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Comment by Ives | Hacker News Reader

I think we might have different definitions of living in the middle of nowhere. If you live in the middle of nowhere, how are you supposed to get contracting work?

I guess it's possible to work 100% remotely, but in my experience most companies would like to meet you at least once before hiring you. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not easy as someone in college (unless you want to go the hire-me-for-a-dollar-or-two oDesk/... way, but in that case the experience isn't likely to help you land a good job).

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Luke and I both come from pretty similar areas in Maine, and while I can't speak for him, I lived three miles from the nearest convenience store (30 from the nearest Wal-Mart) and I was scrapping to get paid for writing code from about age 16.

I did pretty well during school through contracting. Some of it was due to family networks--for example, my dad did a lot of work for a Congressional candidate, I did his website and donation architecture--and I wouldn't really call my Summer of Code stuff "consulting" but I was very much a contract employee of Google for the summer.

If I told you I lived on a dirt road for the majority of my life, would that classify as "middle of nowhere?" :)

You raise a good point, while many places want to meet you in person, I've gained freelancing clients from a Skype chat. In person is great, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't go after clients just because you can't meet with them.

There are plenty of places with dirt roads that are a 1-2 hour drive from Toronto, so I wouldn't exactly say that "living on a dirt road" provides enough information.

True - I lived here for 13 years of my life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange,_Maine), and was on dial up internet until my freshman year of college.

You should try coming into Bangor for the Maine Hacker Club meetings; we host them weekly and it's a great way to network in the middle of nowhere. ;-)

http://www.hackmaine.org/

I've been before! Unfortunately my schedule doesn't jive well as I have class on meeting nights.

++ to this; I visited a couple times when I was in school and they're friendly folks. I don't get up there much except to visit family anymore, but if you're in the area it's worth checking out.

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