Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#1

Post by i_am_nobody » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:10 PM UTC

I'm a software engineer with a full-time job, but I have lots of spare time in my off hours. I'd like to monetize this time, but finding freelance work has been extremely daunting.

I don't have a ton of networking skills, so I don't have a network I can tap for opportunities. I don't really know how to find opportunities otherwise. I have the approvals I need from my full-time job to do this, but it's still not something where I want to splash my name all over the place. I also don't have a lot of public code, so no big portfolio I can point people to.

I'm not looking for massive pay, just something to occupy my time and some side money. But I want to leverage my skills, not do mechanical turk work.

How do you find freelance work?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#2

Post by taprun » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:38 PM UTC

1. Identify a skill that you have, and other people want. The more succinctly you can describe it, the better. Programmer == bad. C# developer == better.

2. Identify where people who need that skill spend time (meetups, clubs, slack groups, podcasts, discussion websites, mailing lists, etc).

3. Spend time at these places, delivering value, and pitching your wares. If you can get on stage to present, even better. A strong effort in a few places will usually beat a weak effort in many places.

4. Tell people you know that you are looking for gigs in your specific niche area.

5. Find agencies, others who do this work and let them know you're available if they get too much work, or get clients that aren't a great fit.

6. Most importantly, never be anonymous. This post is an example of a missed opportunity. Who knows, someone might have needed exactly what you're able to offer.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#3

Post by Jacqued » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:54 PM UTC

I understand you said you don't have networking skills. I too find networking pretty awkward and tedious. But in my experience the best kind is the kind that does not feel like networking at all.

You could go to relevant meetups for your skillset and find people who could use your help there, but this still feels like networking. (it can be awkward to talk to random strangers there)

However, there are other kinds of 'meetups' where it's just developers having beers together and discussing our trade or whatever else. If you go to these you'll become acquainted and maybe just make friends with some of them. This does not feel like networking at all! Work will naturally come your way after that.

Another good source of work is people you have already worked with in the past. Drop them an email or invite them to lunch, it feels pretty natural to just keep in touch (not awkward at all).

Anyway, these are just the ways I find work as someone who dislikes networking and recently became a full-time freelance developer.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#4

Post by bbimbop » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:55 PM UTC

Agree with taprun. It is easier to communicate when you are specific. What do you build or like to build? Lots of people would like to work with an engineer like you on projects, myself being one.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#5

Post by gmcerveny » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:57 PM UTC

I'm a full-time freelancer and I'm super specific on my niche, new music technology. I find that works pretty well. Sometimes I'm applying for gigs, sometimes folks just cold email me, and sometimes people refer others my way. But being a specialist seems to be the one thing that works best for me.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#6

Post by cekanoni » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 6:59 PM UTC

But the question is what website beside the upwork and frelance you can use to find jobs related to network/system administration ?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#7

Post by benatkin » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 7:03 PM UTC

There's a job channel for React on the Reactiflux Discord server. I think there's also one on the Apollo slack community, and I've seen them in other places too. I don't know how effective they are because I'm trying to get my project further along before posting to them.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#8

Post by sodafountan » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 7:05 PM UTC

I've used Upwork to varying degrees of success. Here are few of the pros and cons

Pros: - It's easy to get started, you can just create a profile and get rolling. - Lots of people on the other end of the spectrum, lots of potential clients which can later help with networking.

Cons: - Lots of competition, when you're just starting you have to work really hard to build a reputable profile.

- Upwork has lots of restrictions, so make sure you read the TOS. My first account was deleted because of a TOS violation, don't let that happen to you. - 80% of potential clients either aren't serious or are clueless, this was the major reason I stopped using the platfrom.

I did see some success and I still have clients that contact me for work that I met through Upwork but I just can't stand the potential clients anymore and have pivoted to my own startup.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#9

Post by jaequery » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 7:05 PM UTC

you might want to try Upwork if you haven't.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#10

Post by gk1 » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 7:14 PM UTC

See: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l...

TL;DR - I tried out networking but it didn't work for me. Instead what's worked very well is writing educational content about the topic I'm an expert in. People often search for a solution to a problem before they decide to hire someone else to just do it for them. If they find your instructions for solving that problem, they might think "Why don't I just pay this person to do it for me? They'll probably do it better and faster."