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Ask HN: Laid off. Now what?
I was laid off from my job a couple of weeks ago. I was with the company for a bit more than 6 months and I thought I was doing my job well (wasn't coding much, was into middle management). It came as a surprise to me and my teammates too. Now, I want to go back to freelancing and work on some SaaS ideas on the side.
Problem is, It now seems impossible to find a project. I tried contacting some older clients but they don't have any work at the moment (or in near future). I posted in Seeking Work/Freelancer thread as well without any success. Tried various remote job portals and slack channels. No success there either. Had 1 enquiry and I lowered my hourly rates to less than half (from $100/hr to $40/hr) and still I couldn't get the project. I've got 12 years of experience writing code and I think what I asked was quite fair. Now I'm getting desperate for work and I've no clue what should I do next.
Going full-time is an option but I had a shoulder injury recently and I'm trying to minimize commuting as much as possible. Also, I feel I work better as a contractor and it keeps me happy.
- DoreenMichele 8y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18829691 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18829691 I'm on mobile, short of sleep, yadda. My comment in that discussion links to a useful list of freelance platforms.
- opendomain 8y agoWhat are your skills? Languages? Any information for people to hire you would be helpful.
- throwawaybp 8y agoAdded
- mrdependable 8y agoI tend to get a lot of people asking me to do work for them through side projects I have. For example, if you made some sort of Salesforce integration that people started using, you would probably start getting quite a few requests for you to do customizations, or build a custom app, etc.
- foober23 8y agoJust speculating here... the US government shutdown could be having an effect on contract work. Even your lay off 2 weeks ago could be related. Timing seems to line up with the shutdown. Tons of contract work is from government spending.
- throwawaybp 8y agoI'm not from the US.
- throwawaybp 8y agoFor people who want to know my skill sets: Php, Laravel, VueJS, NodeJe, React. Language isn't a barrier. I've worked on Python/Django, RoR, etc. as well.
- clark-kent 8y agoI would recommend using recruiters to find work for you, recruiters have a nice rooster of Employers that they can match you with. Even better than using a recruiter use a site like Hired.com and vettery.com. These sites are great for matching you with interesting employers. The best thing about the above options is that it gives you access to a lot employers, much more than you can find by searching on your own. Note: these recruiters and sites can help you find freelance/contract work as well as regular employment.