9 ms·

Ask HN: I will work for free ...

22 points by swdev 17y ago

I am willing to work for free on interesting project until you find me useful and decide to pay for my work (hope this will occur within few months). My current location is bangalore and I'm a senior developer (10+ yrs exp.) working for Top notch software consulting company. Very interested in mobile technologies. Love to work on iPhone or Android applications Profile: * C#, Java, Ruby, Rails * Silverlight, AJAX * Windows, Mac, HPUX * Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, SQL, database schema design. * Subversion, Git, ClearCase * Knowledge of object oriented design concepts and design patterns. * Proficiency with n/jUnit, n/jmock, ASP.NET framework, and CruiseControl.NET. * XP, TDD, Continuous Integration

maxklein 17y ago
What about PHP? I have something you will like, but initially, the project is PHP based.
- x10nd 17y ago
  what about PHP?
  - eam 17y ago
    I believe he wants to know if the poster knows php as he didn't list it on the post.
swombat 17y ago
I don't think this is a good approach. As an employer, I wouldn't want to invest the time in getting someone up to speed with my systems if they have no "lock-in" that means they'll stay with me until they've paid off for that initial ramp-up period (which would cost me time). I particularly wouldn't want to do so for someone who already has a job at a software company - I'd clearly be a distant second (if not third or fourth) priority in that person's life. Next, about the profile - I suggest you pick a narrow specialty that you really want to work on (e.g. Ruby on Rails), and focus on that. I don't think many people, particularly start-ups, are interested in hiring a "C#, Java, RoR, Silverlight, Ajax" guy. That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few. My suggestion to you would be: pick one technology with a thriving OS community (e.g. RoR), and contribute open-source software. That's one way to work for free that will greatly enhance your value to potential employers. Start a blog, talk about your experiences with Rails, promote your open-source projects, etc. You'll soon find paid work coming your way.
- HaltingState 17y ago
  He lives in India. A programmer there makes 350,000 Rs a year. All these responses are so discouraging. "That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few." In my startup, we have everyone doing everything. If all someone knows is java, they are useless to us. Each of us had to learn 3 different new languages each just to get our product to launch. We do not have the luxury of having someone with 10 years experience who only knows Java. If something needed to be done, someone had to do it. If we did not have the skills in the group, we had to learn them. The critical factor for success in a startup is not 10 year of experience in one narrowly defined technical specialty. Specialization is for insects. The most important characteristics for effectiveness in a startup is the ability to learn and the capacity for getting things done. This is one of the key differences between working in a startup and working in a larger company. In a startup you have to do your own marketing, sales, programming, interface design... Everything needs to be done and it is an expensive luxury to have a person specialized in each area that is required. " That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few." "That's one way to work for free that will greatly enhance your value to potential employers. Start a blog, talk about your experiences with Rails, promote your open-source projects, etc. You'll soon find paid work coming your way." If you want to be poor for the rest of your life and at the mercy of an employer, this is probably a good strategy. Instead of attempting to make yourself more appealing for sale to your bourgeoisie overloads you would achieve greater success and freedom by focusing your efforts on creating something that has value and which people are willing to pay for.
  - plinkplonk 17y ago
