Ask HN: Why are companies still reluctant to hire remote devs and designers?

3 points by demianbrener 9 years ago | 4 comments

Though some companies are remote friendly and hire remote devs and designers (US or overseas), many are still reluctant to do it. What are the main reasons behind this?

epc 9 years ago |

Speaking for myself, I've been burned repeatedly by remote labor and remote teams. Any theoretical cost savings were squandered by the increased amount of time overhead in project management and "do over" work. I'm now advising a startup which had to start from scratch on its MVP a second time because the first team…simply walked away after six months of work.

I'm sure there's blame to be spread around, but personally after nearly a decade of trying to use remote labor for coding, I won't do it again if it's my money at stake.

demianbrener 9 years ago | |

You mean remote employees, or outsourcing development to an overseas team for a specific project?

epc 9 years ago | | |

Both.

traviswingo 9 years ago |

I can only speak for my own company (startup), but typically it's the simple matter of immediate feedback and reaction. In the startup world, things are changing constantly, and it's really convenient to turn to my left and ask a question. I can't do that when I'm required to schedule hangouts or meetings for things. Having everyone in the same room is priceless when things are moving this fast.