5 Tips: How to Get a Remote Tech Job

Want a great work-from-home job? Lucky for you, these positions are more common than ever. To be more competitive—and get a great job faster—read our tips on how to get a remote tech job. We collected the best advice from career experts and tech professionals who landed a remote job—so you can learn from them!

Dominic Scarcella, who had worked in the journalism and media industry for several decades, was working for a broadcasting company when he was laid off. He faced a choice: Continue along the same professional path—one with a decent likelihood of future downsizing—or consider a career change.

For Dominic, the decision wasn’t hard. Within a few days of losing his job, he enrolled at BloomTech with the goal of working in tech—a field with some of the highest likelihood of landing a remote job.

Learning in an entirely online school like BloomTech made sense to Dominic. After finishing BloomTech’s Full Stack Web Development program, he landed a fully remote job as a software engineer on the machine learning team at Zappos. “One reason I was able to get that job and to feel comfortable doing it is because I went to a modern remote school in BloomTech,” he says. "At BloomTech you learn how to be a remote worker and also a remote learner.” 

He is just one example of many people who get a remote tech job and thrive in these flexible positions. If you’re wondering how to get a remote job, too, you’ve come to the right place! Here, we’re sharing expert advice and the lived experience of people who have landed remote tech jobs. Read on to soak in their tips!

But first, let’s look at the landscape of remote work in the tech industry and the U.S. economy in general.

Are there still remote tech jobs?

Yes! Remote tech jobs are still a thing. 

We wish the pandemic were far, far in the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, though, COVID-19 is still part of our reality. That means that measures to guard against it—including remote work—continue. 

Even as some companies step back from remote work options, many others still offer work-from-home flexibility. This is especially true for people working in tech.

85 percent of tech workers work remotely or work in a hybrid model, with some work in the office and some at home. The remote work trend is staying strong in part because many companies realized that workers are just as productive out of the office as they were sitting in cubicles. 

So expect the remote tech jobs to continue.

Can I get a remote position for entry-level roles?

Yes! Remote tech jobs are not only for more senior roles or people who have worked in the industry for years. BloomTech graduates are proof of that: A full 40 percent of placed BloomTech graduates were hired in remote positions for their first job after graduation. 

It’s no wonder why so many people want to get a remote tech job. These positions can offer great flexibility. That’s one reason why BloomTech graduate Romy Shockey loves her remote job as a full stack web developer. 

She says, "Going through BloomTech has changed my life in a number of ways. I'm making nearly twice as much now as I was before, which is huge. And because I have such a big option for remote work, I am more free to settle myself wherever I want to go. I'm not tied down so I have more options." 

Wondering which BloomTech program would best fit your goals? Compare our courses to find the best path forward for you—even if you have no tech experience!

1. Optimize your resume for work-from-home jobs

If you’re aiming for a remote job, make sure your resume reflects that. 

If you have a summary or statement, include that you’re looking for work-from-home jobs. Highlight the skills and accomplishments you’ve made that relate to remote work. For example, if you’ve worked from home in the past, make sure that experience is front-and-center.

Yes, learning remotely counts!

“We recommend that our learners and grads put on their resumes that they have been studying remotely and are absolutely used to being successful in that environment,” says Rachel Cohen, senior manager of Career Coaching and Job Search at BloomTech. 

Under your resume’s education section, you can include a sentence about how you managed deadlines, collaborated with other learners, gained new skills, and built products with agile development practices—all remotely. (These are things you’ll do in BloomTech’s courses, which prepare you for work-from-home success, too.)

These kinds of insights from BloomTech career coaches really helped Garrick Suesmith. He wasn’t sure what to include on his resume—so he turned to BloomTech’s experts. “The career team were especially cognizant of how seemingly unrelated experiences can really pop out in a resume for a tech position,” says Garrick, who graduated from BloomTech’s Full Stack Web Development course and now works as a software engineer. “The folks who personally looked at my resume clued me into what to emphasize that I didn’t even realize would be relevant.”

