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How Playing Around with New Technologies Landed Me a 6-Month Freelance Gig

149 points by leifg 9y ago

3chelon 9y ago
This is so funny. I did exactly the same thing. I mean, exactly! I wrote a podcast transcription service using IBM's Watson API. And as a result, having realised it was getting a very crowded space and I had neither the energy nor marketing skills/money to launch it alone, I contacted the CEO of a leading transcription company and landed a gig to build out their mobile product. At least my app will now get a high profile launch, and not vanish without trace. Plus, I get paid.
- acalderaro 9y ago
  Didn't you do a Show HN about your service a while back? I swear I remember reading something like that and thinking "that's amazing!!" If so, I'm glad things worked out for you! Well done. And if that wasn't you, congrats anyway :D
  - 3chelon 9y ago
    No, that wasn't me, unfortunately. I'm a little wary of doing it because of pre-launch NDA issues. Maybe post-launch I'll write something up.
tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
What's with the obnoxiously large font size? Is that just a more clever way of typing in all caps?
- vemv 9y ago
  Didn't even call my attention. Looks non-awkward even at 150% zoom (protip: do that to prevent eye strain)
  - sjmulder 9y ago
    Are you using a high DPI screen with a low scaling factor? If I set zoom to 150%, I can easily read the text 4 meters away from my desktop monitor. Not comfortable _at all_ up close.
- Tepix 9y ago
  You mean the pleasantly large font size? It's refreshing.
  - tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
    I'm sure it would be 'pleasantly large' if I was used to reading books for 6 year olds.
anon1094 9y ago
I'm a remote freelance front-end web developer and most of my gigs at the beginning came in a similar way. I just showed clients stuff that I built on Codepen and previous websites I built for fun for myself and things picked up from there. My recommendation is to start a daily project of some sort. Daily UI, Daily blog post, etc. It gives you a chance to put out a steady stream of non-perfect work and show off your process to potential clients as well.
FLUX-YOU 9y ago
I generally hate anything that I build that doesn't have a solid business plan with customer need behind it (read: all non-employed side work). I still don't know how to get out of that mindset.
- cercatrova 9y ago
  You can separate projects for learning technologies and projects for customer need. For example, when I wanted to learn Elixir, I made a simple to do list with concurrent users to test Elixir's scalability. A to do list is nothing new for customers but it still enabled me to learn more about the tech. Often, these two categories intersect over a large enough set of projects.
chiefalchemist 9y ago
I'd say that if you think a 6 month gig is acceptable ROI from a side project investment then you might be aiming too low. I suppose it's better than nothing. But then again, as mentioned, that's not saying much.
- sidlls 9y ago
  This is why I don't "freelance": it's filled with people who think spending 1 hour of unpaid work to get 1 hour of paid (and usually poorly paid, < $150/hr) work is acceptable. I have no inclination to compete with essentially free labor. The only acceptable way to "freelance", in my opinion, is to start or join a consultancy and sell something. And then you're not really "freelancing" anymore, so much as running a business. Please note: I recognize that "not all freelancers" are like this. Generalizations aren't universal truisms, exceptions exist, and neither of those things is relevant to my comment.
  - ramshanker 9y ago
    In many part of the world $10/hr sustainable is a dream opportunity. Government rate for unskilled workers is ~$1/hr over here.
    - maxxxxx 9y ago
      Where is that?
      - ishanjain28 9y ago
        India. I charge $40/hour and people either ask me to charge a one time fee or reduce the price. Funny how people forget there are other places on earth where charging $150/hour would be nuts!
        maxxxxx 9y ago
        That's seriously good money if you are not in one of the big cities, right?
damionx7 9y ago
What theme are you using with ghost?
- rehemiau 9y ago
  Looks like the default one
braindead_in 9y ago
We instead built a alternative to Watson Text to Speech! https://scribie.com/transcription/free https://scribie.com/transcription/free

149 points by leifg 9y ago

This is so funny. I did exactly the same thing. I mean, exactly! I wrote a podcast transcription service using IBM's Watson API. And as a result, having realised it was getting a very crowded space and I had neither the energy nor marketing skills/money to launch it alone, I contacted the CEO of a leading transcription company and landed a gig to build out their mobile product. At least my app will now get a high profile launch, and not vanish without trace. Plus, I get paid.

acalderaro 9y ago
Didn't you do a Show HN about your service a while back? I swear I remember reading something like that and thinking "that's amazing!!" If so, I'm glad things worked out for you! Well done. And if that wasn't you, congrats anyway :D
- 3chelon 9y ago
  No, that wasn't me, unfortunately. I'm a little wary of doing it because of pre-launch NDA issues. Maybe post-launch I'll write something up.

tytytytytytytyt 9y ago

What's with the obnoxiously large font size? Is that just a more clever way of typing in all caps?

vemv 9y ago
Didn't even call my attention. Looks non-awkward even at 150% zoom (protip: do that to prevent eye strain)
- sjmulder 9y ago
  Are you using a high DPI screen with a low scaling factor? If I set zoom to 150%, I can easily read the text 4 meters away from my desktop monitor. Not comfortable _at all_ up close.
Tepix 9y ago
You mean the pleasantly large font size? It's refreshing.
- tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
  I'm sure it would be 'pleasantly large' if I was used to reading books for 6 year olds.

anon1094 9y ago

I'm a remote freelance front-end web developer and most of my gigs at the beginning came in a similar way. I just showed clients stuff that I built on Codepen and previous websites I built for fun for myself and things picked up from there. My recommendation is to start a daily project of some sort. Daily UI, Daily blog post, etc. It gives you a chance to put out a steady stream of non-perfect work and show off your process to potential clients as well.

FLUX-YOU 9y ago

I generally hate anything that I build that doesn't have a solid business plan with customer need behind it (read: all non-employed side work). I still don't know how to get out of that mindset.

cercatrova 9y ago
You can separate projects for learning technologies and projects for customer need. For example, when I wanted to learn Elixir, I made a simple to do list with concurrent users to test Elixir's scalability. A to do list is nothing new for customers but it still enabled me to learn more about the tech. Often, these two categories intersect over a large enough set of projects.

chiefalchemist 9y ago

I'd say that if you think a 6 month gig is acceptable ROI from a side project investment then you might be aiming too low. I suppose it's better than nothing. But then again, as mentioned, that's not saying much.

sidlls 9y ago
This is why I don't "freelance": it's filled with people who think spending 1 hour of unpaid work to get 1 hour of paid (and usually poorly paid, < $150/hr) work is acceptable. I have no inclination to compete with essentially free labor. The only acceptable way to "freelance", in my opinion, is to start or join a consultancy and sell something. And then you're not really "freelancing" anymore, so much as running a business. Please note: I recognize that "not all freelancers" are like this. Generalizations aren't universal truisms, exceptions exist, and neither of those things is relevant to my comment.
- ramshanker 9y ago
  In many part of the world $10/hr sustainable is a dream opportunity. Government rate for unskilled workers is ~$1/hr over here.
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    Where is that?
    - ishanjain28 9y ago
      India. I charge $40/hour and people either ask me to charge a one time fee or reduce the price. Funny how people forget there are other places on earth where charging $150/hour would be nuts!
      - maxxxxx 9y ago
        That's seriously good money if you are not in one of the big cities, right?

damionx7 9y ago

What theme are you using with ghost?

rehemiau 9y ago
Looks like the default one

braindead_in 9y ago

We instead built a alternative to Watson Text to Speech! https://scribie.com/transcription/free https://scribie.com/transcription/free