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Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

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Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#11

Post by kffcc »

FearNotDaniel wrote: post #6

I'm really not sure what you're asking. Could you possibly clarify? You are already working as a contract programmer, which is a freelance of sorts, and already travelling the world. Are you saying that you travel on your personal time, i.e. when you're not working, but that you would now prefer to travel further afield (more than France and Germany) specifically to work on projects? Or are you saying that you are al…

Thank you for your questions, those are really good.

" travel on your personal time, i.e. when you're not working"

Currently I am a software developer working 100% remote. So I travel for personal reasons or professionally (rarely) when I need to go on-site to a customer (of the company which employs me) to fix something or develop a solution. I really enjoy being location independent and would like to it that way. The comments about Germany and France coming from the job opportunities which I see online or at recruitment agencies, they are 95% on-site in towns or in different parts of Paris. That is not the type of travelling I am looking forward to. That's were the idea of an international freelancer comes from: I assume most well payed jobs need people on-site and mobility comes with a premium. So why not going to awesome destinations?

"when you're not working, but that you would now prefer to travel further afield (more than France and Germany) specifically to work on projects?"

Exactly I like to travel more than just France and Germany. I enjoy mobility/travelling on an international scale. But what I see from the most job positions is that they need people in Paris or in different towns in Germany. I like to avoid that.

"now wish to transition into a more management-consulting focused role instead of programming, i.e. more involved in the business process and strategy end of things and less on the technical side?"

Ideally I like to stay in technology as much as possible. But I like to avoid being a freelancer on Upwork and compete with low paid people from all over the world and getting Upwork type of jobs. I also enjoy a lot working with clients, doing their requirement analysis and getting solutions done rather than writing code.

So I am looking to increase my salary by doing what I enjoy and what I am good at. And I feel like I am hiding behind my computer just looking for "programming jobs". The point is I wish to keep my independent lifestyle and deliver the most value which I can possibly deliver.

Does that make sense?

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#12

Post by kffcc »

astawiarski wrote: post #5

I've been sitting at both sides of the table via TopTal. First I went through their interview process, which I didn't like and the experience afterwards wasn't great. More recently I helped to hire people via Toptal to work on a project I consulted for, and that was good. Really great developers, and what I can see they have a lot of flexibility. However, have you considered remote work instead? There is more compani…

Thank you for your answer.

Thanks for sharing your Toptal experience. I was looking at Toptal as well. I don't feel that I am bringing value to the marketplace of Toptal, maybe I am wrong. As a Software Developer I am very focused on software quality, good coding practices, maintainability; basically I always try create the best and most maintainable solution, over the fastest hacked mess but done (I know it's black and white and reality is not always that easy). I don't see many businesses looking for that.

Yes I am considering remote work, I see a only few interesting job positions for remote work.

Sorry, but if it is not asked too much, can you name a few portals (or the main one) on which you compete with "tons of other companies", I am looking on https://remoteok.io/ .

If you like you can link your company website, I like to have a look.

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#13

Post by kffcc »

itake wrote: post #2

What I did was work for a company and then transition the job remote after 11 months. I kept my "california" salary and actually earned a lot more money than when I was sitting in an office. Best of luck!

Thank you for sharing you experience.

Did you transition to remote work or did you try to move into the consultant direction?

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#15

Post by kffcc »

BjoernKW wrote: post #9

My slightly aged but in my opinion still relevant general advice is this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12744624 , in addition to this more elaborate blog post referred to in that comment: https://bjoernkw.com/2013/04/28/starting-a-software-consulti... I also can't emphasise enough that you're in the business of solving problems, not in the business of creating software: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15…

Thank you so much for all the resources.

"Focus on particular industries or categories of business problems rather than specific technologies."

I understand, thank you for that great advice.

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#16

Post by kffcc »

CyberFonic wrote: post #7

My apologies in advance, I can't answer your question directly, but your post gave me pause and I might not be the only such person with these reactions. I agree with @contingencies, Java is the only technology you mention. Many recruiters will probably not read past that if that isn't what they are looking for. There is nothing wrong with it, but it does lock you into being a "contract programmer" vs a "freelance co…

Thank you very much for your feedback and your advice.

Thank you, it is very good advice to position myself in an industry rather than technology.

Is there a way to find a good consulting firm or compare some?

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#17

Post by itake »

kffcc wrote: post #13
itake wrote: post #2

What I did was work for a company and then transition the job remote after 11 months. I kept my "california" salary and actually earned a lot more money than when I was sitting in an office. Best of luck!

Thank you for sharing you experience. Did you transition to remote work or did you try to move into the consultant direction?

I told my boss, while I enjoyed working for the company, I was unhappy living in San Francisco and I needed a change of scenery. I had a ticket to visit Vietnam (in 2 weeks) and I wouldn't come back to the office again.

Because he was happy with my services and I was a crucial part of the engineering team, he let me work remotely full-time w2 while I traveled around the world.

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#18

Post by zerr »

astawiarski wrote: post #5

I've been sitting at both sides of the table via TopTal. First I went through their interview process, which I didn't like and the experience afterwards wasn't great. More recently I helped to hire people via Toptal to work on a project I consulted for, and that was good. Really great developers, and what I can see they have a lot of flexibility. However, have you considered remote work instead? There is more compani…

The problem is that not many companies mention REMOTE even if they would consider it... This is the case for your company as well - not a single word mentioning that you're open to remote candidates.

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#19

Post by zerr »

ole_gooner wrote: post #10
astawiarski wrote: post #5

I've been sitting at both sides of the table via TopTal. First I went through their interview process, which I didn't like and the experience afterwards wasn't great. More recently I helped to hire people via Toptal to work on a project I consulted for, and that was good. Really great developers, and what I can see they have a lot of flexibility. However, have you considered remote work instead? There is more compani…

Hey, Is there any link to where I can apply?

Here: https://www.digitgaming.com/careers/job-listings/

Re: Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

#20

Post by zerr »

BjoernKW wrote: post #9

My slightly aged but in my opinion still relevant general advice is this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12744624 , in addition to this more elaborate blog post referred to in that comment: https://bjoernkw.com/2013/04/28/starting-a-software-consulti... I also can't emphasise enough that you're in the business of solving problems, not in the business of creating software: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15…

Can you comment on how creating a personal website affected your freelancing? Does it help significantly with receiving the leads?
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