    "He lives in India. A programmer there makes $1200 a year. All these responses are so discouraging." Rubbish. The average annual pay for someone just out of school with zero experience in Bangalore is about 10,000 $. (I live in India fwiw). The lowest salary I've heard of is about 500$/a month and this is for a "walking dead" warm body who couldn't code to save his life outsourced to dumb Western companies to pad team size. You can just about survive and live very frugally in Bangalore on this. "you would achieve greater success and freedom by focusing your efforts on creating something that has value and which people are willing to pay for." This is excellent advice (just discount the "burgeoise" anti employer ranty bit).
x10nd 17y ago
Your 10 years is a waste of career, if you agree to work free of time, also its a waste, if you offering for the price of a soda
shabda 17y ago
[Hope this doesn't sound too harsh.] I few months back, we were hiring and Put up an ad on Monster. One of my reject criteria was "having more than 3 unconnected technologies". Even with >10 yrs exp, listing all the technologies you might be connected with doesnt look nice at all. Also no matter how desparate I am I would never, "I am willing to work for free on interesting projects", as that just leads to wrong people and wrong expectations, who dont value your work or time. Also if you want this ad to be effective, a newly created account with no credentials like a Github account, a blog or your site doesnt help.
- shabda 17y ago
  If you are looking to work full time at a startup a number of Indian startup blogs have job sections pluggd.in venturewoods.org You might meet some interesting people at Bangalore's Barcamp and Startup Saturday. Proto.in has a forum which has frequent job postings. The web links for these are googlable, but I am too lazy to do this right now.
- Confusion 17y ago
  having more than 3 unconnected technologies What do you consider 'unconnected'? that just leads to wrong people and wrong expectations, who dont value your work or time. QFT
  - shabda 17y ago
    C#, Java, Rail -> Why all three, eaither is a substitute of other. MS-SQL, Oracle, Mysql -> Ditto above. My point being that if you list all of them you probaly do not know any of these at the level I want/require.
    - cousin_it 17y ago
      What if they used C# for a desktop app, Java for a mobile app and Rails for a webapp? In my own case, I guess having experience with PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby is the ultimate fail, because they all solve the same problems and are very similar to boot. Interesting way to look at it! What percentage of HN's audience did you just fail?
vaidhy 17y ago
I do not see a way to contact you.. My email id is in my profile. Ping me and we can check it out.
HaltingState 17y ago
Send an email to HaltingState@gmail.com I have a friend who is working on some awesome iphone games and could use someone with experience with OOP design patterns. He would be willing to split revenue generated by the applications. Right now he is doing Objective-C development for the iphone (easy to pick up). The android platform is going to be a huge opportunity in a few years, but the iphone is still the largest app store market, so that is what he has been concentrating on. Mobile development is an awesome opportunity and a very good area to develop experience in.
charliesome 17y ago
LOL no thanks
erlanger 17y ago
Why not just throw yourself into an open source project? Many pay down the road if you're successful enough, and you get to keep your dignity. More importantly, you'll know you aren't being exploited.
- mapleoin 17y ago
  Getting into an open source project with the objective of at sometime getting a paid is a very bad reason to join an open source project. Besides the fact that there are absolutely no guarantees of that happening the attitude you'd probably bring to the project wouldn't be beneficial for the community there.
braindead_in 17y ago
I am looking for someone to port our Skype recording plugin to MAC. Can definitely pay later on.
adrianscott 17y ago
I don't think you should knock the guy for having experience with a lot of technologies and mentioning them. Like he mentions 3 languages, c#, Java, Ruby. (My resume has a lot more and I'm hiring, not job seeking.) What might help you a bit more in marketing yourself, swdev, is to mention a bit about some projects and/or accomplishments. hope this helps.
niczar 17y ago
You'd be better off contributing to a Free/Open Source Software project.

