17 ms·

Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

• taprun 9y ago
  1. Identify a skill that you have, and other people want. The more succinctly you can describe it, the better. Programmer == bad. C# developer == better. 2. Identify where people who need that skill spend time (meetups, clubs, slack groups, podcasts, discussion websites, mailing lists, etc). 3. Spend time at these places, delivering value, and pitching your wares. If you can get on stage to present, even better. A strong effort in a few places will usually beat a weak effort in many places. 4. Tell people you know that you are looking for gigs in your specific niche area. 5. Find agencies, others who do this work and let them know you're available if they get too much work, or get clients that aren't a great fit. 6. Most importantly, never be anonymous. This post is an example of a missed opportunity. Who knows, someone might have needed exactly what you're able to offer.
  • collyw 9y ago
    Programmer == bad. C# developer == better. I am a full time job person at present so I am by no means an expert but this seems wrong to me. Aren't the majority of people who do the hiring for freelancers non-technical? As such pushing a particular tech seems like a bad idea. (I am always pretty skeptical of people who rant about how a particular tech will solve the problem rather than how to actually solve the problem. Heard "relational databases don't scale" too many time by people who have relatively small data sets).
    • kjksf 9y ago
      A client that doesn't know what he wants is a bad client. Those kinds of people often have unrealistic expectations like "I want a website like Facebook for $500". Don't work for such people. That leaves people who do know what they want. So let's look at it from their perspective. Let's say they need a Windows desktop app. Two people apply for the job. You say "I'm a great programmer, here's a website I wrote". The other guy says: "I'm an experienced C# programmer. In the past I've developed 3 Windows desktop applications in C#/WinForms and I can do the same for you". If you were hiring, who would get the job. This is not about pushing C# technology but a best match between what the client wants and what your skills are. It's also not about C#. What the OP meant is that if you have a specific skillset, you should market that skillset specifically. Both ruby backend programmer and an iOS mobile programmers are programmers, but when a client is looking for iOS mobile programmer, he'll pick someone marketing his "iOS programming skills" over someone marketing his "programming skills".
      • gk1 9y ago
        > A client that doesn't know what he wants is a bad client. I disagree completely. A prospect who doesn't know what they want is an opportunity for the freelancer to provide more value by finding a solution for them. You're conflating "unrealistic expectations" with "I know I have a problem but I don't know what the solution is." The former is something to avoid. The latter should make cash-register sounds in your head because it's an opportunity to provide more value and charge accordingly.
        • inanutshellus 9y ago
          I believe his main point is that a client that doesn't know what he wants also doesn't know how much to spend, and sure doesn't want to over-spend. If you find someone that doesn't know what they want but is throwing cash around, sure, be the expert that leads them to digital nirvana. Generally though, if they don't know what they want, they don't realize how hard it is and so will be in for some serious shell-shock when you tell them the price tag. At which point you're either lowering your rate to still do the work or you've wasted a lot of time talking to them (which they generally don't expect to pay for unless your forte isn't writing code but "being the expert that tells you what you want").
• Jacqued 9y ago
  I understand you said you don't have networking skills. I too find networking pretty awkward and tedious. But in my experience the best kind is the kind that does not feel like networking at all. You could go to relevant meetups for your skillset and find people who could use your help there, but this still feels like networking. (it can be awkward to talk to random strangers there) However, there are other kinds of 'meetups' where it's just developers having beers together and discussing our trade or whatever else. If you go to these you'll become acquainted and maybe just make friends with some of them. This does not feel like networking at all! Work will naturally come your way after that. Another good source of work is people you have already worked with in the past. Drop them an email or invite them to lunch, it feels pretty natural to just keep in touch (not awkward at all). Anyway, these are just the ways I find work as someone who dislikes networking and recently became a full-time freelance developer.
• bbimbop 9y ago
  Agree with taprun. It is easier to communicate when you are specific. What do you build or like to build? Lots of people would like to work with an engineer like you on projects, myself being one.
• gmcerveny 9y ago
  I'm a full-time freelancer and I'm super specific on my niche, new music technology. I find that works pretty well. Sometimes I'm applying for gigs, sometimes folks just cold email me, and sometimes people refer others my way. But being a specialist seems to be the one thing that works best for me.
• cekanoni 9y ago
  But the question is what website beside the upwork and frelance you can use to find jobs related to network/system administration ?
• benatkin 9y ago
  There's a job channel for React on the Reactiflux Discord server. I think there's also one on the Apollo slack community, and I've seen them in other places too. I don't know how effective they are because I'm trying to get my project further along before posting to them.
• sodafountan 9y ago
  I've used Upwork to varying degrees of success. Here are few of the pros and cons Pros: - It's easy to get started, you can just create a profile and get rolling. - Lots of people on the other end of the spectrum, lots of potential clients which can later help with networking. Cons: - Lots of competition, when you're just starting you have to work really hard to build a reputable profile. - Upwork has lots of restrictions, so make sure you read the TOS. My first account was deleted because of a TOS violation, don't let that happen to you. - 80% of potential clients either aren't serious or are clueless, this was the major reason I stopped using the platfrom. I did see some success and I still have clients that contact me for work that I met through Upwork but I just can't stand the potential clients anymore and have pivoted to my own startup.
  • dizzystar 9y ago
    Another con is that no matter how wrong the payer is, the freelancer loses every case. They truly don't care about you. I would pay $400+ for each week of work I do just to be tossed under the bus. I closed my account as well.
