I am in the same shoes. I want to work in that domain doing my role. But I was trying to get into the companies in my area and that role was rare and with way to heavy competition, so I work remote for a company that was not able to find the talents in their area. Do I like it? No but I am not giving my life (10min everywhere by bicycle) and frankly the pay is above average.
I’ll keep doing until it last and will see how the world looks in 24months.
This is exactly where I am at now. I live in Canada and where I am at the local market of companies is just pathetic. I generally receive recruter emails from companies in my city offering a 25-50% of what I am making at a smaller shop remotely.
I miss being in an office and having a connection to the people I work with, but I also refuse to compromise my salary, time, ergonomic home office, and flexibility to get this connection.
Where abouts are you, if you don't mind me asking? (You don't have to answer).
I'm rural just right outside Hamilton. The local market in Oakville/Burlington is sad. And right now it's not worth the commute into Toronto (used to live there).
I was getting excellent comp at Google Waterloo, but the drive was killing my body, and my soul was dead.
But I want to work at what I'm doing, for the startup that I'm contracting for, in the space that I'm doing work in. And that's not here (they're not "anywhere" really) and all the local (southern Ontario, west of Toronto) companies suck, underpay, and are generally mismanaged.
And I'm not moving and giving up the life that I have I have so I can be where the interesting work is. I've done that once already in my 20s -- left my parents and siblings to go to the only place in Canada where the tech industry was really a thing (at the time) -- and I won't be made to do it again.
Canadian tech companies have been profiting from underpaying their engineering staff (relative to the US market) for a couple decades. Now they will suffer because they have to compete with remote. Recession might change this, but for now I intend on taking advantage of this.
So, remote it is. It's not perfect. But I'm not going to drive almost 2 hours a day to get underpaid by some mediocre local company run by mediocre management and mediocre investors. There's a larger world out there, accessible to me for the first time ever.