Ask HN: Where are the good platforms for contract work?

I've been looking for contract work for the past couple months, and it's been dire. All the job boards are looking for full time employees, and on Hacker News the only recommendation is Toptal.

Is there really no other platform for decently paid contract work that's not a complete race to the bottom? I find I'm close to having to abandon 10 years of consulting because I have no idea where to find anything else than full-time employment.

The other two job boards I've been keeping an eye on are mostly about React and other frontend roles, with offers few and far between. Linkedin is similarly dire for contract work.

Is Toptal the only option for someone with 16 years experience that wouldn't want to work for peanuts? Or just going back to being an employee?

(In case anyone's reading that's looking for a senior Elixir/Rust/Go engineer/sysadmin, resume's in my profile. I'm based in London.)

EDIT: excellent responses so far, thanks. I like how many are suggesting going through recruiters, while the common motif on other similar posts is to avoid LinkedIn. I've started cleaning up my Linkedin profile this week, and I already have a dozen recruiters setting up appointments with me. I will try and explicitly request contract jobs with them.

There are no good platforms for contract work.

There are two routes: 1) Get in touch with local hiring agencies, there are tons of contract positions 2) Become a studio yourself and take on clients (much harder than #1)

Good luck.

oof. what made you make this jump. I might have to go down this path soon due to family circumstances .

What are the good platforms?

Emailing the CEO of small, local software companies with your experience and your rate.

Also, posting your info on the monthly HN Who's Hiring Freelancers post.

Contracting platforms are a race to the bottom.

Successful freelancing requires a lot of outreach. Start with your network and then move on to cold outreach to companies that might need your services.

Hint: If a company has full-time job postings for your work domain, it means they need your services. You can pitch them on contract work and offer to augment their teams on a contractual basis while they search for a full-time hire.