  • blisterpeanuts 9y ago
    Also, be wary of the scammers; Upwork has a lot of them. I was taken in by one or two that sounded legitimate, and now I'm super careful. They typically try sucker you in with an almost-real sounding job, then try to get you to accept a check via email (photo deposit) and then pay for some equipment within 24 hours before the check clears. Or they find some other way to obtain your financial details or login credentials. These people are clever and evil, and Upwork apparently doesn't seem overly concerned about getting rid of them.
• jaequery 9y ago
  you might want to try Upwork if you haven't.
• ttoinou 9y ago
  I am in the exact opposite situation right now : how do I find a C system freelancer ?
  • Liquix 9y ago
    Post an open-ended comment on a popular Hacker News thread and watch the messages roll in? ;)
  • irremediable 9y ago
    The freelancer thread can work, and hopefully you have a network you can ask. Please, though, tell us more about it! What's the project in a nutshell? What kind of developer skills do you need? Rough ideas of time investment and compensation?
    • ttoinou 9y ago
      Work to be done includes pixel format conversion, creating multi threaded encoding queue, documenting existing code / reorganizing the files, creating a little parser for command lines generation. 3 Months minimum
      • jason_slack 9y ago
        I have a lot of experience here and have worked on a large graphic application that you may know about if you are in the industry.
  • nunodonato 9y ago
    what kind of C help do you need? :)
    • ttoinou 9y ago
      Like I answered in another comment : Work to be done includes pixel format conversion, creating multi threaded encoding queue, documenting existing code / reorganizing the files, creating a little parser for command lines generation. 3 Months minimum
• gk1 9y ago
  See: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-leads/ https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l... TL;DR - I tried out networking but it didn't work for me. Instead what's worked very well is writing educational content about the topic I'm an expert in. People often search for a solution to a problem before they decide to hire someone else to just do it for them. If they find your instructions for solving that problem, they might think "Why don't I just pay this person to do it for me? They'll probably do it better and faster."
  • lgregg 9y ago
    Thanks, I really like your article. I have some follow up questions: - When you're blogging, do you have a method to figure out what to write about? Are there "types" of posts that are more successful for you than others? - You said that most of your work comes from referrals now. What do you think about people trying to get in the game and start making free tools for a specific industry like (i.e. construction) to generate leads? I know some startups use this as a marketing tactic, like HubSpot's website grader. Then just freely promoting that tool in a group of LinkedIn construction executives.
    • gk1 9y ago
      I pay attention to the questions my clients ask and the pain they're feeling, then write about that because I assume other potential clients have the same pain. Occasionally I write about something just because it's been on my mind. I specifically the strong urge to write for other people like myself (that is, other marketers), because they're never going to become my clients. I like the idea of having a tool that acts as a lead generator, so long as it doesn't take too much time to make, because there's no guarantee it will work.
• fastbeef 9y ago
  Are consultant brokers/agent only a thing in the Nordic countries? I started my own consultancy firm last year and just sent my profile to a bunch of brokers. They all got in touch and presented assignments they had. I selected one, went on 1 interview (!!) and bam - six month assignment. The broker gets 10% of what I make. It’s super convenient and saves me a bunch of stress and time hunting assignments so the 10% is really worth it.
  • mvid 9y ago
    Can you list a few of these brokers?
    • passiveincomelg 9y ago
      Hays, Gulp.de, Computerfutures, Darwin Recruitment, Montash (not an endorsement, just the ones I could think of right now)
      • zerr 9y ago
        remote friendly?
        • passiveincomelg 9y ago
          No. But it's slowly getting better. Every once in a while someone posts a "100% remote" contract. Usually it's full-time on-site. Sometimes a few days a week "home office". Working through these kind of agencies is not freelancing in the sense OP is looking for. It's working as a temporary employee (still with more freedom and paid overtime :).
  • pleasecalllater 9y ago
    10% seems quite a lot, I'm wondering if your hour rate is so high that the 10% doesn't matter.
    • tixocloud 9y ago
• nbrempel 9y ago
  https://moonlightwork.com https://moonlightwork.com
  • philip1209 9y ago
    I'm the co-founder of Moonlight! I used to freelance full-time (and still do it part-time). I had trouble finding gigs that matched my skills and interests, e.g. optimization algorithms in Julia. Other sites were mainly web development, but it seemed tough to justify a high hourly rate while doing less specialized work. So, I started Moonlight, where we match you based on skills. People are hiring for things right now ranging from machine learning to Elm web development to PCB design. The average hourly rate is over $100US/hr. We are still in our early days and small (as a team of 2), but I'm making it my full-time job to help you get quality freelance projects! I want to keep jobs specialized and at a high hourly rate as we grow, and not sacrifice quality. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions! (philip@).
    • leojg 9y ago
      Hey, I checked you site, great work! Only issue for me is that you only support stripe for payments and is not available in my country, Uruguay. Why is that? Why not leave the payment chanel free? Or use paypal or something else?
      • philip1209 9y ago
        I was in Colonia last weekend - Uruguay is great! At this point, it's a question of time to build in additional systems. Stripe Connect let me (the solo engineer) build a marketplace quickly. However, it doesn't have great international support. We are looking at other options, such as Payoneer. The main priority right now is on growing the client side of the market. However, after that, we will likely return to the contractor side to work on some projects such as expanding payment options.
