> and any job I would consider would have to be 100% remote.
The problem is that if you lose your job this plan will crumble on first contact with the enemy. I'm job hunting right now, and between 'ghost jobs', bad recruiters, low ballers, take-homes with unstated requirements, leetcode grinding, system design studying, optimization for "best talent, lowest salary", and the fact that workers have absolutely no power means you don't have a choice how you work at some point.
Once savings start to dry up, you'll work in person. You'll move if they ask, you'll take a lower salary and a worse position... after all, do you want to eat?
It's time to unionize the tech sector. Can you imagine how industrial action (shutting down APIs) could cripple a fortune 500 company. Sadly people don't act in their best interest. Execs and capitalists only hold power as long as we give them power.
It makes more sense to focus on the capital-intensive and oligopolistic parts, e.g. cloud computing, social media and advertising. Tech, broadly, maintains a threat of new entrants.
In the technology sector, our income and share of remote work is actually pretty good. For example, most of us (in the U.S., in technology) are in or close to the top 10% of individual incomes in the United States.
I'm going through this right now but already have a remote contracting job for less than I was making but putting out feelers for in-person. The in-person jobs are usually an hour away and pay more.
Problem is waking up everyday at 6:30 am so I can be in office by 9 is a huge mental and physical stress. Moving closer isn't an option because I own my house. Right now my thinking is do I want to spend an extra 4-5 hours per day on my career just to work in a shitty cubicle for only 30k more? I'm honestly leaning towards putting up with less money and waiting for another opportunity to cross my path.
If shit really hits the fan I can sell my California house and buy a whole house outright in another part of the country and sustain myself easily. I'm just choosing to stay here but I really don't have to.
It all depends. I am remote for the last 20+ years. I have my own company but still I have to find new clients and I did not really have problems in that department.
Freelancing is a whole different game. Once you've built your network and brand you have options. I'd love to be a freelancer but I'm not competent enough with the self promotion/marketing, and couldn't handle the mental toll of the lean months.
It is also possible for talented people to set up their own businesses, even though we all have spent our entire childhood having it drilled into our heads that our purpose is to serve for somebody else.
The problem is that if you lose your job this plan will crumble on first contact with the enemy. I'm job hunting right now, and between 'ghost jobs', bad recruiters, low ballers, take-homes with unstated requirements, leetcode grinding, system design studying, optimization for "best talent, lowest salary", and the fact that workers have absolutely no power means you don't have a choice how you work at some point.
Once savings start to dry up, you'll work in person. You'll move if they ask, you'll take a lower salary and a worse position... after all, do you want to eat?