Top-7 Internet Professions for Remote Work

Remote work means not only no commute, but also the opportunity to work for international clients. Companies from the U.S. and Europe look for professionals who speak English — and pay them well. To find a client abroad, one can go to freelance marketplaces, e.g. Upwork.  

Digital Marketer

Social Media Expert

UX Designer

Web Developer

Data Analyst

SEO Expert

Information Security Analyst

How long it takes to learn: 4–9 months

Main skills: Facebook and Instagram ads, marketing metrics, basic graphic design

Digital marketers create all the ads you see when surfing the web. Whenever a business needs to sell something via the internet, they hire a digital marketer — so, as you can guess, this profession is in great demand.

A digital marketer decides what the text and the image that will appear in an ad will be

It’s a very versatile job: you can choose the product you’d like to market as well as the channel — social media, email, targeted ads. E.g. you focus on promoting a banking app via targeted ads or creating newsletter campaigns for an educational startup — or you can do all kinds of marketing for several clients.

Digital marketers have to be both creative and good with numbers. They have to be creative to build appealing eye-catching ads. And they have to be thorough in analyzing the results of a campaign: how many people clicked on the ad, how many of them bought the product, etc. These numbers are called marketing metrics.

How much they make: on Upwork, digital marketers charge anywhere from $10 to $250 per hour. Additional skills may include copywriting, SEO, and video creation. 

Where to learn: 

The Digital Marketing Course on Refocus

Digital Marketing Fundamentals on Certified Digital Marketer

The Digital Marketing Course on DMHQ

How long it takes to learn: 2–3 months

Main skills: firm knowledge of the latest social media trends, community building, engagement

A social media expert, or a social media manager, is a broad term describing specialists who help businesses connect with customers via social media. This may range from posting on a brand’s TikTok feed to replying to customers via direct messages and creating complex communication campaigns.

Grab’s Instagram page is most definitely updated by a social media expert

Being a social media expert kind of means scrolling through the feed for money. But only kind of, as you’ll have to watch and analyze your competitors rather than scroll mindlessly.

This job is a brilliant choice for people who cannot stand the working routine: the social media trends change all the time and you have to keep up with them. It’s also a great place to apply your creativity, as sometimes the wildest ideas become the most popular.

As a social marketing expert, you’ll most likely be responsible for the number of subscribers and views, sometimes — for the number of sales from social media as well. You may also create a content strategy across different socials and sales funnels.

How much they make: on Upwork, social media experts charge anywhere from $10 to $250 per hour. Their additional skills may include managing social media ads and copywriting.

Where to learn: 

The Social Media Program on Certified Digital Marketer

The Social Media Marketing Course on DMHQ

The Social Media Management Course on Coursera

How long it takes to learn: 3–8 months

Main skills: Figma, Adobe Suite, HTML, CSS

UX stands for user experience. Usually, it refers to digital products and focuses on the way the user feels when using an app. A good user experience means that the product is simple to use. It helps you perform an action, e.g. buy something, rather than creating additional problems. Companies want people to spend more time and money on apps, and a good user experience helps with that, so companies need UX designers.

The language-learning app Duolingo is believed to have a great UX: it’s fun and easy to use. The UX designer was responsible for this result

The main job of a UX designer is to create an appealing and understandable interface. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? The main trick here is that people don’t always behave logically and sometimes are unpredictable. That’s why a good UX designer has to understand human psychology, people’s wants and needs. They also have to be observant of how people use their product.

UX designers follow user metrics closely: how much time people spend in the app or at what stage people leave the website. Then they come up with ideas on how to improve this metrics and test their solutions.

Many UX designers are also user interface designers, meaning they actually draw a beautiful interface. That’s why many job offerings say “UX/UI designer.”

How much they make: on Upwork, UX designers charge anywhere from $25 to $250 per hour. Their additional skills may include logo design and motion graphics.