        • leojg 9y ago
          Glad you like it :) I understand, thanks for the answer
• aspectmin 9y ago
  I do AI/ML/data science freelancing, (usually around cyber security), but also do a lot of Devops / systems work. The AI/ML stuff is harder to find, save through networking, but for the DevOps/cloud/sysadmin - I favor weworkremotely.com and workingnomads.com. Their email notifications are pretty handy as well. As someone else mentioned - upwork works, but it’s very very competitive, and I much preferred their Elance platform in the day.
  • Cyberdog 9y ago
    > workingnomads.com Is that URL correct? I'm trying it and I'm seeing what appears to be an error page in… Dutch. I'm gonna guess Dutch.
    • Domenic_S 9y ago
      They meant https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs
    • aspectmin 9y ago
      Ack. Whoops. https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs
  • dizzystar 9y ago
    Really? I keep on reading about we work remotely, but there are zero jobs that are well-paying enough. There is also a dearth of programming jobs. It's similarly irritating that they send an email all the time reminding me I'll lose my account. Well, yeah, try screening your companies and ban jobs that you can't do unless your homeless.
• ollerac 9y ago
  Be helpful, polite, and talk to people. This can be on an online forum, group chat, or in person. If you are genuinely helpful and polite, you will form relationships, which can eventually lead to jobs. It's precisely when you're not trying to find work that the wildest opportunities will come to you.
• DoreenMichele 9y ago
  Once a month on the first, HN does a piece called "Freelancer / Seeking Freelancer." You could post to that and/or check it for "Seeking Freelancer" comments.
  • Cyberdog 9y ago
    Unfortunately, the "Freelancer" posts outweigh the "Seeking Freelancer" posts by ten to one or so. I tried posting in the last thread, and the only response I got was from someone asking me to work on a project which involved helping people buy a certain substance which is still illegal in my state. Didn't wanna touch it.
    • dizzystar 9y ago
      It's hit or miss, but I've had more legit contact than gray area or sweat equity contacts.
    • scardine 9y ago
      Answering job board ads is a numbers game - I can't get better than 20:1 even being very selective.
    • HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
      Great! You got a positive response, do it again next month.
• amingilani 9y ago
  Toptal[1] If you're a really good engineer (like I strongly believed I was) and don't have the network to find gigs (I live in Pakistan) freelance market places are great ideas on paper but never work out... Until I joined Toptal. They screened me to ensure I was a good developer (high quality supply of developers) and then worked with me to find a client that would be a good fit. Since not everyone can get into the marketplace, it isn't a race to the lowest rate and they have the best clients I've ever worked with. At one point an old client emailed asking me to temporarily move to Australia for a project (although I declined) You can work full-time, part-time, or even hourly. It's exactly what you're looking for! Full disclosure: I later joined Toptal as an editor for their engineering publication [2] so I technically work there but this was all based on my experience as a freelancer there [1]: referral link - topt.al/cppg [2]: https://www.toptal.com/developers/blog#contract-just-respected-software-architects https://www.toptal.com/developers/blog#contract-just-respect...
  • dmihal 9y ago
    Been working for/with Toptal for over a year and really liking it. I first started working freelancing through Upwork and hated it, the clients were bad & rates low (plus Upwork takes 20%). I really like that Toptal takes care of screening for quality clients and dealing with payments. Plus they try to provide some soft benefits like personal & professional development.
  • xevb3k 9y ago
    As a counterpoint, I found their interview process so frustrating and disorganized that I gave up on them and told them I was no longer interested... They do both an online programming test, and an in person “code in front of us” test + whatever else. They don’t make it clear up front what the interview process is, and often drop the ball... miss appointments etc.
    • amingilani 9y ago
      Interesting. I did find the process a bit arduous, but my interviewers were fairly professional. They were always punctual. Your experience is also the exact opposite of what Toptal tries to be: incredibly dedicated. Might I suggest giving it one more go? Your experience is likely an exception, and definitely not the norm. Personally, once I got through the screening, and started working with clients, I decided the screening process is well worth it.
• mgav 9y ago
  Consider volunteering for relevant work at a non-profit you care about (especially if the executives, volunteers or Board members are connected to organizations that interest you).
  • 52-6F-62 9y ago
    There's also the United Nations Online Volunteers. They have an internal postings board for non-profit and charity organizations all around the world that have applied for volunteer technical help. There's a lot of need out there. https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en
• trav4225 9y ago
  A bit off-topic, but after reading "software engineer with a full-time job, but I have lots of spare time in my off hours" I find myself contemplating if I'm alone in wondering how anyone can have free time with a full-time software job. I work full-time in software and it is an all-consuming, life-eating thing. Perhaps (hopefully) I'm just "doing it wrong" and there is hope out there for a life beyond work... :-)
  • news_to_me 9y ago
    IMO, if I'm thinking about work more than 8hrs/day, I'm doing it wrong. That's just me though. I love my job, and I love not worrying about it when I leave. Different employers can have pretty different expectations about this. I always try to let potential employers know it's important to me when looking for a job. Usually it's as simple as "Work life balance is important to me. Can you describe how your company handles that?"
    • trav4225 9y ago
      Sounds very sensible. I plan to make it a point of emphasis during my next job search.
