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Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

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Re: Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

#11

Don't focus on people who have already made technology choices and are just looking for staff augmentation. Focus on the business value you can create, regardless of the tech stack, and seek out prospects who have the problem you solve, and care more about having the problem solved than about mandating a tech stack. Ideally, you want to be talking to LoB (Line of Business) leaders and executives, more than IT people.…

On the other hand, business people who don't care about their tech stack often have BIG blind spots in their conception of their desired solution, such as IT leaders that will slam the brakes on your solution if it doesn't fit into their vision of the technology world, who come out of the woodwork in the final hour and doom your project after a bunch of incorrect technology choices were made because the business folks neglected to warn you about these folks and their requirements in advance (even if you probe for this sort of thing, because the business folks choose to operate in a fiction where these people don't exist or are easily pacified).

Re: Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

#12

I guess legacy tech will help here. I know that a lot of businesses still run on COBOL and will probably be willing to pay well. Anyone with experience in freelancing for legacy tech ?

I can't speak to COBOL-based businesses, but I work for a large company that uses primarily RPG ILE. Five of our eight programmers have passed retirement age, but are still holding on. Once they decide to leave the company, we'll will be in a tight spot. I can only imagine its the same way at a lot of other RPG shops. All this is to say, +1 for consulting/freelancing for legacy tech.

Could you hint which company ? I would like to give a shot in case the company ends up with outsourcing something.

Re: Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

#13
post #11

Don't focus on people who have already made technology choices and are just looking for staff augmentation. Focus on the business value you can create, regardless of the tech stack, and seek out prospects who have the problem you solve, and care more about having the problem solved than about mandating a tech stack. Ideally, you want to be talking to LoB (Line of Business) leaders and executives, more than IT people.…

On the other hand, business people who don't care about their tech stack often have BIG blind spots in their conception of their desired solution, such as IT leaders that will slam the brakes on your solution if it doesn't fit into their vision of the technology world, who come out of the woodwork in the final hour and doom your project after a bunch of incorrect technology choices were made because the business folk…

Agreed. There is a definite process to work through to ensure that all these various bases are covered. It's not easy but there's a lot of good information out there on how to manage it all. I recommend Customercentric Selling and/or Exceptional Selling as two books that contain a lot of quality advice about engaging with business leaders in a selling situation.

Re: Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to COBOL-based businesses, but I work for a large company that uses primarily RPG ILE. Five of our eight programmers have passed retirement age, but are still holding on. Once they decide to leave the company, we'll will be in a tight spot. I can only imagine its the same way at a lot of other RPG shops. All this is to say, +1 for consulting/freelancing for legacy tech.

Could you hint which company ? I would like to give a shot in case the company ends up with outsourcing something.

Sure. We're one of the largest lawn/garden/agriculture distributors in the Southeastern United States.

But there seems to be a lot of other companies that rely on legacy RPG. "The Four Hundred" from IT Jungle seems to be a good resource to IBM i-related information.

https://www.itjungle.com/newsletter/tfh/

Re: Ask HN: How to freelance with niche programming languages?

#15

I would suggest start with writing your insights about the language in the form of blog post which would be a good start point of attracting audience who are into this niche. This may lead to some folks reaching out to you for work. If you're consider doing full-time consulting work in future then this strategy could lay a good ground work to build credibility in the niche.

This. As you are an expert in your niche now you need some personal marketing too. Cater code and articles about performance and business cases for your tech stack to these niche communities. It may bring you necessary recognition so one day some CTO may ask you to join their ship.
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