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Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#191

Post by amingilani »

sidchilling wrote: post #143
amingilani wrote: post #20

Toptal[1] If you're a really good engineer (like I strongly believed I was) and don't have the network to find gigs (I live in Pakistan) freelance market places are great ideas on paper but never work out... Until I joined Toptal. They screened me to ensure I was a good developer (high quality supply of developers) and then worked with me to find a client that would be a good fit. Since not everyone can get into the…

How much do you make from Toptal? A year ago I started the process with them, and they told me that they generally have regional rates. They corrected that programmers are free to choose their own hourly rates, but hinted that you won't get projects if your hourly rate is higher than average (They did not openly tell this, but the implication was clear). They mentioned that the average hourly rate for India was $20 -…

I'm not entirely comfortable sharing my rate but I started from near it and just moved it up. I haven't had any trouble with my much higher than regional rate since I truly believed I could make it work at that rate.. and I did

I don't know their internal rates process at all but I always thought regional rates were meant to be guidelines. To be honest, living costs for India or (in my case) Pakistan are much lower than the US so I'm certain I still come out with more income after living expenses

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#192

Post by maratd »

dboreham wrote: post #190
maratd wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More specifically, don't do fixed cost contracts. Strongly disagree. I've been doing fixed cost contracts for a very long time with great success. You just need to know what you're doing. > They misalign all the incentives, and encourages you to do a worse quality job. Billing hourly does that. It encourages you to "fit" yourself within the estimate that you had to provide. That's fine if you overshot, but if you w…

>I've done lots of work where I've been paid $1000 per hour when I break it down by time. Can you say the same? Unfortunately it can go the other way too : you work for $10/hr.

You're right. I touched on this a little bit.

Your estimation skills have to be top notch. If they're not, work hourly for an agency so that they bear the risk. Use that time to hone your estimation skills. Even then, multiply your estimate by 2 and that's what you charge.

If the project is risky, lots of new stuff you've never done before, then multiply your estimate by 3 or 4.

The idea is that you cover your ass so that the "$10/hr" never happens. And of course, never take on projects with vague scope. Make sure everything is clearly defined. That's a skill too and should be honed as well.

The key though is that the "$10/hr" project will be so painful for you though, you will be sure to never repeat that mistake.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#193

Post by jason_slack »

remyp wrote: post #122

I built something to help HN users network together. I can't promise it'll bring you work, but it'll help you connect with other members of this community without much effort on your part. https://findkismet.com

I have been a kismet user since they launched recently. I can say that a large number of my "matches" either don't fill out what they "need help with" or "can offer help with" and even more than that don't reply at all after I make initial contact.

I was talking with another kismet user and they too said out of their matches I was the only one that ever reached out to say hi.

I hope it gains popularity because I think the idea is great. I wouldn't count on it though to find a job.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#194

Post by jason_slack »

ttoinou wrote: post #173
irremediable wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The freelancer thread can work, and hopefully you have a network you can ask. Please, though, tell us more about it! What's the project in a nutshell? What kind of developer skills do you need? Rough ideas of time investment and compensation?

Work to be done includes pixel format conversion, creating multi threaded encoding queue, documenting existing code / reorganizing the files, creating a little parser for command lines generation. 3 Months minimum

I have a lot of experience here and have worked on a large graphic application that you may know about if you are in the industry.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#195

Post by DoreenMichele »

jason_slack wrote: post #193
remyp wrote: post #122

I built something to help HN users network together. I can't promise it'll bring you work, but it'll help you connect with other members of this community without much effort on your part. https://findkismet.com

I have been a kismet user since they launched recently. I can say that a large number of my "matches" either don't fill out what they "need help with" or "can offer help with" and even more than that don't reply at all after I make initial contact. I was talking with another kismet user and they too said out of their matches I was the only one that ever reached out to say hi. I hope it gains popularity because I thin…

I've had multiple conversations with people, though, granted, it hasn't gotten any specific concrete result yet. But I'm not expecting overnight results.

Experience is going to vary.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#196

Post by jason_slack »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #195
jason_slack wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been a kismet user since they launched recently. I can say that a large number of my "matches" either don't fill out what they "need help with" or "can offer help with" and even more than that don't reply at all after I make initial contact. I was talking with another kismet user and they too said out of their matches I was the only one that ever reached out to say hi. I hope it gains popularity because I thin…

I've had multiple conversations with people, though, granted, it hasn't gotten any specific concrete result yet. But I'm not expecting overnight results. Experience is going to vary.

Cool. Here is to hoping, I have had a few e-mails of people that seem amazing to talk to.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#197

Post by ryanjanvier »

bhu1st wrote: post #133
ryanjanvier wrote: post #45

Focus on a niche and become the go to person in that field. In my case, I work specifically with non-profit organizations that focus on Native American/First Nation issues. By narrowing down my target, I have been able to build a profitable network because I have specialized in that specific niche. Once you have narrowed down your niche, its just a matter of being in the same room as your potential clients. For me, i…

Curious to know what do you do for non profits?

Apologies on delay in response. I usually focus on website design/maintenance, as well as marketing materials for their events and other initiatives.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#198

Post by thrwawaydk2121 »

jamaicahest wrote: post #181
abalone wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I charged triple my day rate What was your rate, if you don't mind me asking? About how many hours/month were you able to book? I'm asking because high rates are great if you can get regular work...

Not sure if relevant, as I'm in Denmark and I don't know where you are located. But I charge $100/hour plus VAT and that is pretty much the standard rate here in Denmark for freelance work. I'm a .NET developer doing only backend work and I am currently working for a client 40 hours/week at $100/hour. Pretty much same as a regular employee except I'm self employed and my paycheck is 2-3 times that of a regular employ…

I'm a novice also in DK. Can you tell me how that translates to a "normal" salary after all the expenses etc?

I mean for example, how much would you get in corresponding salary with $100 / hour (600 DKK) after tax?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#199

Post by remyp »

jason_slack wrote: post #196
DoreenMichele wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had multiple conversations with people, though, granted, it hasn't gotten any specific concrete result yet. But I'm not expecting overnight results. Experience is going to vary.

Cool. Here is to hoping, I have had a few e-mails of people that seem amazing to talk to.

As the creator of Kismet I'm a user just like everybody else and your experiences echo mine. I did recently release an update to match users with empty profiles only against each other, so that should help. Measuring responsiveness would require me to "get in the middle" of the conversation a la AngelList or CoFoundersLab, which I don't like for privacy reasons.

I compare it to real-life networking events: the majority of people you talk to aren't that interesting or helpful, but you have to talk to them to find out. Kismet just lets you do it without leaving the house :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you find freelance work?

#200

Post by DoreenMichele »

remyp wrote: post #199
jason_slack wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. Here is to hoping, I have had a few e-mails of people that seem amazing to talk to.

As the creator of Kismet I'm a user just like everybody else and your experiences echo mine. I did recently release an update to match users with empty profiles only against each other, so that should help. Measuring responsiveness would require me to "get in the middle" of the conversation a la AngelList or CoFoundersLab, which I don't like for privacy reasons. I compare it to real-life networking events: the majori…

You don't have to measure responsiveness. You could create a tip sheet with some best practices to promote better engagement and, I guess, link to it in every email.
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