  • slipwalker 9y ago
    same feelings here. All my time is sucked either into the full time job ( writing code, debugging, profiling... and then meeting with stakeholders, debating requirements... and then coaching the younglings management hires oh-so-often... and then, repeat. ) or into the commuting from home to work. I get to the weekends ( when it's not just extra time to finish even more work ) exhausted, praying for a quick and merciful death. Every week. {ironic}The mrs. just loves that routine...{/ironic}
    • trav4225 9y ago
      Hah, I feel your pain. I suspect we are indeed "doing it wrong". Best of luck to you!
• nickjj 9y ago
  If you're curious, I wrote a post[0] quite some time ago that covers a few things you could do to start a successful freelance business without any prior network. The TL;DR is to goto local meetups and talk to people in the street while avoiding freelancing marketplaces like the plague. That's how I mostly started freelancing 20 years ago and it's what I still do today. You don't need a portfolio or anything to start getting clients. [0]: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-start-a-successful-freelance-business-as-a-software-developer https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-start-a-successful-fre...
• brandontreb 9y ago
  "I don't have a ton of networking skills" Work on this. I have built my consultancy over the past 6 years and it started with me doing freelance and now we do over $1m/year in revenue. I attribute the majority of success to networking. Here are some of the things I did early on (and still continue to some extent). 1. Local meetups. Great place to show off, hear about leads, etc... 2. Find influencers / networkers in your area and buy them coffee. Ask tons of questions and end with "Who else do you think I should be talking to?" 3. Build stuff - I decided I wanted our team to be known locally for doing crypto dev, so I just started building cool stuff and showing it off at the local dev meetups. Now we have tons of crypt contracts! Whatever you do, come at it with the attitude of wanting to contribute to the community using your gifts/skills. The work will follow. Best of luck!
  • WalterGR 9y ago
    I have built my consultancy over the past 6 years and it started with me doing freelance and now we do over $1m/year in revenue. How many employees does your consultancy have including yourself? Find influencers / networkers in your area and buy them coffee. Ask tons of questions and end with "Who else do you think I should be talking to?" I feel like something is missing here. The sales part, I imagine. Otherwise how does simply asking people questions translate to business?
    • brandontreb 9y ago
      We have a mix of employees / contractors but usually hover around 9-10. As far as asking questions, it’s about the long game. I aim to build relationships with people and establish myself/my team as an authority on software dev. Almost none of my meetings are “sales” meetings, in fact we never do advertising at all. All leads come from people who eventually want work or refer their colleagues. Some meetings pan out and others don’t.
      • iamben 9y ago
        This a thousand times over. Never sell yourself the first time you're meeting someone. Explain what you do and turn the conversation back the person you're talking to. People love hearing their own voice, so let them talk. Take a genuine interest in what they do and they'll remember you as a good person. If you can help them, reach out the next day with the whole "I was thinking about X. We do Y, perhaps we could help." If you can connect them to someone who can solve their problem that isn't you, do that as well. As the parent says, people remember and refer / think of you first when you're needed.
• goostavos 9y ago
  > I'm a software engineer with a full-time job, but I have lots of spare time in my off hours. I'd like to monetize this time > I'm not looking for massive pay, just something to occupy my time and some side money. This opinion will change. I 100% guarantee it. A few years ago, I had the exact same reasoning for starting freelancing on the side. I even justified my desire for more paid work as "I'd be programming on personal things anyway." So, I took a freelance job. I thought it'd take about 6mo of weekend work. And I took it at 40% of my normal day-job rate because, it was "friend" work, and, again, "I'd be programming anyway." It took two years. That was two years of nights and weekends that did not belong to me. Two years of not being able to devote time to exploring other technologies, learning new things, or just goofing off. I took vacations from my day job to work on my side project because I was so desperate to get it done and have freedom again. The opportunity costs involved are absolutely massive and should be heavily weighed before deciding to take on more work.
  • tomduncalf 9y ago
    You make a very good point here. I too have taken on freelance work that ended up consuming much more time than expected and I found it very draining. Even when you aren’t working on it, the knowledge that you have to work on it hangs over you. These days, if I’m working five days a week for a client, I will only take on small side projects (something that I could probably do in a few days full time work, but I will spread out over a month or so) for people who understand that is all I can take on and that I will be working at that pace. I’d advise starting small, overestimating how much time it will take by quite a large margin, and taking breaks between projects, as it’s a horrible feeling when you realise something you’ve committed to is going to take much more time than you expected.
    • dboreham 9y ago
      Bill per hour and charge more.
      • neltnerb 9y ago
        More specifically, don't do fixed cost contracts. They misalign all the incentives, and encourages you to do a worse quality job. And it encourages them to take up your time with meetings and support and new "quick" features to add. Best is a fixed hourly rate, providing them an estimate, and setting it up so that you won't exceed a maximum (after which you can reevaluate with them whether to continue). This lets you be flexible on the spec and respond quickly to changes they may want, it lets you get compensated for all those little things that you don't plan for like meetings, and you no longer have to give your time estimate a padding to ensure you meet the deadline. Although they pay less on average, I think you also make more on average. Consider, for a fixed cost project you need to create rigorous specs that take weeks to develop and then negotiate over how hard different things are. Which of course itself takes lots of time. And god forbid they want to add a new feature or change a spec, necessitating either you just doing it for free or negotiating a whole new add-on project. Ratios of overhead to actual work? Honestly, probably like 50-50... so by cutting out a good chunk of that first 50% from the process, both sides save time and can do other more useful work. I'd way rather take on two clients and not spend my time negotiating and doing paperwork.
