4 ms·
Ask HN: Freelancers, are you crazy dry these days? or is it just me?
In a nutshell, I'm wondering if the market has shifted in the past 10-15 months or so, and how we can measure it.
I get the sense that, socially, we're not supposed to talk about these things. To acknowledge that I've had trouble finding work makes me seem weak or less valuable. To discuss money at all is a social taboo.
I don't know about y'all, but for my part, I had absolutely no trouble finding work - usually without even really trying - from mid-2011 to mid-2016.
I have no doubt that I'm valuable in the right contexts, and that hasn't changed in the timeframe I'm talking about. I'm neither "junior grade" nor out of date. I feel totally in my prime.
Nor have the technologies on which I'm most often contracted to work (python, usually web stuff, usually django) lost enough market share to explain it.
My rate ($6k / week) is not, in my estimation, too high for the value I provide.
So my question: is anyone else having a similar experience? Is there a way that we can gauge changes in the market?
And then also: whether or not my experience is unique, what's the best thing to do when you have long stretches without solid work? Learn a new skill?
I've been working a lot lately on Raspberry Pi, off-grid tech, power monitoring, etc. I live on a school bus (http://thisisthebus.com/) and I've developed a lot of interesting tech for that purpose. But then once you start to feel comfortable with new skills, how do you develop a new client base?
- patio11 10y agoConsulting is high variance, particularly when consultants underinvest in marketing/sales. It's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of; we're all in business here (some more straightforwardly than others). There is nothing wrong with making customers being hard; it's the fun, necessary hard that, combined with making customers happy, is why business drives the world forward. Since consulting is high variance, at any given time some people perceive "the market" as being on fire and some perceive it as being in a slump, but for small consulting firms, your kite flies in basically all weather conditions. what's the best thing to do when you have long stretches without solid work? Do more sales and marketing. Not kidding. Take every happy client you have from the last two years. Send them each an email asking them how business is going and whether $FOO is still working up to their expectations. Follow up gracefully if they don't respond. After reconnecting, get them on a call to talk about their plans over next 3~6 months. Talk yourself into those plans. If you cannot talk yourself into those plans, ask if they will introduce you to 2~3 people who should have something like $FOO in their own business. I've been working a lot lately on Raspberry Pi, off-grid tech, power monitoring, etc. Awesome projects. I mean nothing untoward with the following observation: generally, when you're solving problems for customers who are not plugged into the power grid, you're solving problems for people who don't exactly have signing authority for a $20k engagement starting next week. (I can imagine there are industrial applications for which this is not true! If you've got those leads, ignore this observation.) I might consider, if you're looking for technical skills to expand your business opportunity, whether these are the skills you want to develop or whether you want to develop ones which select for clients who have expensive problems that they'll happily pay to solve.
- jMyles 10y ago> when you're solving problems for customers who are not plugged into the power grid, you're solving problems for people who don't exactly have signing authority for a $20k engagement starting next week Yeah, exactly. And of course I knew that going in. I had hoped (and still hope) to diversify into a completely new space, secure in the belief that web stack / python / ops / deployment / etc is reasonably stable. Obviously off-grid tech speaks to a totally different market (and heck, maybe a totally different society), and that is very much the point. And as for sales and marketing: I've tried the basic tactics you describe to generate more leads. My happy clients generally report that all is well and that they don't know anybody else in need at the moment. On the other hand: since about 2013, all but one gig has been a referral from a friend or happy client. So maybe I need to tap into different social circles (ie, find work from sources other than people I already know).
- JSeymourATL 10y agoTake every happy client you have from the last two years. Send them each an email... Brilliant! This falls into the 'Get Out of The Building' category of client discovery/relationship management. The best guy I've seen do this has a rotation list of 100 individuals he regularly pings for coffee/lunch meetings throughout the course of the year. The upshot, he's gets to select the projects takes on.
- git-pull 10y agoI posted about this in a thread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13872807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13872807. I think freelancing is dead. To sum it up, employers, including startups that'd dry up their runway in 1 to 3 years, are demanding developers go full time and onsite. As if they really could give job security. That's the frustrating thing. They're making you jump through hoops for work that, save them being acquired, won't last. Yes, exceptions exist. But the new norm is that. And norm means being able to have some sense of reliability, not some person's luck. Yes, I ask recruiters to look around for remote opportunities and they try to help, but the good paying jobs are back in SF and want me in the office. Full time. Nope, no gigs. No one wants 3 months, 6 months. Yeah, I've heard all the talk about consulting. To me, it's just more growth hack / NLP talk about value that doesn't represent the realities of being a developer in our market these days. Startups shun the thought of outside experts or opinions, unless it's a SAAS tool. These CTO's, even if they don't know better, see advice from an outside expert as losing control. I think this is because they want employees who they can mold in their image, rather than someone who could help them in a pinch. The other thing is hiring happens a lot slower. A lot of these places keep passing over qualified candidates because they feel they have so many options. And no, employers aren't winning either with the lack of flexibility they have. Going remote opens up yourself to a ton of candidates. They're ultimately isolating themselves from skilled workers with experience. It's completely understandable to not want to be in SF and to accommodate working remote if you're a seasoned programmer.
- BjoernKW 10y agoThe software development world is more than just startups. I work as a consultant in the B2B / enterprise segment. There absolutely is no shortage of work to be done in these areas and these companies are very open to working with freelancers and consultant.
- jMyles 10y agoHow do you break into that world? And is there room for serious engineering, not just consulting?
- BjoernKW 10y agoIt sounds like you're approaching this from the wrong. Do marketing / sales / networking first (and do it a lot, consulting is as much about talking to people as it is about implementing solutions). Try to find out about the problems people and companies are having. Only then ask yourself how you can apply your expertise to that area.
- babyrainbow 10y ago6000 dollars a week !? Just curious. What kind of work do you usually do for that kind of money?
- devopsproject 10y ago$6000 a week is $150 an hour and seems to be a pretty reasonable rate. What you are missing is: not every week will be booked.
- odonnellryan 10y agoI've billed 10-20k in rare weeks. It's because it's a one-off project that they want you to work 40-60 hours on that week: so you can't do anything else with your business. Rates drop a lot for maintenance and service plans where they'd like to have you on retainer month over month for years (hopefully). This is just web development.