28 ms·

Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

• elektor 9y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/slavelabour/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slavelabour/ I've had a few coding tasks completed by Redditors on this subreddit.
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    This is pretty neat, thanks! Unfortunately all the [TASK] listings are like super tiny amounts of money. To clarify, I'm talking in the hundreds/low-thousands per project. For example, $200 to make a website that I can probably whip up in a few hours and put on AWS for them. Or maybe $2000 for a more complicated website that takes 2 weeks. That kind of stuff is what I'm looking for.
    • raarts 9y ago
      If you really need money quick, in your position, maybe some shady practices might be okay to start with.
    • samstave 9y ago
      Where is your portfolio and resume and links I can look at... may have some work for you...
      • penpapersw 9y ago
        Email me in my profile and I'll send you some links. Thanks.
  • thisiswilson 9y ago
    Is this like a non-automated Mechanical Turk? Also, I like that labour is spelled correctly.
• wtracy 9y ago
  The problems with Upwork and Freelancer, while significant, are regularly blown out of proportion. I don't recommend them for more than finding short gigs when you're in a pinch, but they are useful for that. Do be prepared to lose a lot of jobs to bidders from the third world. Take advantage of anything that you can use to differentiate yourself. Also, get a stack of business cards and start going to local business networking events. Look up the local Chamber of Commerce, search meetup.com, and see if your county has any small business development classes or lunches you can attend. That's my short-term advice. I'm still trying to figure out what to do in the medium- and long-term myself.
  • 0xptr 9y ago
    I second this. We used to hire on Upwork regular for bigger projects and it usually was close to a gamble (for both parties). You get > 30 applicants easily if you pay decent wages and the cv's are usually quite non saying.
    • throwawaybbq1 9y ago
      We gave people small, test projects to see if they could deliver and communicate effectively (they didn't know it was a test .. we paid them of course). Been having a decent experience on Upwork so far from the hiring side (we started this year). If you found resources on how to use Upwork more effectively, would appreciate pointers :)
  • ioddly 9y ago
    > Look up the local Chamber of Commerce, search meetup.com, and see if your county has any small business development classes or lunches you can attend. I'm curious if anyone has had success with this. I know Brennan Dunn talks about it as one avenue to pursue, so I've been thinking about going to the local business networking thing. I guess I just have trouble conceptualizing going from meeting people who are running local brick-and-mortar type businesses to convincing them that software is a solution to their problems.
    • GCA10 9y ago
• jfmandroid 9y ago
  Try https://toptal.com https://toptal.com Once you pass their screening process, you will get jobs in one or two weeks
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    Applying now, thanks!
  • VLM 9y ago
    Something I find rather intimidating about toptal is their top 3% advertising, when I think of top 3% work I think of, say, writing an RFC of a widely used internet protocol, inventing a language and writing its optimizing compiler, automated air traffic control, debugging live code on nuclear reactor SCADA systems, that kind of stuff. I'd be interested in work at a calmer more laid back environment like only top 5% or top 10% job responsibilities. Its possible everyone there is massively underemployed, but probably not. What I'm getting at is there's nothing wrong with a site that matches brain surgeons to brain surgeon jobs, unless you'd be chill getting an ophthalmic surgeon gig, where do I go? upwork is famous for posting gigs that would pay $125K in SV but the dreaded "average pay rate" is reported as $9.81 or whatever. Possibly "top 3%" is meaningless in the sense of "ninja rock star" is meaningless and anyone who can fizzbuzz is by definition in the top 3% of human species programming talent.
    • mason55 9y ago
      This article[0] says the US has 3.6 million software devs. 3% of that is 108,000. The stuff you listed is like .1% of developers. [0] http://www.computerworld.com/article/2483690/it-careers/india-to-overtake-u-s--on-number-of-developers-by-2017.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2483690/it-careers/indi...
