Ask HN: As an Australian, is it possible to get a remote US role?

4 pointsapatheticonion25d ago8 comments

G'Day, Australian here.

I was recently made redundant working at Atlassian and, in that role, was working on some really interesting low-ish level problems - like working on a JavaScript runtime, bundlers, and building a custom FaaS platform.

I've been looking around the Australian job market and while there are a lot of opportunities, the vast majority are just Node.js / React CRUD apps.

There's nothing wrong with that type of work, but the heart yearns for technically challenging domains that impact users from the foundations and I feel like I have so much more to give than debugging React hooks for a CRM platform.

I have found that pretty much all of the roles for anything interesting are in the US.

I've tried reaching out to US based recruiters on Linkedin but have been entirely ghosted.

Is it a dead end trying to hunt down US roles as an Australian? Would I need to move to the states to even have a shot?

8 comments

Leftium25d ago

The main reason most openings are "Remote, US-only" is due to tax and labor laws.

By employing you, the US company must comply with all Australian tax and labor laws (in addition to the US laws). This is a huge burden. (Like the company must calculate and report how much revenue was generated through your work and pay Australian corporate income tax.)

Your best chance is to apply to US companies that already operate in Australia: they will have the necessary legal/HR infra set up. (For example Google probably has an office in Australia.)

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Another method may be to work as a contractor through a service like https://www.toptal.com (or even on your own if you can find contracts).

langfo24d ago

Yes, Google has an office in Australia so do all the big US companies like Microsoft, AirBnB etc. As I mentioned below Anduril have a new operation in Sydney as Australia's submarine capability is f@#ked and needs something ASAP

apatheticonionOP25d ago

I'm happy to work as a contractor with no Australian labor protections, taking the tax obligations on myself.

Though I'm failing at the first hurdle of getting in touch with a US company, let alone one willing to pay via contract.

I'll check out that link, thanks for sharing

cestith24d ago

It will no doubt be challenging. Some US companies have offices in Australia. Many others hire only in the US or maybe also in one or two other countries. This is usually to do with labor law differences and the difficulty of keeping up with tax obligations in multiple jurisdictions for just one or two new employees.

One thing I’ve seen multiple companies do is hire people overseas as contractors. Sometimes they’ll do it as independent contractors. Sometimes they’ll only do it as a company-to-company contract, but in countries where it’s easy to set up a corporation or other type of business of some kind that can be a company consisting of a single employer/owner.

If you’re interested in deep support roles like an SRE/Platform engineer, being in another country in another timezone can be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. I keep telling my boss that my next hire I’d like to be in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, or so for clock coverage. If you’re looking for more traditional application development, the clock can be a tricker thing.

You might end up working for a US company but spend most of your time with other overseas people closer to your time zone. You might end up working unusual hours for your type of work to coordinate with US staff. If you’re lucky and you enjoy a more asynchronous form of collaboration than Slack messages and Zoom calls, there are some teams and even some companies that do work that way.

simonhfrost24d ago

Remote roles mean you're not just competing with other Americans, but the rest of the world, which likely means a lot lower pay.

Also seems like Aus/US have barely any work hour overlap, what's your plan there?

apatheticonionOP24d ago

West coast isn't too bad, but being remote, I might move overseas where the time zone is more friendly.

I have considered moving to the US on an E3 visa, but with no job lined up, no contacts, it's a bit of a hurdle

langfo25d ago

G'Day from Sydney

Anduril have setup shop in Sydney. Anything of interest there?

Westbury Partners if you are into high frequency trading. They pay a shit tonne (seemed to have stopped displaying the eye watering salaries)

QGQBGdeZREunxLe23d ago

You have access to the E3 visa - why not move here?

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