Anybody knows of (good) sites for remote server (Linux esp.) contract work (sysadmin/devops/optimization/security/reliability)? if there are none, anybody interested in one?
Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
121–130 of 171 posts
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately, many times the 'default' gatekeeper to anyone else worth your time in the org IS the recruiter. Using social engineering and/or linkedin you are sometimes able to figure who you need to speak to and access them directly.
Using social engineering and/or linkedin you are sometimes able to figure who you need to speak to and access them directly I think you just described what 'sales' is.
I just realized that. But I'd rather call it social engineering ... Sales is an amorphous concept filled with too much 'magic' for me :)
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't charge by the hour but by the value This sounds like a recipe for disaster to me without a lot more explanation. Time is the main cost to a provider, so it's very natural that time would also be the driver for billing. "Charging for value" sounds like you're trying to say "fixed price" without actually saying it. I have many, many issues with trying to do fixed price projects of any appreciable size (say, more…
A good example of "charging by value" is productized consulting - where it's a particular task, etc. that needs done for multiple customers. Say you're really good with Postgres, instead of just hanging out a shingle for "any Postgres stuff?" you offer something like a one time $2500 "Postgres Performance Audit". You get really good at this one thing, have a set bunch of scripts, very deep knowledge, predone report t…
As soon as you have a product it's no longer consulting in my eyes.
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#124Some people at HN will tell you the opposite but I find two of my best clients at Upwork. I didn't bid to low quality jobs and once I finish my job I offer them an maintenance contract outside upwork.
When I hire through Upwork, I ignore all the low hourly rate freelancers. I use a high hourly price as my first requirement. Few years ago, this worked quite well, but now there are some idiots that charge a high price for low quality work just to try to take advantage of people like me. So, now it takes some more time to filter through, but still works pretty well.
What do you consider a high hourly rate. Last time I looked, I didn't see anything above $50 an hour.
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#125A bit of tangent but some advice needed. So I've been contracting out a bit on UpWork - used all the bahavioral hacks in the book: using "we" etc... It's worked amazing for getting clients. Not bad at sales. I've got one client now -- a hedge fund -- that's being very stingy. We agree on a fixed price for a particular scope/milestone, the release is shipped, but they come back and say "this is great, but we need this one additional feature or this whole release is worthless." Usually I, I mean "we", oblige. But it's getting ridiculous. What do we do? Play hardball and say no shipment until payment? Or just ditch the client. The day rate is plummeting mind you, closing in on free. Total contract size in the low XXks.
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#126A bit of tangent but some advice needed. So I've been contracting out a bit on UpWork - used all the bahavioral hacks in the book: using "we" etc... It's worked amazing for getting clients. Not bad at sales. I've got one client now -- a hedge fund -- that's being very stingy. We agree on a fixed price for a particular scope/milestone, the release is shipped, but they come back and say "this is great, but we need this…
Is it worth to you to keep this client? What are the advantages?
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#127A bit of tangent but some advice needed. So I've been contracting out a bit on UpWork - used all the bahavioral hacks in the book: using "we" etc... It's worked amazing for getting clients. Not bad at sales. I've got one client now -- a hedge fund -- that's being very stingy. We agree on a fixed price for a particular scope/milestone, the release is shipped, but they come back and say "this is great, but we need this…
Is it worth to you to keep this client? What are the advantages?
They baited "us" with a long term relationship. They have a ton of cash so it seemed rational to take a hit on the effective day rate. So ostensibly they are like perfect for this but the amount they are willing to pay for the type of milestones is pretty low. Like it hurts them.
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it worth to you to keep this client? What are the advantages?
They baited "us" with a long term relationship. They have a ton of cash so it seemed rational to take a hit on the effective day rate. So ostensibly they are like perfect for this but the amount they are willing to pay for the type of milestones is pretty low. Like it hurts them.
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Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Happy to help you growing your business, mate! Email me to andre at pixelmatters dot com
Re: Ask HN: What sites do you use to find contract work?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Depends on what "major contracts" are for you. I can tell you that we don't have any "major contract". We to have several "very nice" ones.
The main way clients came to us is through our website, Dribbble, Behance but also through referrals - people that worked with us in the past, and that recommend our work to a friend. This latter is the oldest but definitely the best marketing you can get!