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Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

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Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#91

Post by Mandatum »

Depends on how I'm feeling. If I'm not looking for very interesting work or I'm saving for travel, I have a few large clients (5000+ employees) that always have projects going. They are the bread and butter of my contract work and I'm known across pretty much all of the IT senior management at those companies.

If I'm looking for more cutting edge, interesting work I'll go out and find either a company, industry or project I'm interested in and try and insert myself into it somehow. Usually through meetups, over coffee or in one case just showing up (probably wouldn't recommend that, depends on the people - in my case it was 4.30PM on a Friday and I brought beer).

Usually I'll either do it gratis (if it's non-profit or public domain) or cut my rates if I'm learning on-the-job.

When I started pretty much all of my job offers and contracts came by word of mouth. I only had to kick down doors a few times before I had developed a reputation as a good worker. This involved cold-emailing, calling and meeting people at various industry events.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#92

Post by nnd »

I'm fairly new to consulting (been doing it for almost a year now). I'm on my second gig right now, and both of them are through Toptal. For the first one, a recruiter reached out to me with a gig, the second one I got thanks to an article I wrote in their blog.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#93

Post by pmorici »

akshatpradhan wrote: post #60
pmorici wrote: post #12

I would avoid sites like Upwork (aka: odesk), elance, and anything similar like the plague unless working for less than minimum wage and dealing with morons is your idea of good contract work. I suspect the secret to contract work success lies in having really good networking skills and a Rolodex of contacts from having worked in a given industry and having a reputation as someone who delivers. If you don't have that…

I disagree. I love Upwork, and I pay my contractors well. What Upwork provides me with is an incredible ability to keep payments maintained and work honest. There's a sense of honesty when using the oDesk application, where both parties can say, "we feel confident that parties will get paid, and work can be reviewed." Neither my contractors nor I would want to move to any other platform because no other platform prov…

Would you be willing to share with us the average $/hr rate you pay your Upwork employees? I'd be willing to bet it is quite low.

As an employer I can totally see why you would love it, it's an effective way to pay bottom dollar for simplistic computer tasks.

From the stand point of someone looking to get into software engineer contract work it's lame. The guaranteed payment thing you are talking about is only for projects that are billed hourly. If you bid on a flat rate project there is no such guarantee. The hourly pay rate guarantee also requires you to install a spyware app on your computer to monitor your work.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#94

Post by smacking »

andreasklinger wrote: post #7

I used to do a lot of contract work. I can't tell you what you should do - but here is what i did and it worked for me Two approaches: 1) Work for one large client and essentially become an employee (consider this. a lot of startups pay good money for remote employees) 2) Work for multiple clients Focusing on #2 here Core rule: You want to be paid premium for quality and service. Avoid marketplaces - it's very hard t…

I am 25. Two years and one month ago I created a company called Pixelmatters (http://pixelmatters.com).

I basically did everything more or less the way you described. Which is something absolutely hard to do. As a result, in Aug 2014 we were 2 but today, as I write this, we are 14 and growing.

Company is profitable, has no VC money and is fully self-funded (initially, by my computer and...a decent internet connection).

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#95

Post by jeddawson »

goodoldboys wrote: post #88
andreasklinger wrote: post #7

I used to do a lot of contract work. I can't tell you what you should do - but here is what i did and it worked for me Two approaches: 1) Work for one large client and essentially become an employee (consider this. a lot of startups pay good money for remote employees) 2) Work for multiple clients Focusing on #2 here Core rule: You want to be paid premium for quality and service. Avoid marketplaces - it's very hard t…

#1 is where it's at, in my personal experience. I find it hard and less than optimal to work for multiple clients because of the time it takes switching from project to project. Having just one client is inherently riskier from a standpoint of financial stability, but I think the benefits outweigh that risk.

Came here to agree with and support this method of contract work. I currently have a contract that consumes roughly 50% of my time in a given month and generates 80% of my income. Initially it was for 12 months, but things are going well and it has been extended essentially indefinitely. These type of contracts might be kind of rare (not sure?), but if you can find yourself one, it gives you all kinds of flexibility with figuring out what to spend the rest of your time on.

Domain experience and expertise are also key. I have a rare blend of experience and technical capability that align perfectly with my primary contract. This limits some of the risk that is associated with relying so much financially on a single entity since they'd have a really hard time ending things with me and swapping in another programmer. I'll also go above and beyond for this client as it's needed. It's a two way street.

