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.
I’m 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?
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 you’ll probably be able to find one that’s accommodating.
One good site to start looking:
Good luck
Appreciate the feedback :)
I had a very good experience with Honeypot (https://www.honeypot.io/en/). It’s 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 shouldn’t be that hard. You speak German, so that’s a big plus.
It’s a “reverse” 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.
Not entirely sure if they cater to Americans, but I do see that Germany recently opened up their “chancenkarte” opportunity visas this month.
Gunna check it out and put in-person for Germany. Appreciate it.
I don’t 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: I’ve 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 that’s blocking others from progressing and we need you to discuss, but you’re 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 can’t 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 aren’t willing to make this arrangement work. That being said, as above it’s 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, you’re 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. It’s 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.
I’ve got a lot of contacts on the market right now struggling to land a gig that wouldn’t 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 I’ve worked with would have advocated for me. That’s a total fucking crapshoot tho. I’ve worked with plenty that have shafted me. I don’t think there’s 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 I’m keeping out hope 😅
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 isn’t entirely foreign to me but I certainly wouldn’t say I have a lot of “skills” 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.
That’s all good but why does it sound like you’re punishing yourself by taking a pay cut and working 16 hour days? Can’t you get on disability? You can for example be 20% disabled or 40%. This will allow you to work normal hours, have a normal income and extra rights and benefits. You might want to call your municipality and ask what’s possible and get informed.
Have applied via the state and via the federal gov. Nobody I’ve worked with has talked about a % based system, and when I search for it I only see things related to Veterans.
Is that a thing for SSI? Do you know if it only applies to veterans?
I am speaking from a German perspective, I’m not informed on how it works within your context.
But I imagine you must have something along those lines too. Obviously there are disabled people, and if those receive benefits, then what is halfway between that and not being disabled? Or is it black and white?
And it isn’t just about finances. It is also about housing and work. For example there is special housing built for people who need to live in an accessible place, say on the ground floor in the city. And larger companies are motivated to hire disabled people. I’m not sure how, perhaps through tax breaks or perhaps they are even legally obligated to have n posts for disabled people.
If your system does not provide for your needs, you might consider moving. Didn’t you say you are a coder or something? That’s an easy green card.