• scardine 9y ago
  What works best for me: 1) Local meetups and conferences linked to my niche For example: I like to give talks at the local Python meetups. The sponsors tend to be companies that use or have some interest in Python. First advice I give for new freelancers is to specialize. A newbie mistake is to think you may be restricting your options by choosing a door but believe me, behind that door is a hallway with hundreds of doors. 2) Stackoverflow careers I respond to "help wanted" ads that allow remote - top quality leads. I'm not affiliated with stackoverflow (but I 30k+ rep there). 3) I blog about what my secret sauces Some times I receive leads from my audience. It is also a good way to keep in touch with people I met at #1 as they are interested in the same subjects.
• blisterpeanuts 9y ago
  Be careful about taking on too many obligations. If you're single and your day job is not too demanding, you might make it work, but if you have a family, it can be tough. I recently found some work through one of the freelance websites but had to back out. I'm a full time software engineer but I am also a full time dad and husband, and between shopping, cooking (I work from home so these tasks tend to fall to me), going to dance and music recitals etc., it was just too much. Regarding networking, if your employer sends you to technical conferences, it's a great way to practice. Quite often I strike up a conversation over the breakfast buffet. People are usually quite relaxed and willing to chat while sugaring their coffee and grabbing a pastry. Everyone is in the same boat as yourself; they all want to network, build up useful contacts and potential business partners etc., so they will eagerly tell you about themselves, exchange cards etc. After you have been doing it for a while, networking can become natural and fun, and it's very worthwhile to cultivate a friendly and outgoing manner. You never know but it may result in your next job offer. Good luck!
  • badri 9y ago
    I can't agree with you enough on this :) It's indeed hard to build a freelancing career between a day job and life.
• scrollaway 9y ago
  When I do freelance (which is never these days), Codementor (affiliate link): https://www.codementor.io/i/3tiesmnbt9 https://www.codementor.io/i/3tiesmnbt9 HackHands is pretty fun too (https://hackhands.com https://hackhands.com) but very short term stuff and very low volume. If you have spare time it's nice though.
• ryanjanvier 9y ago
  Focus on a niche and become the go to person in that field. In my case, I work specifically with non-profit organizations that focus on Native American/First Nation issues. By narrowing down my target, I have been able to build a profitable network because I have specialized in that specific niche. Once you have narrowed down your niche, its just a matter of being in the same room as your potential clients. For me, it was attending conferences and networking. But you could also hang out in subreddits, facebook groups, linkedin groups, forums etc if you are an introvert.
  • bhu1st 9y ago
    Curious to know what do you do for non profits?
    • ryanjanvier 9y ago
      Apologies on delay in response. I usually focus on website design/maintenance, as well as marketing materials for their events and other initiatives.
• ArtofEmails 9y ago
  1. You can try cold emailing the cofounders or department chiefs (CTO, VP of Growth, etc.) of small to mid-size companies with a product that requires dev work. For example, you can try targeting startups who just raised a recent round (= more aggressive growth goals) to pick up some dev/engineering slack on a project basis as they scale quickly. There are tons of email finders (hunter.io, voilanorbert.com) that let you enter someone's full name and company name to find their email or their company's email format. 2. Keep your cold email short and frame hiring you as a way to launch and scale experiments, product test features, etc. on a project basis without needing to hire an additional full-time employee . 3. Briefly provide 2 examples of how you used your engineering skills to achieve an important business goal or solve a problem for companies you've worked for. Provide 1-2 reference quotes vouching for your work and reliability with links to their Linkedin profiles. 4. Offer to work on a project basis and offer to start on a small project with a defined deliverable to show them what you can achieve and how you'd be like working for you. 5. A/B test different email approaches. For example, you can also try asking the prospect "What are your top 3 roadblocks that require dev work? I can provide you insights on the most time efficient solutions that take up less people resources" to open the conversation and demonstrate your expertise. 6. Ask your current and previous colleagues to leave testimonials on your Linkedin profile to further show you're legit and skilled.
  • jasonswett 9y ago
    Have you done these things?
• parallel_item 9y ago
  Folks hate on Upwork.com but I have used it to secure and build good long-term relationships. Once the relationships grew we could take it offline to a more formal relationship. Because I started my career as an accountant, I have been able to start 2 of these relationships as an accountant and move over to data analysis. A good note to include is I do this part-time while working full-time and don't think I could simply expand this contract deal flow to fill a full time schedule if I needed to. I also have ruined a relationship early on by not respecting the part-time work enough and slowing down the folk's timeline.
  • bugBunny 9y ago
    Thats illegal, you had signed contract with upwork.
    • tortasaur 9y ago
      Assuming the parent is talking about completing a contract on Upwork, then setting up future contracts outside of Upwork: it's not illegal, it's just against their TOS.
• stallieman 9y ago
  Get involved in your local community (politics). You should get a lot of IT jobs, where you can make a name for yourself. Also, you can attribute to linux, by fixing and helping with the bugs and the kernel. When being a freelancer, you should be a bit more high profile than you are now?
• tpae 9y ago
  I'm actually in need of a react native developer, if anyone is interested, drop me a line at: tpae@superteam.io
• aantix 9y ago
  No network? No incoming leads from LinkedIn/Website/Github? Go direct. You ask. Find the VP/CEO/Senior engineer, and ask them.