2. Gain remote experience

Regardless of whether you’ve had an official remote job before, you’ll want to demonstrate you can do a work-from-home job well. If you don’t already have remote work experience, you’ll want to gain some.

“But how can I gain remote work experience if I need that experience to get a work-from-home job?” you might ask.

Here’s the great thing: You don’t need anyone’s permission to gain remote experience. You can work on a project from home. You can collaborate with someone who lives in a different city or even country. You can take the initiative to gain proof of how you’ll thrive in a future remote job.

Look for a project that matches your passions to the skills you want to use in a future remote job. Work on it in your spare time. Then reference that experience in your job application and during job interviews.

3. Strengthen your online presence

If you’re looking to get a remote job—where nearly all the work happens online—you need to put your best foot forward online. Make sure you’re active on LinkedIn, GitHub, and Discord. Ensure your profiles are professional and are clear that you’re open to remote work.

“For remote positions in particular, everything is going to be online. So you want to show a strong online presence,” says Isaiah Rambert, a career coach at BloomTech. “You’ll show your online skills are natural to you,” which will make you more competitive for remote jobs.

In addition, showing up as your best self online will help you find those work-from-home tech jobs, he continues. “Actively reach out to recruiters and hiring managers about positions. That’s a great way to stay plugged in, for remote positions in particular. 

4. Learn work-from-home tools

While much of the actual work of remote jobs is the same as office jobs—fixing bugs, managing pull requests, presenting to stakeholders—how you complete that work is much different. 

Remote work relies heavily on online tools. You’ll be much more competitive for work-from-home tech jobs if you demonstrate your comfort with these tools. 

“BloomTech showed me opportunities, not only using the tools of modern tech professionals,” explains Domenic Scarcella, the BloomTech grad and software engineer. “We also used technology like video chats, Slack, and messaging. Those are the things that I use in my job.”

If you don’t have experience with remote work tools, download them. Join networking communities that use them so you can practice. Then add those skills to your resume.

5. Keep your skills sharp with remote learning

Whether you’re looking for a full program to train you for a tech job (like BloomTech’s courses) or you want to brush up on rusty skills, you need to be constantly learning. And with so many remote learning opportunities out there, this is a great way to help you get a remote tech job.

“You need the same skill set to learn remotely as you need to work remotely,” says Romy Shockey, the BloomTech graduate who now has a remote tech job.

So dive into job postings for remote tech positions. What required skills are listed? Of those, which do you need to practice? Find remote learning opportunities to sharpen skills—while making yourself more competitive.

You may look for online workshops that give you a certification when you’re done. (Take a look at our article on how to learn SQL for free for some ideas.) That way, you can add that certification to your resume and LinkedIn profile. 

During interviews, you can discuss how learning remotely can translate to the job you’re applying for. Your go-getter approach to gaining skills from home will also show how you’ll take initiative on the job.

If you want to gain the technical skills needed for remote jobs and all the professional skills to successfully work from home, join a BloomTech course. Your experience will be exponentially better than trying to DIY a tech education based on free videos, explains Stu Darsey. 

“You want to be in an environment where you get real help? Develop better soft skills? Fine tune your resume? Maneuver the LinkedIn world? That's why you pay for BloomTech,” he says. He should know: Stu completed BloomTech’s web development course and is now a full stack engineer, where he is making more money than ever—and making a difference in the world. 

He says, “Literally the sky’s the limit in programming and web development, you can go do whatever you want. I want to make a difference. And I’ve been put in a position where I’m building applications that invigorate other people, that change people’s lives. I don’t want to think about where I would be if I hadn’t chosen to go to BloomTech.”

Are you ready to make a huge difference—in your own life, your family’s future, and even your wider community? Then join BloomTech. We’ll teach you the skills employers need in remote employees, then help you land a great job. We can’t wait to have you in a BloomTech course!