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Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#31

Post by mason55 »

VLM wrote: post #17
jfmandroid wrote: post #5

Try https://toptal.com Once you pass their screening process, you will get jobs in one or two weeks

Something I find rather intimidating about toptal is their top 3% advertising, when I think of top 3% work I think of, say, writing an RFC of a widely used internet protocol, inventing a language and writing its optimizing compiler, automated air traffic control, debugging live code on nuclear reactor SCADA systems, that kind of stuff. I'd be interested in work at a calmer more laid back environment like only top 5%…

This article[0] says the US has 3.6 million software devs. 3% of that is 108,000. The stuff you listed is like .1% of developers.

[0] http://www.computerworld.com/article/2483690/it-careers/indi...

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#32

Post by penpapersw »

atemerev wrote: post #30

One advice: you promised to make messages on affluentconfidante public at July 17th, but you didn't. I understand that there are still no messages there ;) But you need to do something about it. Maybe postpone the date. [I know the hunger and trying the get-rich-quick ideas; used to do it myself all the time]. Meanwhile -- can you do canvas/d3/realtime charting type of stuff?

Oops, fixed. Page is now public. I've done some d3 for my last job (custom internal reports) but it was painful. I've done real-time stuff through websockets recently (http://editfight.com/). And a little canvas to teach my oldest son that he can make Mario in the browser. But that's it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#33

Post by goodroot »

While it may not fill an urgent need, have you considered finding a comfortable and stable remote job? Hackernews 'who is hiring' is a great spot; weworkremotely.com, remoteok.io.

You seem to have experiences, which is excellent. In the short term, if you're in the throes of an emergency, perhaps get some help from love ones while you get your feet back on the ground.

Looking for a project under stressful circumstances feels like it might create an uncomfortable environment to do good work and sustainably remedying what you're going through.

Good luck, whatever route you choose!

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#34

Post by jaymzcampbell »

VLM wrote: post #17
jfmandroid wrote: post #5

Try https://toptal.com Once you pass their screening process, you will get jobs in one or two weeks

Something I find rather intimidating about toptal is their top 3% advertising, when I think of top 3% work I think of, say, writing an RFC of a widely used internet protocol, inventing a language and writing its optimizing compiler, automated air traffic control, debugging live code on nuclear reactor SCADA systems, that kind of stuff. I'd be interested in work at a calmer more laid back environment like only top 5%…

A fellow HN user, gil_vegliach[2], wrote up a very good summary[1] of the Toptal 3% filtering process - it seems fairly rigorous, consisting of multiple rounds with a week long project (doesn't mention if this is paid or not). Basically, it sounds like a "full" tech interview.

[1] http://gilvegliach.it/?id=14

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gil_vegliach

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#35

Post by penpapersw »

goodroot wrote: post #33

While it may not fill an urgent need, have you considered finding a comfortable and stable remote job? Hackernews 'who is hiring' is a great spot; weworkremotely.com, remoteok.io. You seem to have experiences, which is excellent. In the short term, if you're in the throes of an emergency, perhaps get some help from love ones while you get your feet back on the ground. Looking for a project under stressful circumstanc…

Yep, and I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post. None of them went past the initial interview. What I took from that is that there's not a lot of remote work available right now in general. I'll look into the two websites you recommended, thanks.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#36

Post by Domenic_S »

penpapersw wrote: post #19
aresant wrote: post #9

I would immediately update your posting with a CV, website, git, whatever. You are on the front page of arguably the PREMIER network of people with access / need for technologists.

Good idea, thanks. Updated my profile with an email. Don't have resume in order yet. But have done plenty of Clojure, front-end and back-end work, made several iOS/tvOS apps that ship on the App Store. If anything comes from this, great, but I'm not betting on it, so I'm going to focus most my efforts on the suggestions to give try toptal, upwork, and freelancer.com a serious try for the short term, and to build a ne…

> Don't have resume in order yet.

In another comment you said:

> I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post.

You've been applying without a resume? Maybe that's what the problem is....

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#37

Post by penpapersw »

aresant wrote: post #9

I would immediately update your posting with a CV, website, git, whatever. You are on the front page of arguably the PREMIER network of people with access / need for technologists.

Oh also I've made http://affluentconfidante.com/ in Clojure and http://editfight.com/ in Node.js using WebSockets and vanilla JS, each in the span of about a day, within the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately that, plus the iOS apps I posted about in my submissions, are about the full extent of my public resume. I've done a lot of private work that I'm not at liberty to talk about, and all I have to show for that are skills. But skills don't speak as loudly as finished public products.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#38

Post by penpapersw »

Domenic_S wrote: post #36
penpapersw wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good idea, thanks. Updated my profile with an email. Don't have resume in order yet. But have done plenty of Clojure, front-end and back-end work, made several iOS/tvOS apps that ship on the App Store. If anything comes from this, great, but I'm not betting on it, so I'm going to focus most my efforts on the suggestions to give try toptal, upwork, and freelancer.com a serious try for the short term, and to build a ne…

> Don't have resume in order yet. In another comment you said: > I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post. You've been applying without a resume? Maybe that's what the problem is....

No, I've sent my resume to them in private. I don't have a public resume available. That's the hardest part for me. I don't have anything I can publicly show off.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#39

Post by aoe7uthaoe »

wtracy wrote: post #4

The problems with Upwork and Freelancer, while significant, are regularly blown out of proportion. I don't recommend them for more than finding short gigs when you're in a pinch, but they are useful for that. Do be prepared to lose a lot of jobs to bidders from the third world. Take advantage of anything that you can use to differentiate yourself. Also, get a stack of business cards and start going to local business…

Most of this sounds like reasonable advice. I will warn however, that if you go to the Chamber of Commerce, be prepared to have a lot of people misunderstand what you do (no matter how you frame it) and to get a lot of time-wasting inquiries wanting you to fix their Windows problems for peanuts, even if what you do is, say, graphic design. Likewise, my experience with things on meetup.com has been terrible. It felt like mostly desperate people all trying to connect with anyone at all, and nobody who actually needed a service.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#40

Post by starbuxman »

penpapersw wrote: post #35
goodroot wrote: post #33

While it may not fill an urgent need, have you considered finding a comfortable and stable remote job? Hackernews 'who is hiring' is a great spot; weworkremotely.com, remoteok.io. You seem to have experiences, which is excellent. In the short term, if you're in the throes of an emergency, perhaps get some help from love ones while you get your feet back on the ground. Looking for a project under stressful circumstanc…

Yep, and I've applied for pretty much every remote job from the last HN "who's hiring" post. None of them went past the initial interview. What I took from that is that there's not a lot of remote work available right now in general. I'll look into the two websites you recommended, thanks.

Check out SkipTheDrive.com as well.
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