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Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#81

Post by badpun »

sph wrote: post #66
ethanwillis wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the conclusion I've come to as well. It's not that I don't have the soft skills capability to do it myself. And maybe it's an ego thing but I think I'm also pretty strong on the soft skills front. HOWEVER, and it's a big "however" -- I don't truly enjoy it. I don't mean that I don't like building a relationship with clients, putting thought into my communication, etc. In some way I do enjoy those face…

Actors don't have to go door to door knocking at film studios' doors asking for a job. They pay an agency, get a call once in a while to star in some crappy movie, or, if they're lucky, a blockbuster. In exchange, the agency gets 20% of their million dollar salary and a place in the credits. I don't get why freelance software engineering can't be the same. I would pay a recruiter handsomely to do that exact service.…

Bad analogy. Actors go to dozens of auditions to get one role. It's basically interviewing hell.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#82

Post by ptero »

bragr wrote: post #77
carlmr wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hit in commission can be very efficient, since you save a lot of time you can bill at a high rate.

We hire out to various agencies, and I'm not sure any of them disclose to us what their cut is, but from talking to the people, it sounds like most only take a low single digit percentage on the hourly rate (1~5%). e.g. engineers on $150/h contracts saying their paystub says $140-145/h. YMMV

What region is this, if I may ask. I have (as a full time engineer; large engineering org; Boston area) worked alongside a few folks on contract and my impression was that almost all of the contract folks were scalped. A few exceptions were engineers initially from the organization who switched to the contract for more flexibility. Just a single data point, would love for it to be refuted.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#83

Post by hallway_monitor »

bragr wrote: post #77
carlmr wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hit in commission can be very efficient, since you save a lot of time you can bill at a high rate.

We hire out to various agencies, and I'm not sure any of them disclose to us what their cut is, but from talking to the people, it sounds like most only take a low single digit percentage on the hourly rate (1~5%). e.g. engineers on $150/h contracts saying their paystub says $140-145/h. YMMV

My feeling is in line with the sibling, The feeling I've gotten from working with contractors is that it's common for agencies to take about 40%. Seems pretty brutal for everyone except the agency.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#86

Post by ttymck »

andsoitis wrote: post #70
tluyben2 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soft skills I don’t mind; grown up interviews I don’t mind. I have done freelancing for 30 years now and had 0 requests for balancing binary trees, time/space complexity of sorting algos; things that are often associated with interviews here on HN and things which I did, you know, in uni, for which, you know, I have a degree to prove I could do them and know what they are. They are generally 100% useless on modern jo…

> balancing binary trees, time/space complexity of sorting algos .... I needed knowledge like it, but you can look that up as well) In my experience, it is now about knowing how to do these things but when to reach for them when solving a problem.

Agreed! And I never reach for them, because I work on web apps. If I was a database developer, the story might be different. But I don't feel the need to be interviewed on those topics over and over again. Subsequently, I don't know how to do those things.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#87

Post by calvinmorrison »

sph wrote: post #51

I'm in the same position, and I am once again asking for "talent management" to become a thing. I am a software engineer, I am willing to pay a recruiter/manager some percent of my revenue to keep sending work my way and find new quality clients. Yes, I would pay a recruiter to keep around so that I do not have to spend time sending resumes and searching job boards whenever a contract dries up. Right now I am looking…

How is this different than just working with the same recruiter over and over?

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#88

Post by smithmayowa »

switz wrote: post #31

If you have any experience with the game Counterstrike, reach out to me. Email is in my profile. I run a small, bootstrapped B2C business and have a number of interesting projects I could hand off to people. It’s a weird prerequisite, but without it there generally isn’t enough context to do meaningful work sans a lot of hand holding.

Sent you a mail.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find small companies to work for part-time?

#89

Post by fosefx »

rofo1 wrote: post #44
switz wrote: post #31

If you have any experience with the game Counterstrike, reach out to me. Email is in my profile. I run a small, bootstrapped B2C business and have a number of interesting projects I could hand off to people. It’s a weird prerequisite, but without it there generally isn’t enough context to do meaningful work sans a lot of hand holding.

Haha, I am global / ~3000 ELO Faceit player, curious what do you do with regards to CS?

His website states he is affiliated with popflash.site, which you probably have heard of.
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