Ask HN: Becoming an [international] freelance consultant

currently, I work part time as a contract programmer, travel the world, have personal projects on the side.

I am able to bring value in management processes, development processes, maintainability, software quality, QA, architecture and implementation.

Keeping my current freedom would be great though.

I am registered at computer futures Germany and France. They mostly have on-site jobs, full-time (that makes me doubt the travelling and remote possibilities.)

1) How to get hired/ find awesome jobs? What are other job recruitment agencies which I should sign up for (especially international and remote wise)? 2) Do I need to stop travelling or is that possible to do fully remote? What is your experience? 3) Can I bring value by being on-site internationally? I am sceptical because jobs in France require spoken French, and jobs in Germany require spoken German (computer futures experience).

A few similar questions like "become an freelance consultant" are on hackernews and have some nice resources. I like to differentiate this question by asking for recruitment agencies or other ways of getting hired and I like to understand if being internationally available is a value or not. Nevertheless don't hesitate to link to other Ask HN posts.

My experience: Java (Spring, Hibernate, …), Angular 2 , Agile Management, Distributed Systems (Master Degree), Microservices, Container (Docker), CI/CD (Jenkins), Software Quality (SonarQube), AWS, GCE, Azure

Thank you so much for helping me kick-starting this.

P.S. All books and other resource recommendations are highly welcome.

Rationale: Generally only relevant to Android development and bigco. Your major clients in consulting will be SME.

However, have you considered remote work instead? There is more companies open to that setting and you can also have a good time flexibility. I work for game studio in Dublin - we offer fully remote setup, "unlimited" holidays and flexible working hours. Your skillset matches exactly what we need. But even if you aren't interested in making games for a living (python & java fullstack development) there is tons companies like us. I know because we have to compete with them for the best talent.

I agree with @contingencies, Java is the only technology you mention. Many recruiters will probably not read past that if that isn't what they are looking for. There is nothing wrong with it, but it does lock you into being a "contract programmer" vs a "freelance consultant".

Are you making the transition from contract programmer to freelance consultant? If so, then you need to reposition your personal branding / marketing.

In order to deliver value as a consultant you will need a lot of person-to-person interaction. So, as you point out, you need to be able to communicate fluently with the stakeholders and the many people who are working on any given project.

Whilst emails, chat and phone calls are very useful, a lot of essential and (IMHO) critical communications takes place in person. That is basically why teleconferencing hasn't supplanted business travel. So whilst you can continue to travel, you will probably need to be located with the client for at least part of the time. In many organisations working "remote" causes concerns to management. Travelling from project to project is another matter.

In my experience, the best consultant opportunities arise when working for a major international consulting firm. Once you have established a solid track record in that environment it is possible to go freelance. Employers, like recruiters and agencies, look at your track record for proof that you can successfully complete the given assignment. As a freelance consultant you are expected to hit the deck running.

Then there is that massive stumbling block ... being freelance means that you have to market and sell yourself. Having gotten an assignment you need to track your hours, bill and collect. It is for these reasons that I have found working for a consulting firm is less stressful. When you choose your field and company well, travel becomes a given rather than an option.

I also can't emphasise enough that you're in the business of solving problems, not in the business of creating software: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15761354

Focus on particular industries or categories of business problems rather than specific technologies.