  • roybarberuk 9y ago
    I can vouch, this works!
• tomcooks 9y ago
  Here's the method I used to build myself a consultancy business: buy a 9.90€ suit jacket at h&m, a 0.80€ pen and a moleskine notebook. Wake up at 7 the next day, start knocking doors and sell your services to every business in town; the trick is that you can't go home and eat until you have at least a prospect client. Don't cold call, don't send emails, don't print business cards. Knock doors while looking professional and competent, you'll get clients soon.
  • glomph 9y ago
    Isn't that exactly what cold calling is?
    • tomcooks 9y ago
      Maybe it's because I'm not a native english speaker, but isn't there a huge difference between looking up numbers and showing up in person in a business (casual) attire? I don't understand the downvotes, the above strategy worked really well for me and I'm a very shy person with no sales background.
      • lyndonjohnsonbe 9y ago
        Cold calling got it's name from that but generally people think of it as reaching out to someone to sell them something with no prior introduction.
  • mrgill 9y ago
    I thought about doing these many times when I needed money, didn't follow up with it though, exactly because I'm too shy. I'm gonna have to do it soon though, again, because of money. Would love to hear more about your experiences.
• HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
  Start by turning all those "I don'ts" into "I do's."
• mathattack 9y ago
  100% through people I’ve worked with before. (Finding work is not hard if you have a good reputation but very hard before you’ve built one.)
• mancerayder 9y ago
  It's an excellent question. I'm learning that now. Basically it boils down to either 1. Using job boards / LinkedIn and going through recruiters, many of whom have a contract department. Here's the problem. Many recruiters misrepresent to YOU what the client requirement is. I found myself in situations where the client was interested but all along they wanted a temp-to-hire / contract-to-hire (do NOT do this on principle even if you are gunning for full time work!), while I seek pure contracts / long-term contracts. Here's the bigger problem. Recruiters / agencies take a huge cut. We're talking 40-60% or more. So if you want 120 bucks an hour, the client would see a bill for 180 an hour. Let's take a step back and think about that. If the client is ready to pay close to 180 or a bit below, that means that you can charge a much higher rate than 120. You can charge, say, 140, and still the client is happy with the cost. But it's very difficult because this requires relationships with senior people in companies. This brings me to number 2. 2. Networking. I don't think here we're talking about going to a Meetup or a tech conference and flashing business cards. Maybe that'll work (please tell me it worked for someone and I'll do it). What it REALLY means is all those managers of your past, those people you really got along with in those jobs you had in the past (and you DID have a bunch of jobs in the past, right, hopefully not just one!), those people are potential sources of contract. Some hiring managers can convince their managers they need a contractor -- I did it as a hiring manager once, and one of my ex-bosses did it to re-hire me. I think LinkedIn is the Facebook of the business world for that. While in Facebook you have to suffer people's baby pics and food pictures so that friends and family don't forget your exist, in LinkedIn you suffer platitudes about hard work and Leadership and Important Thoughts -- so that your ex co-workers and employers don't forget you exist. I tried using HN and people I knew personally for tiny, one-off, small projects and it was a total nightmare. Inconsistent, cheap, and a lot of overhead. There's so much talking and meeting and phone calls and such for which I never billed, for work that never materialized or (might still/will) materialize. Networking is key and I'd love to hear some tips here!
• dohertyjf 9y ago
  CodeMentor.io FreeeUp.com Upwork.com Fiverrr.com (not just $5 gigs) Codeable.io Do you need more?
  • roybarberuk 9y ago
    Ergh... Probably the worst places to find work. A saturated market of freelancers that will accept any price to do any work. OP you're better than this!
    • radubrehar 9y ago
      I've been a mentor on Codementor for almost a year now, and it's the opposite of what you're suggesting. I have very professional mentoring sessions solving interesting problems, and getting payed really good money.
• zachguo 9y ago
  UpWork, given your situation. And start building up your Github, LinkedIn or Blog to boost your online presence.
• goatherders 9y ago
  I Work alone and make sure I do awesome work for a reasonable fee. Working alone keeps costs low. Awesome work keeps referrals high. Reasonable fee keeps repeat business coming in.
• megablast 9y ago
  > I'm a software engineer with a full-time job, but I have lots of spare time in my off hours. You are a SE, you are in the best position ever to work on your own projects, create your own startup, implementing your own ideas.
