Most Software Engineers Love Remote-Working and are uninterested in Moving to the US

According to a survey conducted in Latin America and the United States, a large majority of software engineers are unwilling to go back to the office even after the pandemic is over as they would prefer to work from home.

Thanks to the pandemic, they have tasted the flexibility remote-work offers and, therefore, want options in the future for both working from home and from the office.

The survey was conducted by a company called Terminal, which claimed that it contacted more than 1,100 engineers in Latin America, Canada, and the United States.

“Our findings show that overall, engineers love the flexibility and benefits that remote work offers and aren’t going back to the old ways,” said Clay Kellogg, CEO of Terminal.

Kellogg went to the extent of warning business owners that they would risk losing tech talent if they don’t offer remote working options to their future employees.

US: No Longer Land of Opportunity

Considering the report, tech professionals no longer consider the US “the land of opportunity” and they want to take the job home.

Many LatAm and Canadian workers expressed interest in leaving the US cities, citing numerous reasons, including gun violence and lack of safety (55%), poor-handling of the Coronavirus pandemic (51%), racism (47%), and the cost of living (32%).

Nearly 40% of Canadian and Latin American engineers said they didn’t want to work in the US. More Canadian engineers said they did not want to move to the US (49%) compared to Latin American engineers (18%).

Three out of four (74%) engineers who are currently uninterested in working in the United States say they still won’t be interested in moving to the United States even after the pandemic is over.

They may not like the idea of living in the US, but they still want to work for the companies based out of US tech hubs, the report noted.

Some respondents said they would require a huge pay raise to move to the U.S., while a few others said they would not move there no matter how high the pay raise. Almost twice as many engineers in Latin America (83%) would require at least double the salary or more, compared to Canadian engineers (46%).

Although work-life balance and less stress were cited among the top benefits of working remotely, more engineers reported feeling isolated, less collaborative, and lonely compared to last year.

When asked which remote-specific benefits would be most helpful to them, engineers were most likely to pick utilities, internet, or other home office stipend as their top choice.