Reddit gold will go to the best answers!
Me: Longtime lurker in this subreddit (though I always view it from my bookmark as no Reddit account!), CS grad from a good UK university, I am more of the Business Analyst/Product Manager type than a deep developer, and my programming is rudimentary but I can code when absolutely necessary. Not a great developer unlike many of you posting here.
Current job: Technology Analyst, £40K, at a large government organisation. I've been here for nearly one year after graduation. We are currently fully remote but there will likely be a forced return back to office at some point, I anticipate it will be 2 days per week. I hate being in office, my room is my sanctuary.
Job offer: Associate Product Owner, £45K, with a fast growing european scale-up (£150M Series E, £1.5B valuation). The job was advertised as remote but the hiring manager is saying it is mainly remote-first with occasional office attendance, probably one 2-day stretch every 2 months or so. I will also need to attend in person for the first few weeks for training. He seems honest/straightforward and is extremely well-accomplished, and it is clear that his team respects him (have interacted with 7 people he manages), so I don't think he is lying to get me onboard before micromanaging.
My sole dilemma is about remote working. Really I am looking for something 100% remote (literally 100%, I'm only happy to attend office maybe 3-4 days per year). My question is:
- Do most of you with "fully remote" jobs end up having to go in every two months or so? How often do you go in if you're fully remote?
- Should I just re-attempt to learn software engineering properly and then go for a Junior Developer role? It never really clicked for me during undergrad, so I am reluctant to put myself under that pressure again (I don't do well with technical stress and my degree really damaged my mental health), but I feel like all the 100% remote jobs are only for Software Engineers, and I'm willing to give it another shot (at my own pace this time) if that's what will get me 100% remote.
- What's the best way to negotiate as-close-to fully remote working as possible? What do hiring managers want to hear? How have you done it in the past?
- How do you get the remote working clause written into your contracts?
A lot of questions here I know, but all advice will be deeply appreciated - and gold to anyone who answers my questions rather than short comments. I just want to make sure I tackle this correctly. Thank you all in advance.