Remote Job Coaching & Career Strategy Sessions

My name is Luis Garcia and I'm a backend engineer from Valencia, Spain (LinkedIn profile). Over the last few years I've interviewed with dozens of remote companies, worked remotely for US startups, reviewed thousands of job postings and built Top Salaries to track some of the highest-paying remote opportunities available.

I'm also active on X, where a couple of tweets I wrote went viral and that led me to being interviewed by one of Spain's best-known tech recruiting platforms:

Every now and then people reach out asking for career advice or 1-to-1 mentoring sessions. I'm happy to help, but before you spend any money, I think it's important to be realistic about where you are in your career and whether coaching is actually the highest-leverage thing for you right now.

If you're not getting any interviews at all, I would focus on getting the fundamentals right first.

1. Be fluent in English

If your goal is to land a high-paying international remote role, your English needs to be excellent.

I don't necessarily mean perfect grammar or a native accent. I mean being fully comfortable discussing complex technical topics, explaining your decisions, participating in meetings, telling stories about your work, and expressing your personality naturally.

Poor communication skills are often interpreted as a lack of confidence or competence, even when that's not the case.

2. Prioritize product companies

In general, the highest-paying remote jobs tend to come from product companies rather than consulting firms.

Consultancies typically make money by selling your time to clients, which puts a natural ceiling on compensation. Product companies can generate value directly from the products they build, which often allows them to pay more.

If you're currently working in consulting, I would seriously consider moving to a product company, even if the salary increase isn't immediate.

3. Tech stack still matters

A lot of people will tell you that technology choices don't matter. I don't think that's entirely true.

Many companies receive hundreds or even thousands of applications and often filter candidates based on previous experience with a specific stack.

If your goal is maximizing access to the largest number of high-paying remote opportunities, popular choices include:

• Python
• TypeScript / JavaScript
• Go
• Java / Kotlin

Ruby also deserves an honorable mention because it's still used by many influential product companies.

There are also smaller niches such as Rust, C++ and Elixir where compensation can be very attractive, but the number of opportunities is much lower.

Until you have strong English skills, experience at product companies, and experience with technologies that are widely used in the remote market, I don't think you're in the best position to target highly competitive remote roles in the ~$100k+ range.

If this is the case, I would focus on building experience first, even if that means considering local or hybrid opportunities.

1. You're not preparing for interviews

Like it or not, many companies still use data structures and algorithms interviews.

These interviews aren't just evaluating whether you can solve a problem. They're also evaluating how you think, how you communicate, how you break down ambiguity, and how you behave under pressure.

The good news is that outside of Big Tech, the questions are often quite reasonable. Most engineers can perform well if they've spent some time preparing.

The same applies to system design interviews. Preparation matters.

2. Your storytelling is weak

You should have at least two or three stories that you can confidently tell about projects you've built, incidents you've handled, difficult technical decisions you've made, or challenging situations you've faced.

Your contribution should be crystal clear.

Interviewers are trying to understand what you personally did, not what your team did. Make sure your stories highlight your decisions, your actions, and your impact.

3. Your CV isn't helping you

Your CV is often the first filter.

Keep it concise, achievement-focused and easy to scan.

A format I generally recommend is this one from Gergely Orosz's popular blog The Pragmatic Engineer.

Interview as much as possible

Once your CV is in good shape, you've practiced your storytelling and you've prepared for interviews, start interviewing.

A lot.

Even if you're unsure about a role. Even if the salary isn't exactly what you're looking for.

Every interview is practice.

The worst-case scenario is that you spend a few hours and receive an offer you decide not to accept. The best-case scenario is that you learn something valuable, improve your interviewing skills, and become much better prepared when the right opportunity appears.

Understand that the hiring market is cyclical and it's normal to go many months without any leads and then suddenly have multiple opportunities at the same time. You want to be ready when that happens.