Remote jobs for software developers

A

ashdgee

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How many of you here are working for overseas based firms while here in SA? I have a cousin of mine with about 6 years experience as a software developer and he's looking at US firms. The salary rates for US firms are quite high , saw some pay up to $45 an hour, this can translate to over 100 000 rand here using today's rate.

What are some of the tips to land an opportunity at these firms while working from here? He hasn't found much luck here in SA so considering remote work for overseas firms.
 
There are people working for local companies earning R100K. LinkedIn should be the best tool though. I have almost no experience but I got interest from a few overseas companies.
 
randomcat said:
There are people working for local companies earning R100K. LinkedIn should be the best tool though. I have almost no experience but I got interest from a few overseas co
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This is quite encouraging to hear. Hope he will secure a new role in the new year.
 
ashdgee said:
How many of you here are working for overseas based firms while here in SA? I have a cousin of mine with about 6 years experience as a software developer and he's looking at US firms. The salary rates for US firms are quite high , saw some pay up to $45 an hour, this can translate to over 100 000 rand here using today's rate.

What are some of the tips to land an opportunity at these firms while working from here? He hasn't found much luck here in SA so considering remote work for overseas firms.
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A Software developer struggling to find work in SA? That's not normally the case.

Do you know what language he develops in?
 
I want to know where to find any work from abroad jobs.
When mentioned in job offers, the term "remote" generally ends up meaning "work from home" in adverts, and "work abroad" usually means nationalised employee going on abroad work trips.
**Aside: If anyone has advice for finding jobs for British citizens living in South Africa permanently, working for UK companies, appreciated.
 
zoozi said:
I want to know where to find any work from abroad jobs.
When mentioned in job offers, the term "remote" generally ends up meaning "work from home" in adverts, and "work abroad" usually means nationalised employee going on abroad work trips.
**Aside: If anyone has advice for finding jobs for British citizens living in South Africa permanently, working for UK companies, appreciated.
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"Fully remote" and "worldwide" is the words you are looking for.
 
Priapus said:
A Software developer struggling to find work in SA? That's not normally the case.

Do you know what language he develops in?
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Not exactly sure what languages (dont know much in this field) bu I had him speak of Java etc. He did interview for a few roles though, although some never got back.
 
ashdgee said:
Not exactly sure what languages (dont know much in this field) bu I had him speak of Java etc. He did interview for a few roles though, although some never got back.
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Best of luck to him; generally the local pool of good developers is small and the demand is high, so its a great environment for such skills.
 
There are recruiting agencies that specialize in this (eg, I’ve heard of Turing.com). It may make sense to work through these than try find specific jobs.

The best (read: long game) way to get remote work in SA (or anywhere really), is to go overseas and work for a while, then move back to SA and continue working at the same (or close to that) comp. It gets the overseas company names on the resume, potentially foreign citizenship, and avoids the companies hiring from SA for cheap labor.

A have a couple of friends who have done this. One makes a bit over R3m/y, after relocating from the UK.
 
The internal brain-drain is an interesting phenomenon. Good for SARS (well, short term at least), but it’s going to make it really hard for local businesses to compete for talent.
 
I landed a fully remote for a major multinational. It came up on my LinkedIn feed rather than a search. That said I have done all the LinkedIn skill assessments relevant to my line of work and ace'd them. Also I have a few Github projects with over 100 stars. Contributed to some major current buzzword CNCF projects and those badges are on my Github account which I link to my LinkedIn. Wrote a few Medium articles linked back to my Github and LinkedIn. Also linked my Stackoverflow account to my LinkedIn and Github, every now and then I will search out my area of expertise and answer a few questions which increases my stack "reputation". All in all these may have worked to increase my "hire-ability" if I google my name in incognito these are all the top hits.

The thing now is since I have proven myself as a fully remote I would say half of my LinkedIn direct pings from agents are from overseas. Companies and agents seem to prefer those who have fully remote under their belt before approaching a possible candidate or its possibly just the LinkedIn algorithm?

