3 ms·

Get a blog and start making new business acquaintances. (Being in the Valley should not exactly have you hurting for options on that score.)

by patio11 14y ago

bmelton 14y ago
Perhaps not the most appropriate forum, but in paragraph three of the post, s/peak/peek/g.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
sown 14y ago
How do you make business acquaintances? I have a hard enough time leaving the house.
- onewland 14y ago
  If you write Ruby and go to a SFRuby Meetup, you will learn quickly that even if you are looking for work it is quite annoying to say you are looking for work, as the recruiters swarm in like vultures to fresh carrion.
  - xiaoma 14y ago
    I write ruby (though I haven't done much rails yet), and went to literally dozens of SFRuby meetups. Yes, recruiters did swarm in a few times. However, it was a massive waste of time, hopes and energy since every single one of them was looking for a senior engineer. Interestingly, the last SFRuby meetup I went to at Carbon5, where we all had to introduce ourselves and what we did, about 5-7 of the twenty some people there were unemployed. I've actually had better success finding work through HN and through friends of people I've worked for before (once again no help to someone just starting out).
pknerd 14y ago
And what about those who not even in US and belong to a "3rd world country" where one wish to give work only because it's Cheap?
- SwellJoe 14y ago
  Do the same things. Get a blog, become well-known for being awesome. I've hired several "third world country" developers at US market rates (not Silicon Valley rates; more like midwestern rates, like $30-$50/hour) because they were good. And, I've passed on $10/hour developers because they didn't convince me they could do the job. It's about value, not price. That's not to say you aren't at a disadvantage, if you're wanting to charge very high rates while being in a third world country, but it's not impossible. Doing the same things suggested by this post, and by other comments, is how you raise your value. You may be raising it from a lower starting point, but it can be raised, and there isn't really a firm upper bound on how high it can go.
  - debaserab2 14y ago
    Midwestern rates for a decent programmer should not be lower than $80/hr. If you're finding good programmers in the midwest that are less than that, they don't understand their value in the local market. Source: I work in an office co-share with a dozen or so web developers in Minneapolis.
    - SwellJoe 14y ago
      Chicago and Minneapolis and other big cities don't count in my estimate. I'm speaking more about folks in places with very low cost of living, and no tech industry to speak of (but there are nerds everywhere). The fact that you work in a co-share with a dozen web developers means you work in a place where developers are a known quantity and have a reasonably high value. There are developers in Idaho, too. They don't usually make $80+/hour, even on contract, unless they're famously good.
      - thisisdallas 14y ago

Get a blog and start making new business acquaintances. (Being in the Valley should not exactly have you hurting for options on that score.)

by patio11 14y ago

Get a blog and start making new business acquaintances. (Being in the Valley should not exactly have you hurting for options on that score.)

bmelton 14y ago

Perhaps not the most appropriate forum, but in paragraph three of the post, s/peak/peek/g.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

sown 14y ago

How do you make business acquaintances? I have a hard enough time leaving the house.

onewland 14y ago
If you write Ruby and go to a SFRuby Meetup, you will learn quickly that even if you are looking for work it is quite annoying to say you are looking for work, as the recruiters swarm in like vultures to fresh carrion.
- xiaoma 14y ago
  I write ruby (though I haven't done much rails yet), and went to literally dozens of SFRuby meetups. Yes, recruiters did swarm in a few times. However, it was a massive waste of time, hopes and energy since every single one of them was looking for a senior engineer. Interestingly, the last SFRuby meetup I went to at Carbon5, where we all had to introduce ourselves and what we did, about 5-7 of the twenty some people there were unemployed. I've actually had better success finding work through HN and through friends of people I've worked for before (once again no help to someone just starting out).

pknerd 14y ago

And what about those who not even in US and belong to a "3rd world country" where one wish to give work only because it's Cheap?

SwellJoe 14y ago
Do the same things. Get a blog, become well-known for being awesome. I've hired several "third world country" developers at US market rates (not Silicon Valley rates; more like midwestern rates, like $30-$50/hour) because they were good. And, I've passed on $10/hour developers because they didn't convince me they could do the job. It's about value, not price. That's not to say you aren't at a disadvantage, if you're wanting to charge very high rates while being in a third world country, but it's not impossible. Doing the same things suggested by this post, and by other comments, is how you raise your value. You may be raising it from a lower starting point, but it can be raised, and there isn't really a firm upper bound on how high it can go.
- debaserab2 14y ago
  Midwestern rates for a decent programmer should not be lower than $80/hr. If you're finding good programmers in the midwest that are less than that, they don't understand their value in the local market. Source: I work in an office co-share with a dozen or so web developers in Minneapolis.
  - SwellJoe 14y ago
    Chicago and Minneapolis and other big cities don't count in my estimate. I'm speaking more about folks in places with very low cost of living, and no tech industry to speak of (but there are nerds everywhere). The fact that you work in a co-share with a dozen web developers means you work in a place where developers are a known quantity and have a reasonably high value. There are developers in Idaho, too. They don't usually make $80+/hour, even on contract, unless they're famously good.
    - thisisdallas 14y ago