boss who makes the decisions about who does what and ask them for the job, or if not what you have to do to achieve that. I'd think spending some face-time in the office to know the team would be a requirement.
You have to take accountability for your own path. Choose to evolve your role, and if there is resistance, find someone to work with who you're more compatible with.
Work for a remote first company, make your desire for leadership opportunities known during the interview process, and follow up on that goal in 1 on 1s.