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Ask HN: How to find short term work?

10 points by jonafato ↗ HN
My situation is this: I'm about 6 weeks from starting grad school (CS), and I'm bored. I've been doing a bit of toying around with my own ideas, but at this point I'm trying to put a little cash in my pocket. I've wasted time looking through the Craigslist computer gigs listings never to hear back from anyone. I am young, but I like to thing I have pretty good ideas, and I am able to get things done. How can I go about finding some short term work to a) pocket some cash and b) not wind up churning out boring websites for some guy on craigslist looking to help me "build my portfolio" for free?

6 comments

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cmelbye
I'm in this spot too. A friend that had success with craigslist recommended the site, but there are almost no quality jobs on our local city's board. It really is mainly just people looking for free work in exchange for "a small percentage of the company" or something for my portfolio.
limedaring
This isn't going to help asap, but start building a network now. Meet as many people as possible (both in CS as well as related fields), then use Twitter/LinkedIn and other social media tools to keep in touch with these contacts.

When you're bored and looking for a quick project to make money, you can leverage this network you've built to find projects quickly.

There are also a slew of websites for freelancers that might be more targeted than Craigslist for what you need. Try searching for these services (can't remember what they are off the top of my head, sorry).

carterschonwald
Best place to look first: ask whomever were your grad rec writers if they know folks who could use a bit of summer coding or other cs know how. Or at least, thats how I have my current pre CS grad school summer gig.

best of luck

exline
What is your skill set? You never know who at HN might have some work for you.

You might have better luck at sites like Elance instead of Craiglist. I think you would deal with less flakes.

Personally every contract and job I have had was found through my network. Find your local tech groups and start getting to know people and let them know you are looking for some short term work.

jonafato
First off, thanks to everyone who responded. I do a lot of java because of coursework (and a research project through school), but I primarily work with python for my personal stuff, as well as your basic html/css/js which I think everyone should know at least some of. I've looked for groups in my area through sites like jelly and coworking as a way to get to know people, but can't find many in my area (central NJ). Any advice on where else to look?
AmberShah
We've found gigs through Craigslist (both through the gigs section and through posting a service offering). However, the sales cycle is also very long for anything dealing with businesses, so I'm not sure what your odds would be with starting and finishing a project in 6 weeks.

Still, that's probably your best bet. Some are fakes, that's true, but some are real and if you're not getting a single response, your pitch might be off. You certainly don't want to say "I'm a student and have 6 weeks off and I'm bored". Maybe post what you are saying and we could critique.

Longer term, you may want to pick up small projects through grad school. I know I did even in undergrad. That requires networking as the OP said. Once you've done a few gigs (and done them well) you tend to get repeat clients that can sustain you and referrals.