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In general, presenting yourself as a professional is essential, but it’d be disadvantageous to act like a dev shop if you’re an individual. In technology, ther
by leknarf 13y ago
In general, presenting yourself as a professional is essential, but it’d be disadvantageous to act like a dev shop if you’re an individual.
In technology, there's a general distrust of "general contractor" style operations. No one wants to hire a developer for $200/hr, only to have him turn around and send the work to an off-shore developer for $20/hr. In fact, most freelance contracts have "no sub-contractor" clauses that explicitly disallow this.
Because of this mistrust, some clients don’t even consider working with out-sourcing firms and instead actively seek out individual contractors. They want professional contractors (you should have a LLC, a tax ID number, real legal contracts, etc.), but want that professionalism to come with a human face. Any individuals that are trying to compete with the dev shops are missing out a big market that’s a more natural fit.
We’re actually running a startup (http://getlambda.com/ http://getlambda.com/) that represents professional freelance developers and helps them find precisely these sorts of hiring companies. If anyone is looking for help starting or expanding a freelance business, we’d be happy to chat about what we’ve learned.
- robertnealan 13y agoI'm not so much suggesting to act like a full dev shop as I openly disclose to my clients that I'm the only current full time employee, but instead to present yourself as a company to whom they can hire and get professional results in return. Unfortunately this does admittedly get abused by people who sub-contract work offshore, but unless your the new guy on the block your portfolio generally starts to speak for itself. Took a look at Lambda (good design work) - how do you differ from a good recruiter connecting freelance contractors with 6-12 month gigs?
- leknarf 13y agoI expect you're striking the right balance, but I've also seen cases where new freelancers get too excited to be a "real company" that they start emulating all the worst parts of large organizations and lose the benefits of individuality. Startups are guilty of this too. There's a reason our website has my email address on the home page instead of just a contact form. Anyone who wants to contact us can reach out to me directly. We won't be able to continue that as we grow, but it's a great advantage right now. Regarding Lambda vs recruiters: we're complementary. A recruiter is usually hired and paid by a company to fill a given role. We're hired and paid by a developer to fill his freelance calendar. We screen clients to ensure they're actually the types you want to work with, we negotiate on your behalf to get you higher rates, and help you brand/position yourself to get you more work in the future.
- roel_v 13y agoI don't think the OP meant 'looking as if there are more people' vs 'being up-front about being one guy', but more 'looking as if you're a solutions provider' vs 'presenting yourself as a programming guy'. Having had a few experiences recently that opened my eyes to the differences, I wholeheartedly agree. 'Solution provider' = profit center, 'programming guy' = cost center. I've send quotes for being a 'solution provider' accepted without as much as an eyelash batted that I thought, when I send them, would have them running away screaming; and I've had quotes for being a 'programming guy' rejected as 'too expensive' where I would most likely have worked below minimum wage on that project. Not difficult to predict which route I'm taking now...