Where to learn: 

The UX Design Course on KodeGo

The UX Certification on Active Learning

The UX Design Master Track on Coursera

How long it takes to learn: 3–12 months

Main skills: HTML5, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, Node.js, Python

Web developers make websites of all kinds work: from basic ones, like landing pages, to very complex ones, like Facebook or Amazon.

Shopee is a very complex website that requires the work of many web developers

There are three types of web development jobs:

Some developers choose to specialize in only front or back end development, but many are full stack developers. You will see all three kinds of job listings if you look for web development jobs.

The main part of a web developer’s job is writing code, i.e. telling the computer what to do in a language that computers understand. But they also oversee other people's code, discuss the task and the result and constantly learn about new technologies.

How much they make: on Upwork, web developers charge anywhere from $15 to $125 per hour. Their additional skills may include design and analytics.

Where to study: 

The Web Development Course on Refocus

The Web Development Programs on the Coding School

The Web Development Bootcamp on Zuitt

The Web Development Course on KodeGo

The Web Development Training on Active Learning

The Web Development Course on Avion

How long it takes to learn: 8–12 months

Main skills: SQL, Python, R, visualizing instruments like PowerBI

Data analysts work with all the information a company knows about its business: its clients, contractors, and operations. Analysts process this data to help the business become more efficient.

Let’s say there’s an online clothes store. It’s doing well, but the owners want to maximize the returns. A data analyst can see how the users behave on the website and see when they leave without a purchase or what kind of promotional campaigns give the best results.

Data analysts can also forecast whether a new project will pay off, estimate potential demand for a product or service, help the bank improve its borrower assessment, etc. 

Data analysts present their findings in analytical reports

How much they make: on Upwork, web developers charge anywhere from $10 to $165 per hour. Their additional skills may include machine learning and conversion rate optimization.

Where to learn: 

The Data Analytics Course on Refocus

The Data Analytics Bootcamp on Eskwelabs

The Data to Insights Program on StoryIQ

The Data Science Course on Coding Dojo

How long it takes to learn: 5–6 months

Main skills: strong knowledge of indexing trends, analytical skills

SEO stands for search engine optimization. An SEO expert helps businesses improve their website’s ranking on search engines, e.g. Google or Yahoo.

The first place in Google ranking is every SEO expert’s goal 

Companies want to appear in the first place on Google because it drives more people to their website and as a result, gives them more clients.

Search engine optimization today is far more complex and interesting than just putting loads of keywords on the website. SEO experts advise on the site’s structure, the technical features as well as content. They also follow search engine trends as the algorithms change.

You won’t have to write all the website texts yourself as an SEO expert. You can conduct an audit and give your recommendations or directly oversee the work of content creators.

How much they make: on Upwork, SEO experts charge anywhere from $12 to $150 per hour. Their additional skills may include content writing and social media marketing.

Where to study: 

The Search engine optimization program on Certified Digital Marketer

The Search Engine Optimization Specialization on Coursera

The Complete SEO Course From Beginner To Professional on Udemy 

How long it takes to learn: 2–8 months

Main skills: intrusion detection, network security control, problem-solving

Information security analysts protect companies from hackers — people who want to steal their data or impair their operations. Basically, security analysts are the police of the IT world. They know and can do everything hackers can, that’s why they’re sometimes called ethical hackers.

The result of an information security specialist’s job is that hacker attacks don’t happen, so this job is mostly invisible. But it doesn’t make it less crucial: with the amount of data companies have today, they can become a desirable target for hackers.

This is a more “serious” profession than all the others on the list, as it ideally requires a bachelor’s degree and some IT experience to start. But the demand for the job is also high: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 31% hiring growth for cybersecurity analysts between 2019 and 2029, which is much higher than average in other careers. 

The main job of an information security analyst is to find breaches in a website’s or app’s security and fix them. This may be a onetime project or continuous work.

How much they make: on Upwork, cybersecurity analysts charge from $100 to $1,000 per project. 

Where to study: 

The CompTIA Security+ Training on Active Learning

The Certified Ethical Hacker Program on Active Learning 

The Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate on Coursera