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Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#41

Post by add1ct2 »

I'd suggest going with Toptal.

You'd join an elite network of the world’s top talent, connecting the best and brightest in business, design, and technology.

This will give you a chance to work top organizations from anywhere in the world, on your terms. All Toptal clients are thoroughly vetted. Only those with the budget, skill, and intent to hire make the cut. You get paid on time, every time as Toptal handles all billing and invoicing directly with clients, letting you fully focus on your engagements.

I'm sure you'll appreciate that since you have a full time job and don't want to waste your time going through action races to the bottom, competing against armies of coders.

However, Toptal has a very rigorous screening process to identify the best. Toptal looks for great problem solvers with passion and drive — the types of people they want to work with (and learn from) themselves.

(Full disclaimer: I've been with Toptal for over 6 years now, and our mission, from day 1, is to enable great talent work on great projects through our platform.)

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#42

Post by [deleted] »

breck wrote: post #24

I would recommend strongly against freelancing. Instead, try and join up with a remote team. YouTeam.com might be relevant. Find a team where you are a specialist, you'll earn a higher hourly rate and probably have a lot less stress. Try to pair up with a few different groups until you find one that you love, then stick with that one. Source: I did a lot of freelancing in the 2000's before joining up with a larger co…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#43

Post by PopeDotNinja »

add1ct2 wrote: post #41

I'd suggest going with Toptal. You'd join an elite network of the world’s top talent, connecting the best and brightest in business, design, and technology. This will give you a chance to work top organizations from anywhere in the world, on your terms. All Toptal clients are thoroughly vetted. Only those with the budget, skill, and intent to hire make the cut. You get paid on time, every time as Toptal handles all b…

I'd say there's nothing wrong with working under TopTal, but it's not without risk. If you piss off TopTal, you'll get the axe and your income will go to zero overnight. Don't forget to consider that. If you take the path of building a freelance business from scratch, you'll be able to spread your risk among many clients.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#44

Post by juskrey »

s1k3s wrote: post #14
juskrey wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humiliating machine disguised as a freelance platform

I thought that too while looking over their "screening process", but now I'm really curious to see how hard it is to get in. Did you go through it?

I declined to complete the step where interviewer was about to watch me coding online almost the same quiz they gave me on the previous step. I have just rebelled inside and said "no thanks" almost automatically.

I have felt myself like inside some stupid adult movie.

Several weeks later I have found a freelance gig (which later turned to be almost 2y job) and the business owner told me he have approached Toptal before me and was shocked by their attitude, fees and especially by something around $50k coder take-away fee. Definitely not freelancing.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#45

Post by lastofus »

lotyrin wrote: post #29
s1k3s wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that too while looking over their "screening process", but now I'm really curious to see how hard it is to get in. Did you go through it?

I started it once when I was super under-utilized in my day job and was looking at ways to stay stimulated. I figured I'd start out getting approved as being able to do useful work in a particular CMS in a particular language (Where I expected the acceptance criteria to be low (and the size/complexity of engagements to be low) -- customize a listing of content, build a custom form, customize how content is themed, et…

I had the same experience with the take home project applying as a Python/Django dev. I would have normally billed around $2k for what they wanted for a throwaway test.

I also declined.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#46

Post by dakna »

mcthrowaway123z wrote: post #36

As someone who ran a consultancy for several years, no one wants your last 20 hours. I think you'd do yourself a favor looking for more rewarding employment if you are feeling underpaid.

What's holding potential customers back the most? The quality of the work, implying you are already exhausted after your current job? Or the fact that 20hrs is often not enough time for a meaningful contribution in a development team and you have to spend time to catch up every week?

Courious to know what your experience is and if a price conscious buyer would be willing to accept the trade-offs.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#47

Post by gremlinsinc »

blueadept111 wrote: post #26
breck wrote: post #24

I would recommend strongly against freelancing. Instead, try and join up with a remote team. YouTeam.com might be relevant. Find a team where you are a specialist, you'll earn a higher hourly rate and probably have a lot less stress. Try to pair up with a few different groups until you find one that you love, then stick with that one. Source: I did a lot of freelancing in the 2000's before joining up with a larger co…

Did you post the right url? YouTeam.com is a French website.

Think he meant: https://youteam.io/

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#49

Post by twodave »

I have found most of my work via old employers. I’m currently working full time at one place and part time for the previous place. Establishing a track record is hard, but if you have worked at a place before and done excellent work then it is orders of magnitude easier to make this work.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find remote or quality oriented freelancing work?

#50

Post by pacomerh »

gabor_biro wrote: post #11

I've been using upwork.com for a few months now and I'm getting regular projects as a mobile developer. Interesting ones too, sometimes to patch up an existing project, sometimes to start a new one. It took roughly a month though until the first clients started responding to my applications. Create a sexy profile and be patient.

Aren't you competing for price @ upwork?, that aspect doesn't seem very attractive to me. Are you happy with your hourly rate?
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