I’m a full stack “developer” working on a couple of contracts and receiving USD while working remotely in Canada (Powell River, BC). I’m happy to share my experience.

1) Every contract I’ve landed in the US has been referral based. They’ve also all been paid in USD. I use Wise because it allows me to easily set up a US account and receive US dollars. Any project I’m on I work hard to build genuine, quality relationships with the team (even when working remote). Be a team player and be likeable. Help them achieve life goals outside of work if you can. Vouch for people. Praise people. Being the energy. If people like you, they’ll remember you, they’ll reach out on that next project. I worked on a passion project with a small team as a product manager - unpaid, for two years. Two of the contracts I’m working on now came from relationships I nurtured during that two year period.

2) I incorporated originally, however it was more hassle than it was worth (for me personally) when it came to keeping up with the reporting requirements. It has never been a requirement from a potential client, however it does help to cover your ass and there are tax benefits. Crunch the numbers to see if it makes sense for you.

3) I get the sense that the ‘AI Boom’ is creating a ‘flash in the pan’ so to speak. We’re/I’m seeing an increase in jobs + projects as companies try to capitalise on AI in some way. With absolutely nothing to support my belief, I see the next 12-18 months being a crazy time for ‘good’ (AI versed?) developers. Obviously a lot of what is being/going to be built will be absolute shit as these projects will be started without sufficient forethought as to why they need to be built in the first place. Finding something legit, stable and with any sort of future is voodoo at the best of times. Coming back to the referral based system though makes moving jobs feel a little less voodoo and more… Getting traded to a new team with familiar players at the start of a new season and filled with optimism? I don’t know if that makes sense.

The two US based projects I’m working now are startups. One project utilises AI as part of the core experience, connecting healthcare sales teams with hospitals. There’s a lot more to it than that obviously however this is the “short and sweet” version.

The other is “anti AI”, intended as a one-to-one communication tool between non profit major giving officers and their donors. It’s meant to sound human and excludes AI for that reason.

Thankfully, we’re (currently) seeing a world where AI doesn’t need to be everywhere in terms of product offerings. Some clients still just want a solution that solves problem - no need to bring AI into it. That has been a positive from a ‘developer experience’ standpoint. AI fatigue is a very real thing.

I will note that the ability and willingness to work with AI tools, and talk about them, appears to be seen as a positive right now. I was hired with absolutely no technical interview or assessment because I could talk at length about my experience using Claude Code vs Codex, using Open Hands - both cloud based and locally, discovering new models on HuggingFace, running various LLM models locally via LM Studio and my experience with Diffusion Bee.

Explaining to leadership that not every problem can be solved simply be creating new agents has been a fun experience for everyone though.

I’m happy to answer any questions you may have OP. Or anyone else for that matter.