Anyways, best wishes on finding a good source of contract work but I'd recommend investigating any major/long term contract. They can simplify your life and be extremely rewarding.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#96

Post by err4nt »

qp9384btv_2e wrote: post #70
eropple wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on my arrangement with a client. Work-for-hire contracts make reuse impossible, and so I tend to price higher, whereas a perpetual, transferable, etc. license to the code I work on has a better chance of being useful down the line and so I may knock a couple bucks off.

My thought was to develop a library for code re-use among clients. It would cover common problems/features. In your experience, do many contract workers have such a thing?

I dunno about others, but I sure do! I have CSS stylesheets in 7 colour themes, a dozen bootstrap-like JS plugins that add common interactive elements I can drop into any site, and tons of parts and pieces of layouts (like an order form, signup form, pricing chart, or media player) isolated and ready to re-use.

I also maintain a big snippets file, filled with HTML, CSS, JS, and command-line snippets and tricks so I can grab them from anywhere.

I dont know how any freelancer or contractor doesnt have a bag of tricks like this.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#97

Post by jxm262 »

smacking wrote: post #94
andreasklinger wrote: post #7

I used to do a lot of contract work. I can't tell you what you should do - but here is what i did and it worked for me Two approaches: 1) Work for one large client and essentially become an employee (consider this. a lot of startups pay good money for remote employees) 2) Work for multiple clients Focusing on #2 here Core rule: You want to be paid premium for quality and service. Avoid marketplaces - it's very hard t…

I am 25. Two years and one month ago I created a company called Pixelmatters ( http://pixelmatters.com ). I basically did everything more or less the way you described. Which is something absolutely hard to do. As a result, in Aug 2014 we were 2 but today, as I write this, we are 14 and growing. Company is profitable, has no VC money and is fully self-funded (initially, by my computer and...a decent internet connecti…

Do you mind if I contact you for a couple quick questions? I'm essentially in the process of trying #2 as OP mentioned and would eventually like to transition into building a team. Would love to ask you a couple things and maybe get some advice. My contact info is in my HN profile if you prefer to reach me instead.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#98

Post by vvpan »

peterbsmith wrote: post #19

Personal networks. I came into Syracuse knowing nobody and nothing. I had never done any app making as of January 2015. I had done some wordpress stuff, but just the basics. And I had (and have) no CS degree. I now make a living on contract work. I did it by going to local meetups and introducing myself as a freelance web developer. Nevermind that I hadn't done freelance web development ever. I kept going to meetups…

So without any experience you are able to charge $150/hour?

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#99

Post by elliotec »

smacking wrote: post #94
andreasklinger wrote: post #7

I used to do a lot of contract work. I can't tell you what you should do - but here is what i did and it worked for me Two approaches: 1) Work for one large client and essentially become an employee (consider this. a lot of startups pay good money for remote employees) 2) Work for multiple clients Focusing on #2 here Core rule: You want to be paid premium for quality and service. Avoid marketplaces - it's very hard t…

I am 25. Two years and one month ago I created a company called Pixelmatters ( http://pixelmatters.com ). I basically did everything more or less the way you described. Which is something absolutely hard to do. As a result, in Aug 2014 we were 2 but today, as I write this, we are 14 and growing. Company is profitable, has no VC money and is fully self-funded (initially, by my computer and...a decent internet connecti…

I'd rather work for you than hire you. But, I'm in a position to be working for you and not hiring you.

Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?

#100

Post by jbhatab »

smacking wrote: post #94
andreasklinger wrote: post #7

I used to do a lot of contract work. I can't tell you what you should do - but here is what i did and it worked for me Two approaches: 1) Work for one large client and essentially become an employee (consider this. a lot of startups pay good money for remote employees) 2) Work for multiple clients Focusing on #2 here Core rule: You want to be paid premium for quality and service. Avoid marketplaces - it's very hard t…

I am 25. Two years and one month ago I created a company called Pixelmatters ( http://pixelmatters.com ). I basically did everything more or less the way you described. Which is something absolutely hard to do. As a result, in Aug 2014 we were 2 but today, as I write this, we are 14 and growing. Company is profitable, has no VC money and is fully self-funded (initially, by my computer and...a decent internet connecti…

Where did you find the major contracts? Networking? Friends? A website? referrals?
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