5 ms·
Ask HN: Developers, how do you find high quality freelance work?
A recent HN post got me thinking [1]...
Problem: Freelancer, elance, and similar sites appear to be crowded with foreign developers willing to work for next to nothing. In addition, many of the project listings on these sites come off as unprofessional and, at times, shady.
So how do capable, professional developers find serious freelance work? The problem becomes increasingly difficult with a small network and few industry contacts.
[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2540909
- HedgeMage 15y agoMy best work comes to me,either through word of mouth from satisfied clients, or my reputation in the community. When I was first starting out, I took a lot of so-so jobs. You only have to have a couple really good clients to get word-of-mouth spreading among people like them, then you can start to be more picky.
- pacomerh 15y agoSame case here. If you find yourself looking into job boards all the time, you probably need to satisfy more clients, because they will have to tell their friends about the amazing job they got done. Happy clients and a good portfolio equals the ability to be pickier.
- amccloud 15y agoFunny that you ask this. I'm currently working on a solution to your question. Feel free to contact me at andrew [at] amccloud.com
- bartonfink 15y agoI'll be contacting you as well, fyi. I'm tired of clients working with me for a couple of months, and then asking me to quit my day job to work full-time for them.
- scottyallen 15y agoHave you actually tried bidding on jobs on these sites? Or have you just looked around at the other bids, gotten discouraged, and given up? I put myself through college as a freelance programmer and system administrator, primarily finding new clients through rentacoder and scriptlance. When I shut down the freelance work to join Google, I was charging $75/hour, and still probably could have raised my rates further. I was making roughly $30k a year, working part time during the school year, and mostly fulltime in the summer. The key to making good money on these sites is differentiating yourself from cheap offshore talent. Figure out why you're different from the guy halfway around the world who is charging $5-10/hour, and show (not tell) the prospective client that. Some ideas: - You're a native english speaker, and can communicate effectively. - You understand the problem the client is trying to solve. - You're in the same timezone, and can respond to questions quickly. - You have good understanding of the technology, and can design an appropriate solution quickly. You're not going to compete with these guys on price - you're going to compete with them on quality and reduced risk that the project will be done correctly and on time. The best way to demonstrate all of this to a prospective client is to write really good bids. Ask lots of questions to start with, as well as a summary of your understanding of the problem, and how you might go about solving it. Consider it a dialog, not a 2 sentence cut and paste marketing blurb. Lastly, be picky about the projects you choose to bid on. Because you're going to spend more time bidding on them, you can respond to fewer than the shotgun approach some offshore companies take. That's ok - choose projects that look like they care about getting it done right, and aren't necessarily just looking for the cheap shortcut.
- dmlevi 15y agowell said. I have hired on elance and I always hire "personal bids", the developer or designer that takes the time to read about my vision. Offshore, although cheaper, just mass bids to anything! Quite annoying for a non developer
- dmlevi 15y agoComing from a business standpoint and a non-developer, Elance has worked for me. Although I prefer not to go offshore and to stay with in the U.S and give back to our country, some developers are really too expensive. I have a startup in Chicago and currently looking for a talented developer. If your interested dmlevi [AT] gmail