22 points by swdev 17y ago

maxklein 17y ago

What about PHP? I have something you will like, but initially, the project is PHP based.

x10nd 17y ago
what about PHP?
- eam 17y ago
  I believe he wants to know if the poster knows php as he didn't list it on the post.

swombat 17y ago

I don't think this is a good approach. As an employer, I wouldn't want to invest the time in getting someone up to speed with my systems if they have no "lock-in" that means they'll stay with me until they've paid off for that initial ramp-up period (which would cost me time). I particularly wouldn't want to do so for someone who already has a job at a software company - I'd clearly be a distant second (if not third or fourth) priority in that person's life. Next, about the profile - I suggest you pick a narrow specialty that you really want to work on (e.g. Ruby on Rails), and focus on that. I don't think many people, particularly start-ups, are interested in hiring a "C#, Java, RoR, Silverlight, Ajax" guy. That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few. My suggestion to you would be: pick one technology with a thriving OS community (e.g. RoR), and contribute open-source software. That's one way to work for free that will greatly enhance your value to potential employers. Start a blog, talk about your experiences with Rails, promote your open-source projects, etc. You'll soon find paid work coming your way.

HaltingState 17y ago
He lives in India. A programmer there makes 350,000 Rs a year. All these responses are so discouraging. "That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few." In my startup, we have everyone doing everything. If all someone knows is java, they are useless to us. Each of us had to learn 3 different new languages each just to get our product to launch. We do not have the luxury of having someone with 10 years experience who only knows Java. If something needed to be done, someone had to do it. If we did not have the skills in the group, we had to learn them. The critical factor for success in a startup is not 10 year of experience in one narrowly defined technical specialty. Specialization is for insects. The most important characteristics for effectiveness in a startup is the ability to learn and the capacity for getting things done. This is one of the key differences between working in a startup and working in a larger company. In a startup you have to do your own marketing, sales, programming, interface design... Everything needs to be done and it is an expensive luxury to have a person specialized in each area that is required. " That long list makes you look unfocused and implies that you probably suck at a lot of technologies rather than being very good at a few." "That's one way to work for free that will greatly enhance your value to potential employers. Start a blog, talk about your experiences with Rails, promote your open-source projects, etc. You'll soon find paid work coming your way." If you want to be poor for the rest of your life and at the mercy of an employer, this is probably a good strategy. Instead of attempting to make yourself more appealing for sale to your bourgeoisie overloads you would achieve greater success and freedom by focusing your efforts on creating something that has value and which people are willing to pay for.
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "He lives in India. A programmer there makes $1200 a year. All these responses are so discouraging." Rubbish. The average annual pay for someone just out of school with zero experience in Bangalore is about 10,000 $. (I live in India fwiw). The lowest salary I've heard of is about 500$/a month and this is for a "walking dead" warm body who couldn't code to save his life outsourced to dumb Western companies to pad team size. You can just about survive and live very frugally in Bangalore on this. "you would achieve greater success and freedom by focusing your efforts on creating something that has value and which people are willing to pay for." This is excellent advice (just discount the "burgeoise" anti employer ranty bit).

x10nd 17y ago

Your 10 years is a waste of career, if you agree to work free of time, also its a waste, if you offering for the price of a soda

shabda 17y ago

[Hope this doesn't sound too harsh.] I few months back, we were hiring and Put up an ad on Monster. One of my reject criteria was "having more than 3 unconnected technologies". Even with >10 yrs exp, listing all the technologies you might be connected with doesnt look nice at all. Also no matter how desparate I am I would never, "I am willing to work for free on interesting projects", as that just leads to wrong people and wrong expectations, who dont value your work or time. Also if you want this ad to be effective, a newly created account with no credentials like a Github account, a blog or your site doesnt help.

shabda 17y ago
If you are looking to work full time at a startup a number of Indian startup blogs have job sections pluggd.in venturewoods.org You might meet some interesting people at Bangalore's Barcamp and Startup Saturday. Proto.in has a forum which has frequent job postings. The web links for these are googlable, but I am too lazy to do this right now.
Confusion 17y ago
having more than 3 unconnected technologies What do you consider 'unconnected'? that just leads to wrong people and wrong expectations, who dont value your work or time. QFT
- shabda 17y ago
  C#, Java, Rail -> Why all three, eaither is a substitute of other. MS-SQL, Oracle, Mysql -> Ditto above. My point being that if you list all of them you probaly do not know any of these at the level I want/require.
  - cousin_it 17y ago
    What if they used C# for a desktop app, Java for a mobile app and Rails for a webapp? In my own case, I guess having experience with PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby is the ultimate fail, because they all solve the same problems and are very similar to boot. Interesting way to look at it! What percentage of HN's audience did you just fail?

vaidhy 17y ago

I do not see a way to contact you.. My email id is in my profile. Ping me and we can check it out.

HaltingState 17y ago

Send an email to HaltingState@gmail.com I have a friend who is working on some awesome iphone games and could use someone with experience with OOP design patterns. He would be willing to split revenue generated by the applications. Right now he is doing Objective-C development for the iphone (easy to pick up). The android platform is going to be a huge opportunity in a few years, but the iphone is still the largest app store market, so that is what he has been concentrating on. Mobile development is an awesome opportunity and a very good area to develop experience in.

charliesome 17y ago

LOL no thanks

erlanger 17y ago

Why not just throw yourself into an open source project? Many pay down the road if you're successful enough, and you get to keep your dignity. More importantly, you'll know you aren't being exploited.

mapleoin 17y ago
Getting into an open source project with the objective of at sometime getting a paid is a very bad reason to join an open source project. Besides the fact that there are absolutely no guarantees of that happening the attitude you'd probably bring to the project wouldn't be beneficial for the community there.

braindead_in 17y ago

I am looking for someone to port our Skype recording plugin to MAC. Can definitely pay later on.

adrianscott 17y ago

I don't think you should knock the guy for having experience with a lot of technologies and mentioning them. Like he mentions 3 languages, c#, Java, Ruby. (My resume has a lot more and I'm hiring, not job seeking.) What might help you a bit more in marketing yourself, swdev, is to mention a bit about some projects and/or accomplishments. hope this helps.

niczar 17y ago

You'd be better off contributing to a Free/Open Source Software project.