    • jaymzcampbell 9y ago
      A fellow HN user, gil_vegliach[2], wrote up a very good summary[1] of the Toptal 3% filtering process - it seems fairly rigorous, consisting of multiple rounds with a week long project (doesn't mention if this is paid or not). Basically, it sounds like a "full" tech interview. [1] http://gilvegliach.it/?id=14 http://gilvegliach.it/?id=14 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gil_vegliach https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gil_vegliach
• Overtonwindow 9y ago
  I am in the same boat, albeit a completely different field, still it might help. Have you considered becoming a news and information resource for nonprofits, trade associations, and small businesses? I am a lobbyist and grassroots advocacy manager. I work from home, have no network, and limited ability to do so. I stumbled on to some schools that were interested in public policy, and laws. I rang one of them up and offered to monitor the law and legislation for them, and let them know when things came up that they might find interesting. Very low price, about a grand a month. That one school told someone else, and now I've got four schools. Just enough to pay the bills and eek by. I focused on keeping the price way down to entice people, make it up in volume.
• notfried 9y ago
  Many years ago I did just that on Elance (now Upwork) and RentACoder (now Freelancer.com). I started with a couple of jobs in below the $100, then some below the $1,000, and then some in the low thousands. Striving for excellent ratings is key.
  • badpenny 9y ago
    If you don't mind me asking, what do you do now? Are you still freelancing?
• aresant 9y ago
  I would immediately update your posting with a CV, website, git, whatever. You are on the front page of arguably the PREMIER network of people with access / need for technologists.
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    Good idea, thanks. Updated my profile with an email. Don't have resume in order yet. But have done plenty of Clojure, front-end and back-end work, made several iOS/tvOS apps that ship on the App Store. If anything comes from this, great, but I'm not betting on it, so I'm going to focus most my efforts on the suggestions to give try toptal, upwork, and freelancer.com a serious try for the short term, and to build a network for the long-term.
    • Domenic_S 9y ago
      > Don't have resume in order yet. In another comment you said: > I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post. You've been applying without a resume? Maybe that's what the problem is....
      • penpapersw 9y ago
        No, I've sent my resume to them in private. I don't have a public resume available. That's the hardest part for me. I don't have anything I can publicly show off.
    • myrandomcomment 9y ago
      Sounds like a person problem. You are at the top of HN. Get off your ass and take the few hours it takes to get a resume done. Maybe that's your issue in finding work. You ask for help but are not willing to do the most basic thing required to get a job?
      • penpapersw 9y ago
        I have a resume, sorry for the miswording. But my wife values privacy and so isn't comfortable with me just posting it up here on HN willy nilly. And although I am comfortable with it, I feel obligated to respect her wishes.
• Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
  I think the biggest thing you can do is establishing credibility with potential clients. The easiest way to do that would to be an existing set of clients, which you don't have. That's fine, everyone has to start from somewhere. Your clients could or could not know much about the software development life cycle, and how to evaluate if you have the skills to meet whatever needs they may have. Perhaps you could network with existing freelancers who are too busy to take on new clients. Spitballing here, but maybe working on or creating an OSS project could give you credibility to those freelancers. Or maybe you could work under a successful freelancer to establish yourself in the space. Maybe the site you built will lend you credibility to others. Alternatively, if you have business ideas you'd like to try out, you could try working for yourself and creating your own income. Also, it doesn't hurt to sign up for LinkedIn. It might not be immediately beneficial, but once you find your first client, maybe they'll write you a glowing review. > having worked remotely for the past 5 years has really limited my ability to build a network. I don't have LinkedIn and even if I did, it's more meant for building a network than for finding a quick gig. Yeah, it's hard to build a network. Time to start putting in the effort. I sense a tinge of can't-do attitude here (but obviously, the tone interpreted in written communication is subjective) -- I don't know if it's the case or not, but a can't-do attitude is not what you want to have for freelancing work. Your lack of a network, or having an expansive one, is ultimately the result of your personal decisions. You have to be willing to give it a shot. If networking sounds not fun, or like a chore and otherwise unpleasant, you're probably better off just working for a big tech company. Personal skills are far more important in freelancing and entrepreneurship when compared to standard full-time employment. Best of luck. Now go out there and kick some ass.
