Let me add something about a tangent subject: What about tech workers with a disability? I hope you find this interesting, even if this answers your question only indirectly.
People with disabilities experience the pandemic the same as everybody else. Of course. However they don't have the same opportunities.
yadaeno wrote that he took some time off and when he returned he got a raise [0].
This would be riskier for me.
Sometimes people tell me to have positive thoughts. I will find a good position if I only try hard enough.
I understand that because people don't like to think about depressing things.
However indulge me and conduct a thought experiment. Try to estimate the percentage of tech workers with disabilities and their average salary.
What do you think: Is the percentage the same as elsewhere? Is the salary the same, higher or lower? Why?
Working remote made my disability less of a problem. There are still weeks I can’t work full time but they are less frequent now that I don’t need to go to an office and pretend to work on bad days. Without a commute or having to be around people, I have more energy available to work and I recover faster.
Pretending to not be depressed or manic behind a camera once a day is so much easier than doing so a full day in person. I’m never going back to an office if I can avoid it.
A story: Fifteen years ago I and my colleague from class we were selected as top engineers of our class fresh from university for an ambitious project. However that project got cancelled two months later. My colleague phoned once and immediately found a different job and left the same day.
Because of my disability I don't phone. I needed three months to find a different job.
I agree with you that remote makes more things possible and makes working easier.
But it is about to find a job at all. And if I found something I wouldn't have the same power to negotiate salary and benefits as others and must accept what is given to me.
People with disabilities experience the pandemic the same as everybody else. Of course. However they don't have the same opportunities.
yadaeno wrote that he took some time off and when he returned he got a raise [0].
This would be riskier for me.
Sometimes people tell me to have positive thoughts. I will find a good position if I only try hard enough.
I understand that because people don't like to think about depressing things.
However indulge me and conduct a thought experiment. Try to estimate the percentage of tech workers with disabilities and their average salary.
What do you think: Is the percentage the same as elsewhere? Is the salary the same, higher or lower? Why?
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28974320