Looking for a change in work and would love suggestions on how to find jobs with understanding bosses and/or odd hours. I can always get my work done, but I tend to put in bizarre hours for my own projects due to the ebb/flow of chronic pain.
For me personally, I would prefer to work 16 hours on my good days and 0 hours on the days I can barely see straight because of migraine-level pain in my neck and back.
Iām currently working in San Francisco and have major issues getting to/from work without my entire day being focused on work-related travel (not to mention spending all of my time at home recuperating for the next work day)
I would take a massive pay cut to have a job from home with an understanding boss. Country is entirely irrelevant to me if they speak English and accept foreigners; otherwise, I know 2nd-grade-level Spanish, German, and French.
- Is going through a recruiter a good idea?
- Would there be any agencies that work specifically with disabled workers?
- If not, what are good websites for actually getting call-backs on dev jobs?
I have all of the requirements for a home gig (desk, monitors, multiple computers, home server, webcam, etc), is there a way to subtly express that to a potential hiring manger?
I donāt know if there are agencies focussing on this, but in general it probably comes down to the company more than the agency. Probably worth filtering for companies offering flexible hours in the description
I would say at the moment the IT job market is incredibly competitive for candidates, so it might be even more difficult to find truly flex roles when they can so easily find 100s of people who just work regular hours.
On your last question: Iāve been a hiring manager in 2 companies (although in the UK) for software engineers and adjacent roles (like devops, platform, QA) and I would not care whether someone needs equipment. In the big scheme of things spending $800 for a monitor, keyboard and mouse is not even a drop in the bucket for the cost of an employee. What I would want to know is how do you work in a team in your situation and what arrangement can we do where you have a good experience, but other people in the company can still count on you. E.g. if you are working on a project and an issue pops up thatās blocking others from progressing and we need you to discuss, but youāre having a bad day and not working, what are the options you can offer? Or what if you get blocked when everyone else is asleep so you canāt progress?
I think being prepared and upfront about this in an early stage of interviewing would be ideal, it signals that you have thought about others around you and also weed out any companies who arenāt willing to make this arrangement work. That being said, as above itās a very competitive market right now so chances are pretty slim (at least in the UK).
Also keep in mind once you look at companies who hire from abroad, youāre now also competing with (comparably) cheap labour from developing countries, who will likely agree to much worse terms.
Edit: one thing I forgot, you may have the option to be your own boss (depending on your skill level) and freelance on a project basis rather than on a per-day basis.
If you are able to find a US govt job and can make it through the whatever period you need to be a contractor until you get hired on as a federal employee, this should cover you. I have a contact in a similar situation except cluster headaches. Itās going to pay less than private sector and you might have to learn some new skills for the right role. IIRC Softrams just landed a huge federal contract and hires warm bodies; might be a great place to start.
Iāve got a lot of contacts on the market right now struggling to land a gig that wouldnāt have struggled a few years ago. Do you have DevOps skills? Any security qualifications? Get both. Are you working on certs? Do some. Have you hired a resume service? Do so. The last two are things I normally think are kinda bullshit but they are edges that seem to matter right now.
As for a recruiting firm, I feel like all the good recruiters Iāve worked with would have advocated for me. Thatās a total fucking crapshoot tho. Iāve worked with plenty that have shafted me. I donāt think thereās a specific firm for this problem.
Yeah the job market seems really tough right now, and it seems even more hopeless for somebody like myself but Iām keeping out hope š
Most of my experience is with automation surrounding javascript/selenium/python for various healthcare companies. I own my own dell server and used to work in engineering software/product support, so the realm of devops isnāt entirely foreign to me but I certainly wouldnāt say I have a lot of āskillsā associated with it other than the ability to google my ass off.
Have any suggestions on cheaper certs that might be worthwhile?
The pricing has always been the part that turned me off of most certs, just having looked through a couple of them Security+ is >$500 which seems insane to me.
Tons of remote jobs out there, probably a higher percentage for startup jobs. Most remote places will have people in different time zones and some sort of core hours they expect people to be in, but having some discussion youāll probably be able to find one thatās accommodating.
One good site to start looking:
Good luck
I had a very good experience with Honeypot (https://www.honeypot.io/en/). Itās Europe only, so not sure about the legal aspects of working from the US, but Germany have recently did some changes to laws related to work visas specifically to attract tech workers, so it shouldnāt be that hard. You speak German, so thatās a big plus.
Itās a āreverseā job search, in the sense that you create your profile/CV and companies apply to you. After creating your profile, you do a short call with a recruiter, that helps you adjust it to the type of job you are looking for.
