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How do you go about getting contracts for remote work?

• sporkwitch 10y ago
  It's really hit-and-miss in my experience. One source is upwork (what used to be "elance"), a kind of networking tool for employers and freelancers to find each other. They take a pretty big cut (20%), but there's the potential to make a fair bit of money on short-term and / or remote projects. It doesn't just cover tech either. I'm fairly new to using it myself, and while I've not gotten any work through it so far, I have gotten a couple phone interviews, so it's not nothing. https://www.upwork.com/ https://www.upwork.com/
  • JBReefer 10y ago
    I'm sorry but the hourly rates on that site are insanely, insanely low. $20/hr for a senior developer in anything is nuts. There's a freelancer that wants $19 an hour and has 10 years of PHP experience! You can make $19 an hour doing most front-of-house restaurant jobs, easily.
    • HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
      But you can't do it sitting in your living room. For some people, that's enough to take the job at that rate.
    • quangn 10y ago
      Most of the time, you get what you pay for. Their '10-years experience' does not equals competence or even good client communication. Even though most clients there want to find cheap labor, there are some that understand they need real expertise and are willing to pay for it. Not sure if you find it worth the effort to dig through the crap projects.
  • borplk 10y ago
    Sadly it's a bit of a race to the bottom and for people who live in expensive countries it doesn't work.
• jasonkester 10y ago
  It's not really any different than getting on-site contracts, in my experience. You find somebody with hiring authority at the place you want to work, and talk to them. Sometimes, companies who don't advertise remote positions are willing to try it. Sometimes, companies who prefer full time salaried employees are willing to bring you on as a contractor. Sometimes they may even be willing to consider a short 3-6 month gig to build out a prototype or project that they'd been meaning to get to but never had a full-time dev to throw at. The only way to find out is to ask. Good developers are hard to find, and good companies know to grab ahold with both hands when they find one. If that developer just happens to want to do his thing remotely, in short bursts, or even from the beach in Costa Rica, that might not be as much of a stumbling block as you think.
• microman 10y ago
  If you work with a particular technology than start a blog and start getting your name out there on things like Stackoverflow and Github. Once you start engaging in the community you will be surprised how many inquiries you will get. Once you have a couple of jobs, try use those relationships to get more jobs. Referrals and word of mouth are invaluable.
• BillSaysThis 10y ago
  We Work Remotely: https://weworkremotely.com https://weworkremotely.com
• bigmanwalter 10y ago
  I found mine through networking. Making it known amongst friends and family that I'm a programming "freelancer" or "consultant". It started out small. With only a handful of small jobs, but if you make your clients happy, more work will come. The more established you become, the more access you will have to higher paying clients.
• wayn3 10y ago
  Well, if you want to do freelance you're essentially a business that sells a high ticket item, which means: You're going to have to do sales of some kind. Outbound is faster. Proactively talk to people who need professional services, talk to them, understand their needs, explain their business to them and then tell them that you can do it, for X. X is a lump sum or a number of hours billed at Y, doesn't matter. Sell your business and be on point. Do not be the guy who does "oh this takes X hours" and then it takes 3x as many hours. Be professional. And don't mind anyone else. Don't compete on price. Compete on quality. If you can't do the outbound sales thing, apply to Toptal and Gigster. On toptal, its the same thing. People say you can't earn a decent rate, which is not true. I showed up there, with my very lofty rate, and made it happen in a week. Exactly the contract that I wanted. I'm working part-time on a full-time salary that dwarfs anything I could make anywhere in the world outside of the Valley while living the good life. Just be quality. It's 2016. If you're good and you can make this your profession, you'll live pretty well. And pay the naysayers no mind. There is no race to the bottom. Indians who charge $15/hour are just fundamentally bad. The really good indians won't work for that rate either. They know what they're worth. Compete on quality. It is fundamentally impossible for there to be a race to the bottom, since there is too much demand. If anything, we are experiencing a race to the top and its only begun. Increase your hourly by 50% per semester at least until you hit $250/hour.
  • sova 10y ago
    Thank you.