In 2022, the lines between in-office, remote, and hybrid work are blurred. While many have resumed working from the office full time, many others have opted for full-time remote operations. According to McKinsey, there has been a 25% increase in remote workers as a result of COVID-19. As a result, 16% of companies are now hiring remote workers exclusively, while the chances of smaller companies hiring remote workers have increased twofold.
This has happened because remote work has opened the arenas for many industries where the people feel they are up to 30% more productive than they did in full-time office work. For developers, who are often engaged in working solely from their laptops or computers, this has become a boon. However, this has also presented a challenge for developers without experience in the field. So, how does a developer get a remote job without any experience? Read on to find out!
In today’s world, just expecting to get a remote job without understanding what all goes into it is not wise. Since the workplace has become remote, the hiring and the skills requirement standards have risen. Furthermore, as a remote developer, you are expected to deliver high-quality projects since you are in the comfort of your home. Some of the things you should keep in mind before getting a remote developer job are:
● Company Expectations
Today, companies that hire remote developers look for people that can deliver high-quality projects within stipulated timelines. They also need specific skills that can be utilized almost immediately after onboarding, along with project management and troubleshooting skills. They also want the developers to be adaptable and make the desired changes without any hassles.
● Skills
As a remote developer, you are expected to have the following skills at the bare minimum since you will not be interfacing the employer face-to-face:
○ Technical skills - Coding, programming, and development skills as needed by the project
○ Non-Technical skills - Reporting, managing tasks, and troubleshooting any bugs or errors that may present themselves.
○ QA and Testing skills - As a remote developer, you should be able to test the program to assure smooth operability in the real world.
○ Soft skills - Irrespective of your physical absence, you must demonstrate team spirit, communication skills, patience, and self-awareness.
● Motivations
Becoming a remote developer is like becoming a tech entrepreneur. You need to know why you are doing it because there will be no one who will wake you up in the morning and no real bosses to face. Make sure you are motivated enough and like what you do to be ready and recharged to get back to work every Monday.
● Target
Right from the start, you need to keep the status quo with the employer. Make sure that you know what your target is from that remote job that you will undertake. Whether it is monetary gain, experience, or just achance to work remotely, make sure that you are clear of the target you want to achieve. Consequently, understand how your target will fit your employer's expectations and adapt accordingly.
Thanks to the post-COVID era, a remote developer is just as valuable as an on-site developer. While the latter gets to interact with the office staff to deliver high-quality work, the former gets work done equally as productively without much intervention. That said, remote developers must have some pre-requisites before landing a job.
Some of the steps necessary to become a remote developer are:
● Technical skills
Even if you don’t have experience, to get a remote job as a software developer, you need to have certain technical skills. They are:
○ Full Stack Programming and Coding
This is a must-have skill for a remote developer since you are expected to deliver projects that can have their scopes lying in the back-end or front-end development, or maybe both. Full-stack programming helps in laying the foundation for both of these.
○ Software Development
There may be a lot of instances where you might be needed to develop entire software or API services for softwares. For this, knowledge and skills about software development are a must.
○ Software Testing and Debugging
As a developer, you are bound to encounter problems in code. Testing and debugging skills are necessary for even a fresher developer to ensure that they do not impact other app functions, websites, or software functions.
● Non-Technical Skills
Right from the start, you are expected to have a few non-technical skills, even as a remote developer. They are:
○ Strong Communication
Being a remote software developer, strong communication skills are absolutely necessary to ensure you can explain what work you have done or what is expected from other members ofthe team.
○ Report making
To make the process simpler or even to document the process, report-making is an essential skill for a developer. They should be able to generate reports on how they have built any product along with the analogy and delivery of it.
○ Time management and prioritization
Software developers are often needed to handle multiple projects at the same time. And since all the work needs to be prioritized depending on the delivery, these skills often become paramount.
○ Collaboration and teamwork
In most cases, a remote developer is added as part of a team. To ensure that they function properly despite their physical presence, they must have collaborative and team spirit qualities.
○ Flexibility and adaptability
Flexibility and adaptability are skills that are held in high regard for developers since they are expected to change the project multiple times before the delivery. Hence, being adaptable helps in making those changes efficiently.
● Join the right platforms
Finding a remote developer job often becomes difficult if you are not in the right places at the right time. Joining platforms like Notchup can help in this regard since they pay better and make sure that the developers are rewarded for the work they put in by associating them with the right brands. Also, their remote developers are rarely out of work.
● Network thoroughly and follow the latest trends
Networking is an excellent skill to develop for a software developer. If you are looking for a remote job,you might need to approach many people to land the right job with a suitable description. You also need to be aware of the latest trends in the tech world to increase your chances of landing a remote development gig. For this, you can join the Discord channel of Notchup, which offers both networking opportunities and the latest updates aplenty.
● Apply for Remote Jobs and give interviews
Last but not least, as a remote developer, you need to apply for a lot of jobs and face a lot of interviews before you actually find the perfect match for your skills. This means you must be prepared for many interviews that may not be fruitful and just power through them anyways.
Given the increasing number of people who have taken a liking to remote work, it is undoubtedly the next thing in business. So, if you are looking to make your mark as a remote developer, you can rest assured that you can get alot of work as long as you have the right skills for the job.
