How to determine if that remote developer job will throw you in the deep end or not

So you're looking for your first remote software developer job but all the job postings list requirements beyond your current knowledge.

“I’m looking for a position where I can LEARN, but most remote positions ask for things I can’t learn on my own”

Maybe you're a junior developer looking to enter the industry. Or maybe you're seasoned but looking to learn some new technology, business domain, or how to solve some technical problem not readily available to you.

This can be even more daunting if you're thinking about working remotely where you won't have someone right next to you you can easily ask for help.

Whatever the case may be, your goal is to be able to advance your skillset with help from the team.

Fortunately, there is a way you can figure out if the company you're interested in working for will throw you in the deep end without a life vest or if they'll help you while you pick up speed.

And the way of doing this is rather simple - look at the company's current engineering team makeup. A team that will provide support will have a mix of junior and senior developers. Any company committed to leveling up its employees' skillsets and knowledge will seed a team with varying skillsets and knowledge levels. Senior devs teach the junior devs the art of software, junior devs - through asking questions - teach senior devs how to explain complex concepts, and both teach each other things they maybe should know but might now have ever encountered, like how to solve a particular problem.

It is in companies' best interest to have all employees grow so that each employee's individual value to the company increases. And companies that have a mix of skillsets will be more open to applicants and new employees who might not hit all their "required" checkboxes.

"This is great to know, but how do you find the makeup of the engineering team if you're not actually on the team?" you might ask. Again, simple. Browse the company's Linkedin profile, looking for current developers employed there and look through their titles. If this doesn't provide much of a result, you can see if the company has a GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, etc. presence and browse there. If all else fails, you can resort to old-fashioned email and politely inquire there.