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Why not hire part-time developers?

aklos.substack.com

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Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#31
post #10

I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…

[deleted]

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#32
post #28

Yeah… I’ve worked with part time engineers in the past and been one myself several times too. The main problem is that people flake. Your part time position is not as important to them as their other job, their degree, their time off. Lots of people think they can be productive for 10-15 hours of their usual Netflix time and then find out that they have no energy or motivation. Part-time engineers have a way of falli…

Come see The Netherlands, you'd be surprised by the difference in culture :)

4 day work weeks (32 hour weeks) are normal and part-timers are on many teams. 5 day work weeks are normal as well. 3 day work weeks, I haven't seen those around me.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#33
Don't see this working in USA.

I've never been to Europe, but work with many who are from there. You get socialized healthcare, cities with easy transit, and for the most part things are close.

In the US, we don't have health insurance unless we buy it ourselves ($$$$) or our company provides it ($). We don't have easy transit in most cities, and also people do live far away from the business centers.

That's why in the USA, most people want full time work. Unfortunately, the mega corporations that some of y'all work for ensure that this becomes harder and harder. Hope your RSUs are worth it!

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#34

Part time work for developers would also help women who don’t want to work full time when they have small children. If I had a part time option when my children were small, I would have embraced it. My career was thriving, but there was no “step back” option for me. If you want more women in tech, recognize that the first shift of daycare & school prep, the second shift of work, and the third shift of cooking, cleani…

> Part time work for developers would also help women who don’t want to work full time when they have small children.

And men with the same wish.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#35

My consultancy is built around creating teams of hourly devs. It works great in practice but there’s a lot of talking to clients in the beginning. A lot of companies are very attached to the idea of w2 salaries.

Do you find you have to do a lot of outbound "sales" to push the concept of hourly devs or are you more likely to see this attachment after a company is already exploring working with you? That is, so companies get cold feet after they learn more about the hourly dev concept you provide?

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#36
post #28

Yeah… I’ve worked with part time engineers in the past and been one myself several times too. The main problem is that people flake. Your part time position is not as important to them as their other job, their degree, their time off. Lots of people think they can be productive for 10-15 hours of their usual Netflix time and then find out that they have no energy or motivation. Part-time engineers have a way of falli…

I think remote might help - part time x2 or part time + degree feels likely unsustainable, but part time + more surfing? Seems like it might work.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#37
post #15
post #10

I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…

As someone who's hired part-time developers off and on for years.... the issue is that they typically start out working the agreed-upon number of hours, then begin to work less & less over time. There's no feasible way to make someone work more hours remotely, and they're usually sharp enough to get partway into a project before flaking out so that it's difficult to just replace them- you'd have to hire an entirely n…

More money per hour is a buffer for finding work after your project ends.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#38
post #15
post #10

I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…

As someone who's hired part-time developers off and on for years.... the issue is that they typically start out working the agreed-upon number of hours, then begin to work less & less over time. There's no feasible way to make someone work more hours remotely, and they're usually sharp enough to get partway into a project before flaking out so that it's difficult to just replace them- you'd have to hire an entirely n…

I agree this is a real problem for freelancers, but for part-time employees? It might be that someone needs to make a better system for remote work that gives some options for enforcement.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#39
post #29

This was discussed a bit last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27749497 I've worked part-time for the past 10+ years now, at Google, Makani, and Elemeno Health [60%, 80%, and 40% duty cycle respectively]. It's awesome for work-life balance if you can swing it, and a lot more productive than many people would think.

How did you start that conversation? How was it received? What do you do in your not-work time?

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#40
post #10

I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…

I believe a large part is also due to the incentives of recruiters and how they is structured. Most recruiters take a fee that depends on the hours put in or a percentage of the total contract, or a mix. Surely some exceptions exist but I believe most are incentivised to only go for atleast 32 hours to make it worth the effort, and thus don’t bother eating a potential 40 hour contract on a smaller 16 hour one. I see the flawed logic but I’ve asked around a ton already and it’s always no while I know the market is there when I’m already inside. I just haven’t met the right clients I guess.
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