You've posted on LinkedIn. Again. The result? A flood of generic applications, recruiter spam, and that one person who "just wanted to connect." Meanwhile, the exceptional remote engineers you actually want to hire are nowhere to be found.
Here's why: The best remote developers aren't spending their time refreshing LinkedIn. They're building things, solving problems, and hanging out in communities where real work happens. If you want to find them, you need to go where they actually are.
Let's explore five proven places to discover exceptional remote engineering talent that most companies completely overlook.
1. GitHub (But Not How You Think)
Everyone knows GitHub exists, but most recruiters use it wrong. They search for keywords and spam anyone with a React repository. That's not how you find exceptional talent.
The right way to use GitHub:
Follow the contribution graph, not the repository count:
- Look for developers with consistent, meaningful contributions over time
- Check who's contributing to popular open-source projects you actually use
- Pay attention to code reviews and issue discussions, not just commits
- Find maintainers of libraries or tools relevant to your tech stack
Search strategically:
- Instead of searching "React developer," search for issues or pull requests in React-related projects
- Look at who's answering questions in repositories you rely on
- Check who's fixing bugs or improving documentation (these people care about quality)
- Find developers who contribute to multiple related projects (shows depth of knowledge)
Engage authentically:
- Comment genuinely on their contributions before reaching out
- Reference specific work they've done that impressed you
- Start with "I noticed your contribution to [project]" not "Are you open to opportunities?"
- Respect that they're there to build, not job hunt
Why it works: Developers who actively contribute to open source demonstrate real skills, collaboration ability, and passion for their craft. Their code is public, so you can evaluate quality before ever talking to them. Plus, they're often undervalued because they're focused on building rather than self-promotion.
Pro tip: Set up GitHub notifications for repositories in your tech stack. When someone makes a particularly impressive contribution, that's your signal to reach out.
2. Technical Community Forums and Discord Servers
While everyone else is mass-messaging on LinkedIn, exceptional developers are having deep technical discussions in specialized communities.
Where to look:
Reddit communities:
- r/ExperiencedDevs (senior developers discussing real problems)
- r/cscareerquestions (developers actively thinking about career moves)
- Language-specific subreddits (r/golang, r/rust, r/reactjs, etc.)
- r/remotework and r/digitalnomad (developers already embracing remote work)
Discord and Slack communities:
- Official Discord servers for frameworks and languages (Next.js, Vue, Python, etc.)
- Indie Hackers community (developers building their own projects)
- Dev.to community Discord
- Specific technology communities (AI/ML, blockchain, game dev, etc.)
Specialized forums:
- Hacker News (but focus on who's commenting thoughtfully, not just posting)
- Stack Overflow (check who's providing detailed answers, not just asking questions)
- Dev.to (developers writing about their experiences and learnings)
- Lobsters (smaller, more curated tech community)
How to engage without being spammy:
Do this:
- Participate genuinely in discussions first
- Share insights from your own company's technical challenges
- Ask thoughtful questions and acknowledge good answers
- Mention you're hiring only after establishing credibility
- Use phrases like "We're solving similar problems and looking for engineers who think like this"
Don't do this:
- Post generic "We're hiring!" messages
- DM every active member with a template
- Ignore community rules about recruiting
- Contribute nothing but job posts
Why it works: Developers in these communities are passionate, current with technology, and actively engaged in learning. They're having real technical conversations that reveal how they think. You can identify quality long before you reach out, and when you do, you'll stand out because most companies never bother looking here.
Real example: A startup founder spent three months genuinely participating in a React Discord server, sharing their technical challenges and helping others. When they posted that they were hiring, they received applications from some of the server's most respected contributors. Result: Three exceptional hires who already respected the company's technical approach.
3. Developer Conferences and Virtual Events (The Hallway Track)
The best hiring at conferences doesn't happen at the job fair booth. It happens in the "hallway track"—the informal conversations between sessions, in Slack channels, and at after-parties.