  • custos 9y ago
    I think you overestimate the capabilities of a software engineer. I'm a backend developer. I can design and implement the backend of enterprise level systems (APIs, Service Bus, Scheduled Jobs, Automation of operations, etc). But you still need a front end designer, a front end developer to write the clients users actually interact with and a domain expert who understands the needs of the people the software is being made for. Sure, some people can probably do all of those things. But I haven't yet met someone who could do them all as well as a specialist. Only opportunity I've had to work in startups, is when I'm working with a domain expert and a front end developer who happens to know enough about design to be the UX designer as well. Best case scenario, that person is also a domain expert, or I am. Either way that still involves me finding someone else with the drive, passion, time and energy to pursue a startup. Oh and that's ignoring all the legal crap you have to deal with in a startup. Freelance = Let them deal with all the bullshit and take their money to solve a problem you can solve well. Startup = You have a team of people with a common vision. Or one person with the capital to hire them all... which has been my most common experience (they usually are domain expert too). Maybe you get rich, maybe you lose all your invested time/money, maybe you get screwed due to not understanding the legal documents you signed. Startups are hard. Hell I had a group of guys that each had complementary skillsets and we considered starting a company that consulted for startups (helping them understand what to do, and guiding them through the process). Unfortunately two of them passed away :(
• dustingetz 9y ago
  Rate and job funnel is a function of portfolio strength. 1/ Right now, tonight, go make a portfolio like this one (mine): http://www.hyperfiddle-consulting.com/ http://www.hyperfiddle-consulting.com/ (it can be a github markdown gist, host images on imgur or github might even let you copy/paste images into markdown now). You do not want to be coding javascript and html here. It needs to iterate fast. And it needs to be done yesterday. Use markdown. Or a google doc. 2/ your portfolio will suck at first, but now that it exists, you feel that it sucks and now there is a driver function making you want to optimize it. 3/ post in the monthly HN freelancer thread, for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16495148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16495148 . If you don't get gigs, iterate your copy. Say you'll do it for a low rate if it gives you open source commits. -> feeds into portfolio 4/ get screenshots of whatever gigs you can (if for example it is a public site, or you can embed stuff into a company github readme for example https://github.com/wingspan/wingspan-forms#screenshots-from-large-real-world-project https://github.com/wingspan/wingspan-forms#screenshots-from-...) -> feeds into portfolio 5/ company doesn't do open source? Offer to open source some library or utility in your free time. I polished wingspan-forms over thanksgiving and christmas break 2013. It's a shitty library, nobody uses it. But it feeds into portfolio! 6/ spend at least one weekend a month writing a blog post, tips and trick for whatever javascript framework, or something -> feeds into portfolio 7/ go to a lot of local meetups, at least 1 a month, offer talks, your blog is the starting point for talks, speak at least twice a year -> feeds into portfolio Freelancing is more work up front than wage slaving. But the sky is the limit as to how much you can make. Oh and cut the silly bullcrap about not good at networking blah blah whatever. Read a howto social skills book and show up at meetups.
  • lamby 9y ago
    > Right now, tonight, go make a portfolio like this one (mine): http://www.hyperfiddle-consulting.com/ http://www.hyperfiddle-consulting.com/ I see that you are a 2-person "shop" - would you still have a "foo-consulting.com" personality if you were going solo? I'm kinda torn between the two.
    • incredimike 9y ago
      I have a similar issue. On any portfolio site I've attempted to build, I really dislike using the word "I" (e.g. "I can help you build a website!").. but using "we" seems disingenuious. (e.g. "We can help you with your programming woes!"). Recently though, I'm leaning towards "we" because it's better business-speak, the "we" seems less risky, and it may not be factually incorrect if you ever outsource any work. Generally, I tend to avoid writing copy that uses pronouns altogether.
• fecak 9y ago
  Let the work find you. One method is to turn on the "notify recruiters you are open" on LinkedIn (a toggle under Jobs) and write a note saying you want contract work. The setting is about a year old, and it notifies recruiters that are searching for candidates that you are open to listening. You can also set filters for location, contract vs perm, size of company, and set a personal note on what you are open to.
• mirimir 9y ago
  As other have said, I initially found clients through work. And eventually, I found more through reputation, and word of mouth. Initially, I billed at about twice my salary, to account for overhead. But I eventually realized that even that was less than half of typical consulting rates. So I gradually increased my billing rate, and redefined my old rate as that for established clients. And then I gradually ratcheted that up as well. But I did lose some old clients.
• juliend2 9y ago
  Do: 1. Get out of the building. That means finding other people's problems. 2. Show up. After work, offer to take a coffee with the CEO, or an the exec of a company you know, just to talk about their problems and challenges they are facing, and if applicable, tell them you could help them with that. The simple fact of showing up often in a place will give the impression to people that you are available for some work. 3. Know your value in the market. Unless you know your value, you won't make a significant amount of money to justify the time you put in. Which leads me to point #4: 4. If you still don't find anything to do for profit, try offering your skills to a non-profit organization that would benefit a lot from your skills. For their website, or an internal app. These projects are sometimes fun to do and you can get some valuable experience in an interesting tech you like, in a project that you know will be useful and meaningful to others. Don't: 1. ...say yes too often. 2. ...under-estimate the time it would take to finish up the project. 3. ...ignore your gut feeling when starting a relationship with people. Bad people don't look that bad on first impression. Good luck!
• remyp 9y ago
  I built something to help HN users network together. I can't promise it'll bring you work, but it'll help you connect with other members of this community without much effort on your part. https://findkismet.com https://findkismet.com
  • softwarefounder 9y ago
    I just signed-up - I'll give it a try. Nice sign-up process.
  • davman 9y ago
    Is there a button I can press to request a new connection 'today'? First connection I got today wasn't interesting to me so now I need to wait till tomorrow.
    • remyp 9y ago
      Connections are limited to 1 per day for now. Once you've gotten a few I think you'll find it to be plenty to keep up with!
  • jason_slack 9y ago
    I have been a kismet user since they launched recently. I can say that a large number of my "matches" either don't fill out what they "need help with" or "can offer help with" and even more than that don't reply at all after I make initial contact. I was talking with another kismet user and they too said out of their matches I was the only one that ever reached out to say hi. I hope it gains popularity because I think the idea is great. I wouldn't count on it though to find a job.
