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Ask HN: What is the best way to find Contract work or Remote Part-time work?

9 points by keviv ↗ HN
I recently quit my job and I'm trying to find some contract work to keep things moving while I can continue working on my own idea. I've already tried looking for work on major freelancing sites, too many people bidding too low, hence difficult to get projects from there.

What are the best places to find such work? I'm a full stack developer and I've worked extensively on PHP (Laravel mostly) on backend and HTML, CSS, Jquery, AnuglarJS and VueJS on the frontend side. Any other tips from people who do contract jobs?

Edit: Is $25 an hour too low for someone who 11 years of experience writing code. Since I'm just looking to make at least $2000 working part-time, $25x80hours a month works out for me initially.

9 comments

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alexkehr
I really like Upwork. I've been getting surprisingly high paying long-term projects on there (anywhere from $50 to $100 per hour).
dudul
I would avoid platforms specialized in contract work or freelancing. Like you pointed out, too much competition for too cheap.

There are websites that specialize in WFH work such as weworkremotely.com or wfh.io. Not sure they advertise a lot of contracting position, but it doesn't hurt to apply and specify that you are interested in being a contractor.

Another approach: all this spam you get on linkedin from recruiters/hiring managers. Just start reading them and reply with "I'll do it. Remotely and as a contractor". Most won't be interested, but a few may go for it.

keviv
Thanks for your reply. Applied to a couple of jobs on WWR and WFH.io
raviojha
As dudul has already pointed out, freelancing websites are a completely different game, people bid at way too cheaper rates.

I did some competitions (Design and Development) on TopCoder during undergrad days and was lucky enough to secure a place in top 3 couple of times. Key there is to choose a contest with less number of participations and patience.

Other than that, weworkremotely.com helps, browse some recent whoishiring threads. Might want to have a look at jobcombinator.io as well.

keviv
Yeah, I'm waiting for tomorrow's whoishiring threads. I applied to a couple of jobs on Weworkremotely.com and wfh.io asking whether they are okay with a part-timer.
kaolinite
Try user groups for your languages / technologies of choice. I subscribe to a couple of Ruby user groups in the UK where jobs and contracts are routinely posted - in fact, it's how I found my current contract.
keviv
Yep, it is a good way to find a job but I live in India and part-time local work doesn't pay well.
rco8786
Check out Gigster. Generally get around $100/hr, more for rush jobs/etc.