Ask HN: How do you build up your first career close to age 40?

Post by zboox » Fri, Aug 07, 2020, 8:20 PM UTC

ramblerman wrote: post #26

mcv wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends entirely on how you freelance. I join teams. My current project, for a major Dutch bank, started with me developing the prototype, and later interviewing a bunch of people (internal and external) to join the team that I'm still part of. At other projects, I was hired to add some external expertise to an existing team. But it's mostly long projects in teams. But before I ended up in these sort of big proj…

From the description it sounds more like you are contracting, not freelancing? A contractor is typically on site, or sells his time (and presence), meaning he has one client at a time. A freelancer to me works on projects, and will take on multiple clients at the same time.

A freelancer is usually an independent contractor, so they're a subset of contractors.

You get a certain kind of freedom with freelancing but it does get tiring to chase people down for your money.

Post by Hnrobert42 » Thu, Aug 13, 2020, 5:51 AM UTC

zboox wrote: post #27

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #8

My company is fully remote. When I interview people, I don’t know how old they are, nor do I care. I look at their job history as it relates to their ability to perform the job for which they are applying. If you were applying for an associate or junior developer position, your lack of experience wouldn’t really matter. I would worry that your bouncing around reflects that you can’t be counted on to stick it out for…

Hi Hnrobert42, thanks for your advice but I am not certain about limiting my options to small startups. I already attract small startups to a high degree and for better or for worse, they never want to hire me as W2. So I don't get sign-in bonuses, nor a 401K nor health benefits. What I don't know is what is so different about the approach to getting hired as full-time employee compared to a freelancer that makes it…

Fair points. I don’t know if there are differences in interview responses that would get you placed more frequently as a W2 or 1099. Usually that distinction is already set by the time the company posts the job. So I would confirm early in the interview that the position is full-time and not contract.

It may help to explain to the interviewer why you want a full-time position, from their perspective. That is, emphasize that you want to build something lasting and meaningful. You work best within a team where you all support each other work together. You want to minimize time wasted on spin-up cycles. Practice a 60-second explanation along those lines, so that when they ask “Why are you looking for a full-time position,” your answer will be smooth and thoughtful.

My other bit of advice is about self-confidence. I have observed that self-confidence is completely unrelated to competence. That is, there are many confident folks with who are terrible at their jobs and lots of talented people with little self-confidence. So don’t get stuck thinking that you could feel confident if you just had xyz experience or skills. You can feel that confidence right now. So while you are youtubeing, consider studying how to improve your self-confidence.

I say all this not really knowing anything about you. I may be totally wrong. I don’t many an offense. I only want to help. Best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: How do you build up your first career close to age 40?

Re: Ask HN: How do you build up your first career close to age 40?