Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#1

Post by menloparkbum » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 7:46 PM UTC

I've decided to leave my current job to work on my startup. It turns out working on a startup while you work at another startup doesn't work out, time wise. However, I only have enough money to last through the end of the year. I'd like to bank about $5-$10K more before applications for the winter YC funding cycle are due. I have a few personal connections and about 7 leads since 9 am today, but am trying to collect as many options as I can before making a commitment. Does anyone on HN know of any resources for contract work other than craig's list and dice/elance/odesk ? I'm in San Francisco, so info about any local networking events would also be helpful.

I'm looking for something with cool people, but in a decidedly temporary arrangement.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#2

Post by noodle » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 7:50 PM UTC

look on any of the niche job boards.

authenticjobs.com is a good start, and it has some links to aggregators where you can spread out your search. also, freelanceswitch.com's job board is decently good.

they're not all designed for freelance/contract work, but they do have plenty of postings for it.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#3

Post by menloparkbum » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 7:51 PM UTC

noodle wrote: post #2

look on any of the niche job boards. authenticjobs.com is a good start, and it has some links to aggregators where you can spread out your search. also, freelanceswitch.com's job board is decently good. they're not all designed for freelance/contract work, but they do have plenty of postings for it.

cool - thanks!

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#4

Post by noodle » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 8:01 PM UTC

menloparkbum wrote: post #3

noodle wrote: post #2

look on any of the niche job boards. authenticjobs.com is a good start, and it has some links to aggregators where you can spread out your search. also, freelanceswitch.com's job board is decently good. they're not all designed for freelance/contract work, but they do have plenty of postings for it.

cool - thanks!

no problem, i feel your pain :)

also note that, typically, elance/odesk/guru/etc. isn't worth trolling for work, because they're dominated by cheap, lower quality labor and project-based pricing.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#5

Post by prakash » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 8:15 PM UTC

Firstly, congrats!

Try the gigs board on 37 signals: http://gigs.37signals.com/gigs

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#6

Post by jon_dahl » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 8:15 PM UTC

I did contract work for 5 years before founding a product company. Most of our work came from two sources: reputation and relationships. Reputation took several years to build, so it isn't 6-month solution.

Relationships, on the other hand, can be built quickly. The best relationships for us were relationships with other developers. We've gotten dozens of good leads this way, and have passed out dozens to other developers. What technologies are you going to use? Local user groups for those technologies can be a great place to start. Figure out where the local momentum is (Ruby? Python? User Experience? Startups?) and meet people.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#7

Post by ucdaz » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 8:34 PM UTC

Check out meetups, web 2.0 parties, and ppl you know within your hacking community.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#8

Post by thomasswift » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 8:43 PM UTC

My advice: Attend networking events, meetups etc.

Tell people you are looking for work, most of my work has come through friends (which you have seem to done)

Charge what your worth beginning day one, maybe cut your personal friends a discount, but doing work for next to nothing to build your portfolio is great, but trying to raise your price afterwards is very very hard.

To answer your original question: check dice.com and craigslist, but dice.com will be true contract jobs that don't want companies that consult, but contractor (most of the time) and craiglist will be full of build digg for 10$/hr types of people(maybe they'd hire you on for what your worth but I doubt it).

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#9

Post by xlnt » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 9:25 PM UTC

thomasswift wrote: post #8

My advice: Attend networking events, meetups etc. Tell people you are looking for work, most of my work has come through friends (which you have seem to done) Charge what your worth beginning day one, maybe cut your personal friends a discount, but doing work for next to nothing to build your portfolio is great, but trying to raise your price afterwards is very very hard. To answer your original question: check dice.…

How do you know what you're worth?

I've read "post your salary" threads and other things that show up on yc or programming.reddit, but I still can't really tell.

Re: Ask HN: where's a good place to look for smart contract work?

#10

Post by gexla » Thu, Jun 12, 2008, 9:28 PM UTC

You didn't say what sort of contract work.

You are doing a "startup" yet getting into contract work is also a "startup." They are both businesses and any business takes time to build up to a point where you can make a living from that business. It also takes time. There will likely be times when you are freelancing where you don't have enough time or energy left over at the end of the day to work on your other projects.

Networking is definitely important for freelancing. You have to let people know what you know and that you are available. Finding someone to work on a project can be hard and you need to be on the top of the short lists of candidates when people are looking for help.

Another way to start freelancing is by establishing yourself as a known expert in niche communities. This takes time and effort but when you get to that point and people are looking for dev help in that niche then your name will come up.