Where to find these opportunities:
In-person conferences:
- JSConf, PyCon, RustConf, and language-specific conferences
- Regional tech conferences and meetups
- Hackathons and coding competitions
- Workshop sessions (instructors and engaged participants are gold)
Virtual events (often better for remote hiring):
- Virtual conferences with active chat/Discord during sessions
- Online hackathons (24-48 hour events where you see real problem-solving)
- Webinar series from tech companies or communities
- Virtual meetups (more intimate than large conferences)
How to maximize these opportunities:
Before the event:
- Review the speaker list—speakers are often open to opportunities
- Check who's organizing or volunteering (shows initiative and community involvement)
- Join the event's Slack/Discord early and start engaging
During the event:
- Ask thoughtful questions after talks
- Participate genuinely in discussions, not just recruiting
- Share your own technical insights and challenges
- Connect with people having interesting conversations, not just dropping resumes
After the event:
- Follow up with people you had genuine technical conversations with
- Reference specific discussions you had
- Connect them with resources or introductions even if they're not job hunting
- Stay engaged in the community long-term
Why it works: Developers who attend conferences are invested in growth, learning, and community. They're often considering what's next in their careers. You meet them as peers discussing technical problems, not as a recruiter cold-calling. The relationships you build are genuine and based on shared interests.
Bonus: Virtual events are perfect for remote hiring—you're already connecting with people comfortable in remote environments, and geography isn't limiting your access.
If navigating these communities and building relationships feels time-consuming, RemoteEngine has already done this groundwork. They maintain relationships with exceptional problem solvers from these exact communities, giving you access to vetted engineers without spending months building credibility in each space.
4. Niche Job Boards and Remote-First Platforms
LinkedIn casts the widest net, which means you're competing with thousands of companies for the same candidates. Niche platforms attract developers who are specifically looking for remote work and often higher quality.
Where exceptional remote developers actually look:
Remote-specific job boards:
- We Work Remotely (one of the oldest and most respected)
- Remote OK (clean interface, popular with developers)
- Remotive (curated remote jobs with active community)
- Working Nomads (focused on digital nomads and remote workers)
- FlexJobs (premium platform, pre-screened opportunities)
Developer-focused platforms:
- AngelList/Wellfound (startups, equity-focused, developer-friendly)
- Hired and Vettery (reverse job boards where developers opt-in)
- StackOverflow Jobs (developers already on the platform for technical help)
- GitHub Jobs (now closed but alternatives like Nodesk exist)
- Authentic Jobs (design and development, quality over quantity)
Specialized by role or technology:
- Gun.io (vetted freelancers, many open to full-time)
- Toptal (premium developers, high barrier to entry)
- Functional Jobs (functional programming specialists)
- Golang Projects (Go developers specifically)
- AI Jobs (machine learning and AI specialists)
Community-driven platforms:
- Indie Hackers job board (developers who understand product and business)
- Hacker News "Who's Hiring?" monthly threads (serious developers only)
- Dev.to job listings (community-vetted)
- Diversify Tech (for building diverse teams)
What makes these better than LinkedIn:
Quality over quantity:
- Developers on these platforms are actively job searching or open to opportunities
- Many platforms pre-screen or vet candidates
- Lower application volume means less noise, more signal
- Candidates have specifically opted into remote work
Better targeting:
- You reach developers based on their actual skills and interests
- Less competition from non-technical or irrelevant jobs
- Platform audiences understand remote work dynamics
- Community trust pre-qualifies your opportunity
More authentic engagement:
- Detailed job descriptions expected (no "rockstar ninja" nonsense)
- Salary transparency is often required or expected
- Technical details matter more than corporate fluff
- Candidates research companies thoroughly
How to stand out on these platforms:
Write exceptional job descriptions:
- Lead with the problem you're solving, not corporate buzzwords
- Be specific about technologies and challenges
- Include salary ranges (transparency attracts quality)
- Describe your remote culture and practices explicitly
- Show, don't tell—link to your tech blog, open source, or product
Be responsive:
- Reply to applications within 24-48 hours
- Provide feedback even to rejected candidates
- Keep candidates updated throughout the process
- Respect that these developers have options
Engage with the community:
- Share technical content, not just job posts
- Sponsor community events or newsletters
- Contribute to discussions and resources
- Build reputation before you need to hire
Why it works: Niche platforms attract developers who know what they want. They're specifically seeking remote work, which means better cultural fit from day one. The signal-to-noise ratio is dramatically better than LinkedIn, and you're competing with fewer companies who've discovered these channels.