• imnotlost 9y ago
  How about contacting a consulting agency such as http://www.tripleco.com/find-tech-jobs/ http://www.tripleco.com/find-tech-jobs/ or similar agencies?
• gk1 9y ago
  I wrote about how I learned to get consulting leads: http://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-leads/ http://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-le... TL;DR - Decide who is your ideal client. Identify their 1) common pain points and 2) which online communities they participate in (may or may not be HN). Write advice that will help them with their pain points, and share it in those communities. This will in effect advertise that you know how to solve their problems. Don't be too modest to say you're available for consulting projects, and make it easy for people to contact you. PS - As someone else suggested, you may want to add your contact info here. There's a big overlap between people who browse HN and people who need and have the budget/authority to hire contractors.
  • keithnz 9y ago
    That was an interesting read! Also shows the value of having side projects
  • xcubic 9y ago
    How long did it take to go from 0 to clients?
    • gk1 9y ago
      Around 2-3 months. Lived off savings and a credit card. First client came from a referral, but that didn't turn out to be a consistent source. First long-term client came from seeing me on HN. If I had started with the strategy I explained above, I'd probably get the first client much sooner.
• Mz 9y ago
  Potential alternative to Upwork that sounds better: http://gigworks.blogspot.com/2017/04/moonlight-work-for-software-engineers.html http://gigworks.blogspot.com/2017/04/moonlight-work-for-soft...
  • philip1209 9y ago
    Co-founder of Moonlight here - thanks for the mention. It costs nothing to contractors, and you set your own rate when you want to work on projects. Definitely recommend that OP signs up. Fun story: The contractor who wrote the code for the Moonlight blog was in a similar position as OP. Hit a deer with his car, and insurance didn't cover it. Needed extra money quickly. He signed up for Moonlight and did a project in a weekend to pay for the damage.
    • BartSaM 9y ago
      Sounds great! Signing up right now. I could use some side income while working on my own projects.
    • penpapersw 9y ago
      Thanks to you for making this and GP for linking to it. Just applied, looking forward to seeing if this works out.
    • throwawaybbq1 9y ago
      Interesting idea. Do you have a mechanism where a moonlighter(?) doesn't get matched in a specific geography, industry or set of companies? Presumably your workers are being employed somewhere and not all employers are friendly towards moonlighting. Also, I'm curious if you have researched the legal framework around moonlighting coupled with non-competes. My limited understanding was it is very state-based. NY, CT are not permissive while CA is very permissive. If you figured this out, there might be a lot of value to unlock.
      • philip1209 9y ago
        We provide a platform for matching and payments. The contractor and the company sign a standard contractor agreement with each other. In it, the contractor agrees that they have no pre-existing obligations or commitments that interfere with the agreement. So, it's up to the contractor to ensure that any existing contracts do not interfere with the consulting agreement prior to signing it. Moonlighters choose which projects they want to work on, so companies don't see them unless the moonlighters explicitly want to work with that company.
• tomcam 9y ago
  You know how to develop iOS apps. Can you think of any company that has an iOS app you could do better? How about contacting them with suggestions and a gallery showing the apps that you have already written
• thibaut_barrere 9y ago
  This will not help the OP immediately, but for anyone to avoid this situation in the first place, there are a number of techniques (some quite easy) that can help, described in this article I wrote: https://www.wisecashhq.com/blog/how-to-have-clients-find-you-rather-than-you-chasing-them https://www.wisecashhq.com/blog/how-to-have-clients-find-you... More short term, I would definitely try to find a single gig, maybe via some subcontracting or via sites like toptal, just to build some runway and to make sure the techniques described above have enough time to bear fruit.