Agree with @cguy

Truth is local companies just cannot compete with the dollar. This is a huge concern for local startups and established businesses. Omnicron scare came along and I got a decent December bonus as the rand tanked. In the end I am guessing the wide spread of fully remote will eventually have a direct impact locally in terms of renumeration. And more importantly how local companies treat their staff.
 
s0lar said:
The thing now is since I have proven myself as a fully remote I would say half of my LinkedIn direct pings from agents are from overseas. Companies and agents seem to prefer those who have fully remote under their belt before approaching a possible candidate or its possibly just the LinkedIn algorithm?
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My guess is that it’s having the overseas company on your LinkedIn. They’re likely putting you up for the running for jobs available in prior companies of your new colleagues.
 
cguy said:
There are recruiting agencies that specialize in this (eg, I’ve heard of Turing.com). It may make sense to work through these than try find specific jobs.

The best (read: long game) way to get remote work in SA (or anywhere really), is to go overseas and work for a while, then move back to SA and continue working at the same (or close to that) comp. It gets the overseas company names on the resume, potentially foreign citizenship, and avoids the companies hiring from SA for cheap labor.

A have a couple of friends who have done this. One makes a bit over R3m/y, after relocating from the UK.
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3m/yr is quite a cool salary. Must be experienced I guess
 
ashdgee said:
3m/yr is quite a cool salary. Must be experienced I guess
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He’s pretty good, but mostly it’s because after 10 years or so after an honours degree, he was making around 140kGBP (which is above average, but not exceptional), and then moved back to Cape Town, while keeping his job.

Getting that kind of money, even as a remote worker is pretty difficult (since the hiring company usually accounts for the local pay rate and cost of living when negotiating). You definitely have an edge if you can work overseas for a bit.
 
Interested to hear more on this & other with similar experience.

I'm being offered a job for a US company paid in USD - no presence in SA so I plan to work as an independent contractor.

The tricky part is knowing the best way to repatriate the USD into ZAR in SA as going straight via the bank would be a no no when it comes to exchange rates.
 
Peps said:
Interested to hear more on this & other with similar experience.

I'm being offered a job for a US company paid in USD - no presence in SA so I plan to work as an independent contractor.

The tricky part is knowing the best way to repatriate the USD into ZAR in SA as going straight via the bank would be a no no when it comes to exchange rates.
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Wise.com (aka Transferwise) offers much better rates than the banks, however, they can come back to you and ask for a bunch of info you may not be comfortable giving (like months of bank statements).
 
s0lar said:
I landed a fully remote for a major multinational. It came up on my LinkedIn feed rather than a search. That said I have done all the LinkedIn skill assessments relevant to my line of work and ace'd them. Also I have a few Github projects with over 100 stars. Contributed to some major current buzzword CNCF projects and those badges are on my Github account which I link to my LinkedIn. Wrote a few Medium articles linked back to my Github and LinkedIn. Also linked my Stackoverflow account to my LinkedIn and Github, every now and then I will search out my area of expertise and answer a few questions which increases my stack "reputation". All in all these may have worked to increase my "hire-ability" if I google my name in incognito these are all the top hits.

The thing now is since I have proven myself as a fully remote I would say half of my LinkedIn direct pings from agents are from overseas. Companies and agents seem to prefer those who have fully remote under their belt before approaching a possible candidate or its possibly just the LinkedIn algorithm?

Agree with @cguy

Truth is local companies just cannot compete with the dollar. This is a huge concern for local startups and established businesses. Omnicron scare came along and I got a decent December bonus as the rand tanked. In the end I am guessing the wide spread of fully remote will eventually have a direct impact locally in terms of renumeration. And more importantly how local companies treat their staff.
Click to expand...
Not only this but a lot of companies want to adopt a 'hybrid remote' approach (which it seems means you actually work 4 days with 1 day in the office), and I think after 2+- years of work from home, it's clear for some there's a huge benefit in staying fully remote. This isn't the case for everyone but to be honest I only went into the office because of loadshedding, and that's probably the biggest problem for most in South Africa looking for fully remote work outside South Africa.
 
axsis said:
Not only this but a lot of companies want to adopt a 'hybrid remote' approach (which it seems means you actually work 4 days with 1 day in the office), and I think after 2+- years of work from home, it's clear for some there's a huge benefit in staying fully remote. This isn't the case for everyone but to be honest I only went into the office because of loadshedding, and that's probably the biggest problem for most in South Africa looking for fully remote work outside South Africa.
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Load shedding is no issue for remote work. Why would it be? There is no difference between remote and in-office for load shedding. At home I have a working big screen while in-office I have to struggle on a small laptop screen.
 
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