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Ask HN: Where can I find a dev concierge?

2 points by mikkel125 ↗ HN
I'm a dev myself, and also someone with a lot of ideas (mainly SaaS, online businesses etc). In the past couple of years I've built most of these ideas (or at least some kind of MVP) myself, and had fun doing so. However, as I get older, I don't want to code that much anymore.

I'm looking for a long-term companion to code stuff for me. I just got an idea for a new search engine? I'll ask them to hack a crawler for it. I want to extract some data from a dataset and build some visualization? Call them to write the SQL queries and make a graph.

I guess a freelancer is the closest to what I'm looking for. However, whereas freelancers are generally mission-based, I'd want someone 1/ for the longer term to reduce search effort per mission, and 2/ ideally with the following traits: - an early-stage startup CTO mindset, - jack of all trades, - expert writing dirty/hacky code, - has fun doing hackathons or weekend side projects.

A "dev concierge" is the closest analogy I can think of.

Some more practical details that may help: Billed by the hour, remote, market rate. Each "mission" takes maybe 20-40 hours to complete, and I have 1-2 of those ideas per month, constantly.

10 comments

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MattGaiser
How is this not just a freelancer who you rehire periodically? Most are happy with repeat business.
mikkel125
Yes, and that's where I started looking: Upwork, Freelancer.com, Malt, Lemon.io. However, I find it hard to find the "jack of all trades" type of character I'm looking for. Freelancers nowadays are specialized in a small subset of technologies where they enjoy the most working on. It often does not go well with the quick&dirty hacker image that I'm looking for.

But maybe there's some place where this type of hackers hang out/advertize themselves?

bigiain
> - an early-stage startup CTO mindset, - jack of all trades, - expert writing dirty/hacky code,

This is exactly the sort of person early-stage startups are looking to hire. And a lot of therm are going to be offering a full time job, possibly below full market rate - but topped up with equity dream-bucks.

30-60 hours at market rate per month seems quite unlikely top turn into "a long-term companion" given the other opportunities anyone skilled at all the things you're going to want will have open to them.

mikkel125
That's a good point. "Long-term" may be overly optimistic. A 6-12mo companion would already be great.
codingdave
If you want them for half-time, and freelancers typically increase their rates to cover down times, sales time, benefits, etc... would you not do just as well to form a company, hire them, and give them a salary?
mikkel125
> give them a salary

That's more tricky if the freelancer is not a resident from the same country as my company's headquarters.

I guess tailored freelance contracts can always be crafted: monthly fixed rate, span over 12-24mo, 4-week termination notice... so that it feels salary-like. That's not an issue. The real pain is where to find the type of freelancer accepting these and with the correct mindset.

yuppie_scum
The prospective part time engineer you’re describing sounds to me more like what we call a Rock Star who probably has no trouble finding a full time six figure salary with equity and benefits. Not sure why they’d throw in with you vs just finding a real salary or I-9 gig, unless you are very competitive on total comp, or they are already financially secure.

I think you’re just looking for a VP engineering.