5. Referral Networks and Developer Communities You Build Yourself
The most overlooked source of exceptional talent? The network you deliberately cultivate over time. This requires investment, but the ROI is unmatched.
How to build your own talent pipeline:
Create valuable content:
- Start a technical blog solving real problems your team encounters
- Share open-source tools or libraries your team builds
- Document your architecture decisions and lessons learned
- Host webinars or workshops teaching what you know
- Produce case studies of interesting technical challenges
Engage existing employees:
- Implement a meaningful referral program (with real incentives)
- Encourage engineers to contribute to open source on company time
- Support speaking at conferences and meetups
- Create a culture worth talking about (developers will tell their friends)
- Ask "Who are the best developers you've worked with?" not just "Do you know anyone?"
Build in public:
- Share what you're building on Twitter, Threads, or Mastodon
- Post technical challenges and solutions on Dev.to or Medium
- Maintain active, responsive GitHub repositories
- Participate in relevant subreddits and forums as a company
- Be transparent about your technical stack and decisions
Host your own events:
- Virtual office hours where developers can ask questions
- Livestream coding sessions or architecture reviews
- Monthly virtual meetups on topics you're expert in
- Hackathons focused on problems in your domain
- AMAs with your engineering leadership
Create communities around your expertise:
- Start a Discord or Slack for developers interested in your domain
- Create a newsletter sharing technical insights
- Build tools or resources that attract developers
- Curate content that serves a specific developer community
- Be genuinely helpful without expecting immediate returns
Why this is the ultimate strategy:
Quality compounds over time:
- You attract developers who already respect your technical work
- They've self-selected based on interest in your problems
- Cultural alignment happens naturally through shared values
- Trust is pre-established before you ever interview
Lower competition:
- You're not competing in a marketplace—you've created your own
- Developers come to you rather than you chasing them
- Relationships matter more than who pays the most
- Your reputation does the recruiting
Better retention:
- Hires already understand and believe in your mission
- They've seen how your team thinks and works
- Cultural fit is dramatically higher
- They're joining something they're already part of
Sustainable and scalable:
- Your network grows automatically as you help more people
- Content and community provide value long after creation
- One great hire often brings their network with them
- Investment pays dividends for years
Real example: A fintech startup invested in creating detailed blog posts about their fraud detection algorithms. Over 18 months, this content attracted thousands of developers interested in security and machine learning. When they posted job openings, they received applications from developers who'd been following their work for months, already understood their technical challenges, and were genuinely excited to contribute. Result: 90% of their engineering team came through content-driven inbound interest.
The long game: This strategy requires patience. You won't fill positions next week. But six months from now, you'll have a pipeline of pre-qualified, genuinely interested candidates that your competitors can't access. That's worth the investment.
Quick-start version: Can't wait six months? Start engaging authentically in existing communities (strategies 1-4) while building your own presence. Participate in others' communities while creating your own. The combination accelerates results.
Bringing It All Together
Exceptional remote engineers aren't hiding; they're just not where most companies look. While your competitors spam LinkedIn, you can find better talent by going where developers actually spend their time:
- GitHub - Find contributors proving their skills in public
- Technical communities - Engage where real discussions happen
- Developer conferences - Build relationships around shared interests
- Niche job boards - Reach developers actively seeking remote work
- Your own network - Create valuable content and community that attracts talent
The meta-strategy: These aren't mutually exclusive. The most successful remote-hiring companies use all five approaches simultaneously. They engage on GitHub, participate in communities, attend conferences, post on niche boards, and build their own content and networks.
Time investment: Building presence across these channels takes 3-5 hours per week initially, dropping to 1-2 hours for maintenance. Compare that to the 20+ hours you'll waste screening unqualified LinkedIn applicants for a single role.
Of course, if you'd rather access exceptional remote engineers immediately without investing months in community building, RemoteEngine has already done this work. They've built relationships across these exact communities and platforms, maintaining a network of vetted problem solvers who are ready to contribute. Sometimes the smartest move is leveraging someone else's years of community investment.
The best time to start building these channels was a year ago. The second-best time is today. Pick one strategy, commit to it for 90 days, and watch your candidate quality transform.
Stop fishing where everyone else fishes. Go where the exceptional developers actually swim.