• atemerev 9y ago
  One advice: you promised to make messages on affluentconfidante public at July 17th, but you didn't. I understand that there are still no messages there ;) But you need to do something about it. Maybe postpone the date. [I know the hunger and trying the get-rich-quick ideas; used to do it myself all the time]. Meanwhile -- can you do canvas/d3/realtime charting type of stuff?
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    Oops, fixed. Page is now public. I've done some d3 for my last job (custom internal reports) but it was painful. I've done real-time stuff through websockets recently (http://editfight.com/ http://editfight.com/). And a little canvas to teach my oldest son that he can make Mario in the browser. But that's it.
• goodroot 9y ago
  While it may not fill an urgent need, have you considered finding a comfortable and stable remote job? Hackernews 'who is hiring' is a great spot; weworkremotely.com, remoteok.io. You seem to have experiences, which is excellent. In the short term, if you're in the throes of an emergency, perhaps get some help from love ones while you get your feet back on the ground. Looking for a project under stressful circumstances feels like it might create an uncomfortable environment to do good work and sustainably remedying what you're going through. Good luck, whatever route you choose!
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    Yep, and I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post. None of them went past the initial interview. What I took from that is that there's not a lot of remote work available right now in general. I'll look into the two websites you recommended, thanks.
    • starbuxman 9y ago
      Check out SkipTheDrive.com as well.
    • hluska 9y ago
      You know, don't take this wrong, but I worry about the conclusion 'that there's not a lot of remote work available'. Rather, you seemingly got some initial interviews, so there must be jobs available. Instead, it just seems like you weren't a good fit for them. Seriously, keep applying for work. You'll eventually get a break, particularly if you're getting initial interviews just off the strength of an application.
      • remotelyhopeful 9y ago
        It is hard to find jobs that are completely remote, most want an applicant in a US or European timezone, or at least someone who can travel to the office a few times a year. I am in a similar position to OP. I have confidence in my abilities and feel ready to join a team, but so far I have only worked freelance. If anyone is looking, please feel free to check my personal site... https://mfisher.xyz https://mfisher.xyz
• mitchellbryson 9y ago
  I used to search for freelance gigs amongst the remote/full-time job boards. I wrote about it here with some of the list: https://medium.com/webuildevery-com/find-5-freelance-design-development-leads-every-day-985f59aa0cac https://medium.com/webuildevery-com/find-5-freelance-design-...
• rrherr 9y ago
  You could be a mentor in an online bootcamp. For example: https://www.thinkful.com/apply/ https://www.thinkful.com/apply/ It's flexible part-time remote work, and you don't have to find clients yourself.
• bdcravens 9y ago
  Codementor/HackHands seem to be good options.
• eldavido 9y ago
  I work with hotels. They face the same problem (how to get customers). There are basically two approaches: either pay someone a commission, or build a brand. Building a brand is hard, it takes a long time, but it's worth a lot and is monetized over time. Paying someone means accepting you're going to pay 10-15% or whatever price to someone like 10x consulting or some other sort of agency to find you work. This can be the right option if you aren't in it long-term or just plain don't want the hassle of brand-building.
• Brajeshwar 9y ago
  There are pretty good Remote Job sources these days, try them. There are quite a bit of contract works too, which you can start off with. Also, do not forget to walk into your area's agencies, they usually work with freelancers/contractors. - https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs - https://remoteworkhub.com/remote-jobs/ https://remoteworkhub.com/remote-jobs/ - https://www.crossover.com/ https://www.crossover.com/ - https://remote.com/ https://remote.com/ - https://weworkremotely.com/ https://weworkremotely.com/ - https://getbetterluck.com/ https://getbetterluck.com/ (one of our own internal tool)
  • edem 9y ago
    Crossover is horrid. Just read the Glassdoor reviews.
