How much is 100% remote work worth? (e.g., 70k WFH job v. 100k IRL job)

[TopHatFox]

I was thinking that 100% remote work may as well be worth tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. Think about it:

1. No tolls (30 * 12 = $360/yr)
2. No commute (1 hour * 260 working days * hourly rate)
3. No lunches ($15 * 260 working days)
4. No room or apartment near downtown ($1000-2000/mo = $12,000 - $24,000)
5. No interruptions or need to stay in office 8 hours as long as work gets done (4 hours * 260 working days * hourly rate)
6. Less business clothes or dry cleaning as only necessary if Zooming that day ($1,000/yr)
7. Ability to live in a room anywhere within a reasonable time-zone (~tens-of-thousands to hundreds-of-thousands)
8. Less chance to get in a car accident, as no rush hour (projected medical bills or car replacement)
9. More energy/hours for hobbies or side-business as no commute or strict 8 hours (ROI of home/car trades, contracts, or startup).

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Interestingly, a lot of these benefits get eradicated even with hybrid work where you need to commute into the office a few days a week (you still need to live in the expensive state/city). IOW, I'd argue that for most situations, it's more profitable to get paid $70K to 100% WFH, than $100K to routinely commute and live in-person to a job site.

[chenda]

Absolutely true, I frigging love my slacker working from home job. Doing zoom meetings half naked with a shot of Cointreau on the side is a wonderful way to earn money. Thank you covid.

[mathiverse]

Related recent thread: How Much is Remote Work Worth to You?

[2Birds1Stone]

Very much enjoyed making $100k+ from home the past 5 years.....often working 10-15 hrs a week. The jobs are out there.

[TopHatFox]

@2Birds1Stone, I believe it. A friend from college is earning 120K + bonus as a senior software engineer 100% wfh. She says she only does 4-6 actual hours of work a week. I think my company pays $100K+ WFH to the Software Engineers judging from the few salary submissions on Glassdoor, so I definitely need to keep studying and vye for one of those jobs.

[chenda]

Very much enjoyed making $100k+ from home the past 5 years.....often working 10-15 hrs a week. The jobs are out there.

I earn less than half this for 10-15 hrs a week and it still seems ridiculously cushy : )

[TopHatFox]

I wonder how many of us wfh on the forum. It really does put ERE on super easy mode by comparison. I used to literally have to get up at 4-5 am to commute 1 hour to a mine site in the middle of nowhere, work 12 hours, and commute 1 hour back, all to do it again the next day.

[Seppia]

@TopHatFox

maybe you're only looking at one side of the equation.
Some negatives of WFH:
- no mentorship from more senior staff / less chances to learn and acquire skills
- less networking opportunities

Both the above resulting in lower growth in salary. You may be penny wise and pound foolish

A couple general comments

1/ I've said it before, I think this is a great time to over invest in your job (especially if young). The bar has rarely been set lower and it is much easier to get ahead than it was before: when your peers are getting stoned 24/7 it doesn't take much to outperform and get that juicy raise (or avoid the inevitable layoffs*)

2/ in the aggregate, output has a (close to) 1:1 correlation with "hours put in"**. We always talk about many things not being sustainable: how do you think working half the time and making the same amount of money will play out in the future?


*I can almost hear the "the world is so unfair!" cries from the non-workers
**you may be the exception, but remember there is no city where everybody is above average

[TopHatFox]

@Seppia, I hear that, but I’ve never gotten mentorship from superiors. Usually, it’s “I dunno, figure it out, I’m busy.” So I do, by finding YT classes on the subject and teaching myself. Same thing with networking. None of my irl connections have led to a job. Usually it’s just alumni network, or way more often, making my resume as shiny as possible and spamming it to as many recruiters as possible. My current job wasn’t even from the alumni network, just from making my resume fancy & being good at interviewing

No cap: if companies can hire Equity & Inclusion Officers, maybe they should hire someone to make a training program so mentorship becomes obsolete. If I can learn C# or quantum physics over the internet, most things can be learned.

[zbigi]

In coding, mentorship is fairly ubiquitous. Junior devs should definitely expect it, and complain if they don't get it. If nothing else, mentoring is essential because in coding there are very many ways to accomplish the same thing, and teams usually settle on specific approaches to given problems. And you as junior can only learn about which approach is the preferred one via mentoring from some senior dev who takes the time to explain stuff to you. Also, when you start working in a new codebase, it's usually hopeless to try to figure it out on your own - it's too large and too complex. You need to have catchup sessions regularly with a senior dev who will help you get unstuck. Some companies even formalize it to the extent of assigning you an "onboarding buddy", with scheduled daily calls in the calendar where you can get help.