My sense is that freelancers become a lot more attractive in the short / medium term because:
- WFH / remote work will be the norm for a while, and if there's no benefit to having a FTE in the office with you, why not contract lots of work out?
- freelancers are a lot more flexible in terms of overhead than FTEs, and the economy will likely be jittery for a while
Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
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Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#22> we are being put at 80% pay / 80% time. Uhm, you want to check the fine prints. If you've been furloughed , which is typically what people on "80%" are, then the Treasury is paying your salary, but you're NOT supposed to work AT ALL. If you are actually working, you and your company are effectively committing benefit fraud. > Do you think in the current climate it would be doable to start freelancing Everything is…
Correct, as other commenters guessed, I have not been furloughed, it's just a reduction of the pay and work time.
We still need approval from the company to get a side job, but they said that except if it's for a competitor, they would be arrangeant about that.
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#23If you can find clients to hire you, anything is possible. I started freelancing during the Great Recession (because I couldn’t get a job) and was able to make it work.
Find at least one client before you quit, though. And make sure you have at least 6 months of savings so that even if that client fired you on day 1, you’d be okay.
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#24Just anecdotally, I've been hearing from friends that work from Upwork hasn't been affected from COVID. I think platforms like Upwork/Fiverr might even be more enticing for employers during recessions. Of course the pay there is not very competitive, but just giving you 1 data point.
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#25The requirements to start as a freelancer, in any kind of economic climate:
* You have an accountant
* You are not afraid to draw up a contract
* Have a skill that has higher demand than supply and will remain so for a foreseeable time
* Have worked on paid side projects a few times
* One existing customer is interested in hiring you for 3 months (worth of money) or more
Ensure you set aside 50% of which 2/3rds for tax and 1/3 for bad times. Maybe you pay less tax in the end. Yay! "Free" money! Never get in the reverse situation.
If you don't have customers: don't do it. I have been making a lot of contacts in the 15 years+ I have as a professional and it's still hard to find work right now. If you're good for a few months then we're out of the pit in terms of demand for sure.
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#26Just anecdotally, I've been hearing from friends that work from Upwork hasn't been affected from COVID. I think platforms like Upwork/Fiverr might even be more enticing for employers during recessions. Of course the pay there is not very competitive, but just giving you 1 data point.
I don't see less work on a similar platform, but I do notice that the competition for that work is more fierce. Though I expect given the fact that the demand never slowed down the musical chairs game will be over soon and the supply of developers will dry up.
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#27If you can find clients to hire you, anything is possible. I started freelancing during the Great Recession (because I couldn’t get a job) and was able to make it work. Find at least one client before you quit, though. And make sure you have at least 6 months of savings so that even if that client fired you on day 1, you’d be okay.
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Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#28It depends on your clients. Don't put all your eggs in one basket which I did. My two current clients in Germany are heavily invested in the automotive industry. They have everything on stop for the manufacturing and their software department is not working their full 100% capacity. On the other side, I hear lots of good news from people who are bringing physical services to the web. The digital revolution is just st…
> bringing physical services to the web
What does that mean?
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#29[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: In the current crisis is starting freelancing doable?
#30You have a network for sure and a lot of relevant people are still however working, so just spend a couple of days networking from home, making cold calls and preparing a portfolio?