  • pgl 9y ago
    Here's a couple more: - https://remoteok.io/ https://remoteok.io/ - https://stackoverflow.com/jobs?r=true https://stackoverflow.com/jobs?r=true
  • LogicX 9y ago
    I maintain a list with even more, which I used to get a remote job a few years ago: http://lx.tc/positions http://lx.tc/positions
  • Brajeshwar 9y ago
    Nice, People seem to like this. Here are the remaining sources for you to look into; - https://remote.co/remote-jobs/ https://remote.co/remote-jobs/ - https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs - https://remote.co/remote-jobs/ https://remote.co/remote-jobs/ - https://remotive.io/find-a-job/ https://remotive.io/find-a-job/ - https://www.skipthedrive.com/ https://www.skipthedrive.com/ - https://www.outsourcely.com/remote-business-services-jobs https://www.outsourcely.com/remote-business-services-jobs - https://www.wfh.io/ https://www.wfh.io/ - http://jobscribe.com/ http://jobscribe.com/ - http://europeremotely.com/ http://europeremotely.com/ (Europe) - https://www.remotelyawesomejobs.com/ https://www.remotelyawesomejobs.com/ - https://landing.jobs/ https://landing.jobs/ - https://remotebase.io/ https://remotebase.io/ - https://github.com/jessicard/remote-jobs https://github.com/jessicard/remote-jobs And here are some companies which encourage remote jobs https://oinam.github.io/remote-teams/ https://oinam.github.io/remote-teams/
• Uptrenda 9y ago
  I don't know how helpful this will be OP: but thinking about problems in your domain and writing about your solutions is a good way to establish competence. It's the difference between organic leads vs active advertising. The former has the client coming to you and the latter has you chasing the client. Which of these do you think works the best? In my experience its the former by far (all of the people who have sought me out had the most reasonable and interesting project.) But I do understand that in the beginning you're going to have to grind to get anywhere (share your work where ever you can) which means putting in A LOT of unpaid hours doing research and development for new stuff. It's worth it though. If you keep working on your portfolio and learning new skills then you will never have to look for work again. Just think of the security that would bring: To know that if anything happened to the company you're working for (or you get fired) you can sign a new contract the very same day. Would be amazing for most devs... But in my experience this can only happen if you specialise. The problem is, there is too much competition for the skills you listed. As an example, if you were to learn some skills in say - big data or AI then you would be much more competitive. I know that's a big ask but one thing I think is true about the tech industry is that anyone can succeed if they put in the effort. In the end its a meritocracy, so the good developers quickly go to the top and the bad ones are weeded out... Remember companies ARE looking for good developers all the time, you just have to make yourself heard and do something worth showing (this doesn't necessarily mean applying to a company. Get creative. There are a lot of ways to stand out) Good luck OP
• throwawayxyz709 9y ago
  The internet?
  • penpapersw 9y ago
    Thanks will check it out.
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• kevinburke 9y ago
  I write a lot and post the results to places with lots of visitors, and I watch the job board in a few different Slack channels and reach out to people seeking help.
• noufalibrahim 9y ago
  There are several suggestions on how you can get an immediate gig here. I have something else to add. Once you do get a gig and start on it, budget some time and money to grow your network. There's no real substitute for a real circle of influential and well connected contacts in my experience. Perhaps attend conferences related to technologies that you're interested in, participate on online fora (mailing lists, stack overflow etc.) to help people with their problems in exchange for visibility, get a linkedIN profile, go to local user group meetups (or atleast attend nearby ones less frequently if you're in a city that doesn't have many such groups). Good luck!
• MarkMc 9y ago
  What shady things does UpWork do?
  • borplk 9y ago
    Really doesn't fit in a quick comment. Just search around for Upwork horror stories. Not to mention that it's a giant race to the bottom anyways.