    • DoreenMichele 9y ago
      I've had multiple conversations with people, though, granted, it hasn't gotten any specific concrete result yet. But I'm not expecting overnight results. Experience is going to vary.
• justinzollars 9y ago
  I have a FT job, but I've maintained a website on S3 for a client for a few years now. I charged quite a bit up front, and now charge a yearly maintenance fee. Honestly, its best to focus on your FT job and not spread yourself too thin. Enjoy your time off or contribute to open source with your free time.
• captnphilip 9y ago
  Easy, send us an email: hello@recurpal.com
• hellbanner 9y ago
  Mostly referrals. Though now I'm looking for something more stable and am expanding my searches through Linked In, Gunio & Stack Overflow career this weekend. (10 years doing iOS, Android, React, Javascript, Ruby and more recently Erlang + Smart Contract programming, if any of this interests you/your corp reply with a contact page!)
• badri 9y ago
  > I'm not looking for massive pay, just something to occupy my time and some side money. You have two options. Start working on a side project which you find interesting. Apply any new technologies you'd wanted to learn. You can either profit from it, or worst case, you learned something new from that. I don't want to glorify failure, but the most important thing is to ship it. The less risky option is to build your brand/credibility in a niche area, like offering a lot of value in form of blog posts, free e-books etc. This is more organic, takes time, but builds the trust which makes it easier to find clients. Both options involve a combination of various skills other than pure technical competence like marketing and project management.
• nurettin 9y ago
  >> I'm a software engineer with a full-time job, but I have lots of spare time in my off hours I have a contract in my current workplace which lets me bill off-hours (they also pay for my taxi costs when I work late, they also pay double during holidays) so I am happily not taking any side jobs. Your day job can become your night job if you can produce more work off-hours for them.
• askari01 9y ago
  finding freelance work is easy, depends how much and what kind of work you want to do. fiver to upwork & freelance... but you will miss exploring new stuff. but side project will turn you into a machine, if you don't find something interesting or aligning with your interests. Must charge more than normal day time. I do it just for fun and don't charge much but i only do it to buy stuff online as my bank account doesn't support buying books, games & apps online. (i don't take more than an hour work)
• bsaul 9y ago
  Reading your question makes me wonder if you're tackling the correct issue. - Why do you feel the need to work on the side to "leverage your skills" ? Your fulltime job should give you this opportunity. - Why do you want to work with computers on your spare time ? Spare time is also a way to broaden your horizon. Go try new things, meet new people from different fields, etc. The fact that you describe yourself as having poor networking skills makes me wonder if you haven't spent a bit too much time alone in a front of a computer already.
• pknerd 9y ago
  I used to be a freelancer, work as a remote contractor for a US based company. The conventional and shortcut way is to find jobs on upwork, freelancer.com etc, the difficult but rewarding route is to introduce yourself as an authority for the thing you want to be hired. The best way to do is to put profile online and write SEO optimized blog posts. <shameless_plug> I wrote a blog post on this matter which you can read here: http://blog.adnansiddiqi.me/5-ways-developers-can-have-multiple-income-streams/ http://blog.adnansiddiqi.me/5-ways-developers-can-have-multi... </shameless_plug>
• anon1094 9y ago
  The truth is is that you don't need a network to land freelance gigs. Going to meetups is nice, but you can skip that step. There are remote projects posted all the time on job boards, Slack channels, Discord, Twitter, Facebook Groups, and many other places that aren't UpWork. I freelanced for 4 years completely remotely as a front-end developer always finding my clients in this way on various places and reaching out directly with email. It's always about consistently reaching out to keep your freelance pipeline full, showing clients you have the technical skills by your showing previous projects in your email cover letter, and that you can be reliable by consistently emailing back quickly. P.S. - I started https://remoteleads.io/ https://remoteleads.io/ to solve this problem of finding remote work for myself and it turns out many others needed this too and now we're growing at a pretty consistent pace.
• nikkwong 9y ago
  Find opportunities to plug what you have in places that are relevant. Every so often HN has threads where I talk about my experience with web design at www.beaver.digital, and it always lands me tons of work. I'd recommend just hanging out in internet communities that are interesting to you and that potentially have people that can hire you, like this one. I'm secretly terrible at networking, but that surprisingly has not been an issue whatsoever.
• greg_____ory 9y ago
  I find that meeting my clients face to face before engaging goes a long way for both of us. In the times I haven’t made time to do this, I feel like a robot receiving endless requests. I don’t think they remember I’m a real person. Eye contact and a handshake go a long way.
• deleted 9y ago
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• e_reder 9y ago
  I've been in the freelance game for the last five years. If you're based in the US or Europe I wouldn't waste my time with Freelancer.com or Upwork. The competition for jobs on these platforms is usually too high. Here are my best resources for finding freelance jobs: 1. And Co's gig list And Co is a true life saver for me as a freelancer. Their app is 100% free and does everything I need: invoicing, contracts, payments, time tracking, etc. They send out a weekly newsletter with lots of opportunities from all over the internet. It's kind of a hidden gem. Lots of value >> https://www.and.co/gig-list https://www.and.co/gig-list 2. Angel List 3. Remote.io However, there are lots and lots of other platforms. I recommend you look at this article https://www.and.co/freelance-jobs https://www.and.co/freelance-jobs