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Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#111

Post by synthc »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #77

Does any other country have the same concept and size of contracting market as we have in the UK? Here you go to a website such as Jobserve, type in eg “React Contract” and apply to one of thousands of daily rate contracts. (Inventory is a bit low today due to start of the year, but will be 1000+ in a few weeks.) After a short interview process, typically you will start a contract for 3-6 months, but can often stay f…

The Netherlands also has something like this, contracting for higher rates and some tax advantages. Many 'freelancers' stay at a client for years. I've recently starting working like this, I contacted a recruiter (who takes a percentage of my rate) and had a contract lined up within a week.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#112

Post by rahulrangaraj »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #3

Finding clients is basically the hardest part. Not going to lie: Most of my clients come from my network and their referrals. Most of my freelancer friends’ clients come from their network and their network referring clients to them. While it is possible to find clients organically through advertising, it’s much easier if you can build a network to pull from. You can start by simply contacting people you know and ask…

> Finding clients is basically the hardest part.

Agree with this. To help freelancers get clients, I manually curate freelance jobs from more than 40+ job boards and freelance sites. [1]

Most of these companies in this list are most likely to hire freelance developers/marketers/writers.

It's still in beta, feel free to reach out/dm me if you would like to access. [2]

[1] -> https://twitter.com/RahulrangarajR/status/148021905157812224...

[2] -> https://twitter.com/RahulrangarajR

Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#113

Post by aconsult1 »

koolba wrote: post #94
gilmore606 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don’t underestimate how good a stable, big company job is right now. This, but also don't underestimate the personal satisfaction of "eating what you kill". I feel far less alienated from my labor than I did as an FTE. When I get a tough new task, I get excited thinking of those hours piling up. My reward is directly tied to my efforts and success in a way it never was before, and that has improved my quality of li…

> This, but also don't underestimate the personal satisfaction of "eating what you kill". I love that expression and mere words cannot describe the sense of satisfaction one gets when the sale is made and the checks are cashed. It’s not for everybody. Honestly, it’s not for most either. But if you do pull it off, the feeling is fantastic.

I second this. The fulfillment of doing work as a contractor and being the owner of my future is invaluable.

I have been working for 15+ years as consultant and contractor for a SP500 company and I have several friends that are FTE there. Over the years I realized I'm much more motivated and overall happier with the work I do than they are - at the same company and in similar positions.

I'm also much more productive because my only measure of success is the quality of the output of my work. If it isn't good, then my contract will not get renewed. So I have to produce something of value 100% of the time which keeps me in check at all times.

In their case there's politics, promotions, new roles, new bosses, performance reviews and so on.

The saying "eating what you kill" really resonates. Thanks for that.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#114

Post by tdfx »

ushakov wrote: post #39
tdfx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as an employer, availability is important. If you're only working 15-20 hours a week for me, you've surely got other commitments that are occupying your mind and time. I've also seen many people doing part-time contracting take on more than they can handle, either moonlighting part-time from their full-time job or taking on too many simultaneous gigs. I've done this myself as a contractor, so I understand wh…

ok, but what if you need to complete a task and cannot assign or find employees in a reasonable amount of time? would you then consider contracting the task?

Of course, short term contractors are ideal for overflow work. My point is that I try not to rely on part time contractors over the long term because their availability can change.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#115

Post by pythonbase »

I have been a contractor, on and off, in past 15 years. Finding new clients, especially those that can pay monthly retainers, requires more work than the actual task at hand.

One way to secure clients is to get into partnership with individuals from other domains (marketing, business dev, finance etc) that can cross sell software development. I am always open to that :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you start contracting?

#116

Post by throwawayvibes »

aconsult1 wrote: post #113
koolba wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This, but also don't underestimate the personal satisfaction of "eating what you kill". I love that expression and mere words cannot describe the sense of satisfaction one gets when the sale is made and the checks are cashed. It’s not for everybody. Honestly, it’s not for most either. But if you do pull it off, the feeling is fantastic.

I second this. The fulfillment of doing work as a contractor and being the owner of my future is invaluable. I have been working for 15+ years as consultant and contractor for a SP500 company and I have several friends that are FTE there. Over the years I realized I'm much more motivated and overall happier with the work I do than they are - at the same company and in similar positions. I'm also much more productive…

I'm the exact opposite. I enjoy the cushy FTE positions in European companies where I can automate my work away to the point where 1-2 hours of actual effort is all I need to put in. I don't find any satisfaction in doing a good job for a company not my own, and spend my focus and energy doing my hobbies, socialising, living my life in bliss. Most workaholics I knew my life were miserable people who hated their life and didn't sleep enough.
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