Ask HN: Where do you (programmers) find freelancing gigs?

I mostly did it for my own learning. I'd been picking up very small freelance projects from an independent web host as the time, and every time I found an interesting question on the designer forums, I'd do the research and come up with an answer.

In time, I became one of the main web programming resources in that community. I wasn't necessarily a very good programmer, but I'd always dig in and find the answer and try to find a way to present it well to a non-programmer group. As someone who used to be a designer, I knew how to approach the question and answer in a way that would benefit whomever asked.

Over time as the designers in that community got further in their careers, they would come to me, whether for work or advice. Some came to me back then. Some, years later. I had a potential client pop up about 6 months ago (at least 8 years since I'd stopped visiting that forum regularly) by way of a recommendation from one of those old forum members with whom I'd worked years ago.

I would say the majority of the success I've found in my career stemmed from those relationships. A lot of whom are still friends and colleagues to this day.

I'm not necessarily recommending you start lurking around design forums. But the fact is, there are many industries that are in need of some outside knowledge. I'm also not recommending you start spamming forums. What I mean to say is that it may be possible to find potential clients as a member of a non-programming community, provided you're a reliable and friendly member of said community.

This is a very fortunate time to be a programmer. A solid majority of people in the world still have no idea how their phones and computers do what they do, and a good many of those people would benefit greatly by knowing someone who does. And some of them may have some work that needs to be done, or know someone who needs work done.

This looks like a horrible service. The design doesn't really convey trust.