• lukaszkups 9y ago
  I had similar problem while ago. I've decided to leave my previous workplace and search for a new one full-time. I was applying to both remote and office-based offers, but only in my location (which suffers from lack of good job offers currently-most of them are dedicated for students with low payment). It took me 2months to finally land in a new workplace)and it is remote which was my very dream form of working-I've done some remote freelance in the past and loved it) I've applied to dozen job offers, most from LinkedIn, some from remote portals mentioned by other users in this thread. In the end I've got a job from a job offer that was on stackoverflow, so maybe check there because I don't see anyone mentioned this as a source of job offers. Keep on trying, as You can see it won't magically come to You without any action. Good luck!
• navya1089 9y ago
  Hi, I would suggest you to have a LinkedIn profile and update it regularly and start building the network now.. It is never too late. Meanwhile, for the job which you cannot wait for, there are many remote job portals like remoteok , weworkremotely , remote.co ,remotive, workingnomads, WFH.IO ,dribble etc which you can try .. But I would suggest you check angellist (angel.co) which offers jobs from mainly startups all over the world. Another tip : Apply to local companies which are offering full time jobs , attend the interview and try to convince them to offer you a work from home based role ( It might work out, you never know). Hope you find a suitabLe job real soon. All the best ! :)
• ShirsenduK 9y ago
  I was a freelancer with no network 10 years back. I used to get cheap projects and some crappy clients. Some 5 years back, I got to work at a startup (luck and my relentless application to jobs did the trick). I had to move away from my hometown. Remote was _not_ an option. We got bought by LinkedIn and I was an engineer at LinkedIn. That blew my network up! I get remote work offers in my hometown. In my experience, face time matters if you are from place no one knows about. There is a reason most engineering talent is in and around Silicon Valley. I am not sure about github or other technical profiles as the people who make the decision of hiring you never visit github or understand code. I am taking about the CEO of a small company who will hire you and not the cool SF startup that we read more often. Companies want to reduce risk, remote increases it because of the unknowns. If I were you, I would again start with upwork and similar freelancing sites. The shady things you hear are distractions and everyone has a different experience. There is a reason the upworks of today still exist and are doing business. I wish you the best! :)
• ssijak 9y ago
  Try getting into Toptal https://www.toptal.com/#connect-unmatched-coders-now https://www.toptal.com/#connect-unmatched-coders-now It is good for both clients and freelancers because Toptal screens both for quality. I am there as a freelancer for half a year and am satisfied. It feels like they are looking after you, and you can pick and choose what you want to work on and how much. They will try to match you with the clients, or you can pick jobs, but they will never force you to do anything. And there is nothing like screen recording and tracking like in Crossover. Also, I would never work on Upwork or similar network where everybody can say about them what they want and bid on whatever they want (with low prices).
  • edem 9y ago
    Toptal is paying you based on your geographic location so it is rubbish and makes no sense.
    • ssijak 9y ago
      You can set whatever rate you want. You can set 1000$/h, but of course, no one will hire you. Anyhow, my rate on Toptal is much higher than what I could get as a senior dev in my country, so it is good for us and as I can tell from reviews much of the world. Devs from the USA complain but from what I can see there are still many devs on Toptal from the USA and many Toptal events in the USA. So to each, it`s own. Another good thing is that you can be part of Toptal and have it be a backup source of work. You can choose your availability without any penalties. As for the companies/clients of Toptal. They get tested devs, guidance (for inexperienced clients) and they have mediators (Toptal) who would guarantee the quality of the devs and intervene in the case of a problem. It is best rated freelance platform, for a reason.
• kqr 9y ago
  Not sure what you mean by "network", but have you tried reaching out to businesses you truly believe you could help? Remember that work is a two-way deal. There are millions of small businesses with crappy technology. If you explain to them specifically how their business will improve from employing you to improve their technology, they'll listen.
• edem 9y ago
  Maybe you want to try [teamed.io](http://teamed.io http://teamed.io).
