5 ms·

You could try freelancing on Upwork.

bilekas 4y ago
Upwork is an option for sure. It does take some time though to build up some clients. After a few years i left but I still have odd jobs for old clients who get in touch. It's a great way to keep active and sharp while building some clients.
- swah 4y ago
  Those smaller jobs you get - how many weeks long are those, usually? One of my "fears" of doing contract work is having to support clients forever just because I did a small job for them once... and not having enough manpower to deal with everything.
  - tgflynn 4y ago
    Why would you ever "have" to support clients ? That's the main point of freelancing. The client pays you either for a certain number of hours of work or to do a specific project. You're never obligated to do anything beyond what was agreed on. Repeat work is usually desirable though, because getting new clients is often the hardest part of being a freelancer. As for how big the projects are it varies a lot and anyway my information would be way out of date so the best way to find out is to sign up and see what kind of jobs people are posting. When I was doing it you could often find jobs like building a simple website, a scraper or basic data processing or analytics scripts that could be done in a week or even a few days.
  - jrumbut 4y ago
    In any kind of freelancing you have to have a contract and you have to be careful what you say (especially in any form of writing, not just letters but email, chat, text, etc). It doesn't have to be the most elaborate contract. I know others will disapprove but I wrote mine myself. Fortunately it was never tested in court but, at least once, reviewing the terms at a time of disagreement protected both sides from embarking on a costly and painful legal process.
astoilkov 4y ago
Thanks. I created an account and will try it out. Have you tried it yourself? I'm searching for contracts that are few weeks long.
- tgflynn 4y ago
  Many years ago I used it when it was called ELance. At the time it was possible to find some short projects though it certainly took some effort.
- bdcravens 4y ago
  They exist on Upwork, but sometimes the clients act like they've hired a full-time, on-call, developer. You should have a call with anyone who may want hire you and set clear expectations before you accept any project. Also when setting your rate, be mindful that they (like most platforms) take 20%.
herbst 4y ago
Like 6 years ago I got really good gigs, like every other proposal lead to a job. The last years, whenever I tried, I was just writing proposal after proposal and either I was to expensive or I heard nothing. Maybe it's me, but my impression was that it got way harder to land proper paid jobs.

Upwork is an option for sure. It does take some time though to build up some clients. After a few years i left but I still have odd jobs for old clients who get in touch. It's a great way to keep active and sharp while building some clients.

swah 4y ago
Those smaller jobs you get - how many weeks long are those, usually? One of my "fears" of doing contract work is having to support clients forever just because I did a small job for them once... and not having enough manpower to deal with everything.
- tgflynn 4y ago
  Why would you ever "have" to support clients ? That's the main point of freelancing. The client pays you either for a certain number of hours of work or to do a specific project. You're never obligated to do anything beyond what was agreed on. Repeat work is usually desirable though, because getting new clients is often the hardest part of being a freelancer. As for how big the projects are it varies a lot and anyway my information would be way out of date so the best way to find out is to sign up and see what kind of jobs people are posting. When I was doing it you could often find jobs like building a simple website, a scraper or basic data processing or analytics scripts that could be done in a week or even a few days.
- jrumbut 4y ago
  In any kind of freelancing you have to have a contract and you have to be careful what you say (especially in any form of writing, not just letters but email, chat, text, etc). It doesn't have to be the most elaborate contract. I know others will disapprove but I wrote mine myself. Fortunately it was never tested in court but, at least once, reviewing the terms at a time of disagreement protected both sides from embarking on a costly and painful legal process.

astoilkov 4y ago

Thanks. I created an account and will try it out. Have you tried it yourself? I'm searching for contracts that are few weeks long.

tgflynn 4y ago
Many years ago I used it when it was called ELance. At the time it was possible to find some short projects though it certainly took some effort.
bdcravens 4y ago
They exist on Upwork, but sometimes the clients act like they've hired a full-time, on-call, developer. You should have a call with anyone who may want hire you and set clear expectations before you accept any project. Also when setting your rate, be mindful that they (like most platforms) take 20%.

herbst 4y ago

Like 6 years ago I got really good gigs, like every other proposal lead to a job. The last years, whenever I tried, I was just writing proposal after proposal and either I was to expensive or I heard nothing. Maybe it's me, but my impression was that it got way harder to land proper paid jobs.