• csomar 9y ago
  In a short time? Forget about it. No one who doesn't know you first hand will engage you in a $10-20k contract. Let alone the fact that there is such a position available on short notice. So your options are really limited: Credit card debt? Family debt? Low paying jobs? In the longer run, there is no way around building a network. If you want high quality work, you have to build a network. It's like some guy coming to a big city and want to hit the high-end clubs, meet with high-quality people and get back home with a 9/10 girl to sleep with. Not gonna happen. He's probably going to fail at entering the clubs (first step) and then blame it on the clubs having bad policies and stuff. If you want high paid work, you have to establish yourself first. Establishing yourself in a certain market/niche take years of hard work on establishing yourself. It can happen on different dimensions and will depend on your style (blogging? Forums? Conferences? How about writing a book? Contributing to a popular open source project? How about becoming a main contributor of a popular open source project?). Good luck. Tough times but I'm pretty sure you'll come out of it and it'll shape your perception down the road.
  • thisiswilson 9y ago
    I've landed several jobs in that range without meeting someone in person. But it requires a certain amount of salesmanship and establishing proper scope.
• throwawaybbq1 9y ago
  If you need to make money right away, I strongly suggest you reconsider upwork (don't know the other sites you mentioned). I know a friend who worked on it as a dev. I use it as a client. The money from initial contracts might be bad, but it has the potential to turn into a more lucrative deal with a particular client (if you prove your value). This is a great way to build up experience as a consultant .. you can then say you worked as a consultant for X, Y, Z big name brand. Here is the thing .. pick your customer carefully. You want to make sure you are working with a customer who is as tech savvy as you. I work in deep tech so was able to communicate very effectively with my upworker, we were able to estimate things similarly, etc. I have seen postings on other free lance sites where someone wants you to build a highly scalable version of twitter for 50 bucks. You want to be able to avoid those people.
• forgottenacc57 9y ago
  You need RFC1149 networking https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt
• forgottenacc57 9y ago
  Where the heck in the world has NO networking?
  • badpenny 9y ago
    I think they probably mean the social kind.
• stan_hn 9y ago
  The best alternative to upwork.com is http://www.xbtfreelancer.com/?ref=40081 http://www.xbtfreelancer.com/?ref=40081 . There are many jobs there which requires your skills. Check it out.
• tixocloud 9y ago
  For quick jobs, you can look for contract opportunities. Especially in software development, there should be plenty. Sometimes it might be worth to think about lowering your rate in order to secure something and build some trust/goodwill first before then raising your rate. Note that I'm not saying lowering your rate to the point that it's dirt cheap - just low enough to get something going to build trust with a client. Look at all the job postings for contractors and freelancers and start with those. Build up your portfolio and share your skills online. What I've also done is track relationships, make notes and pay attention to details using a self-made app. It helps keep me organized. I started off with a spreadsheet but it became too cumbersome and I needed to make sure I maintained relationships with my previous clients while still on contract so I can minimize the time where I have no work.
• gameproducer 9y ago
  I would recommend joining Gigster or TopTal if you can. Both services are in a completely different league to Upwork in all regards — great clients and projects, high-quality work opportunities, money. I freelance for Gigster, so I know more much more about them than I do about TopTal. The business models the two companies operate are different. From what I understand, TopTal connects the workforce with customers on a long-term basis, and the pay is per hour, while Gigster allows freelancers to take several gigs at any given moment and the pay is typically set according to the scope of work and the dev’s reputation. With some very rare exceptions, all work is remote. So far, my personal experience with Gigster has been amazing. I have worked on a variety of projects that have really helped my resume shine to shine, I've met lots of cool and friendly people (many of whom are among the best in their field), and I've earned quite decent money in the process. Many Gigsters have a stable six-figure income. While this may only scratch the surface of what people are paid in the Valley, when you think about combining it with the freedom to live/travel wherever you want — be it in Thailand, Costa Rica or Greece — you get a true perspective of the potential of joining Gigster.
• artur_makly 9y ago
  Try Toptal. They say they hire the "Top 3%"..