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Ask HN: Is there part-time dev work?

29 points by CodeSgt ↗ HN
I've been getting burnt out and want to spend more time of personal pursuits, but financially I'm not in a position to completely stop working. Given the compensation in this industry and my relatively cheap lifestyle, I'm sure could live modestly comfortable off a part-time income.

That said, I don't think I've ever even seen a job posting for a part-time dev. Do these exist? I don't need benefits, I have health insurance and everything else I need covered. Just a steady paycheck.

11 comments

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piinecone
I don't see part-time dev work advertised as often as it is available. I've been working part-time for a few years, and the way I've found jobs is one of:

- convert a full-time job to part-time

- work with a fractional placement agency like https://www.forward.id/

- talk about the possibility of part-time in your first conversation with a potential employer (saves everyone a lot of time)

That said, I think they're still hard to find (and land). I made

https://polyfill.work

to try to address this problem for myself. I want to just say how much I want to work, how much I want to make, and what I like to do, then get emails when something that fits comes up. It's an ongoing work in progress though and will take more testing to get right.

controversial97
Is there a modern equivalent of rentacoder?

A dozen years ago, rentacoder was 99.5% people wanting impossible things for $50 but there were some worthwhile "I want a visual basic app that does this clearly defined task and can be created in two days" jobs. (rentacoder got sold and stopped being useful)

CodeSgt
I wasn't around for the rentacoder days but it just sounds like the inverse of fiverr, upwork, etc.
ozten
https://www.codementor.io/ is another one. Once you sign up, these random tasks pop up. It is a lot of wasted time monitoring them and the quality of jobs can be suspect, much like Fivver, so you've got to screen out bad clients.
ffhhj
Truelancer has worked fine for me.
iainctduncan
Oh absolutely, I've been doing it for years. The thing is, it's easier for managers if people are full time, and most tech managers are really bad at managing, so they basically never advertise for part-time. But if you send CVs to people for whom you are a really good fit and say you're only available part time, a bunch will bite. Hiring good devs is so hard now that if part-time is the only downside to hiring you, you can find work. It's usually easier if you are willing to be a contractor, but I've also been an 80% time employee twice now.

You also need to try the right kinds of places. Small shops, startups that are cash constrained, consultancies or agencies with variable amounts of work, bootstrapped companies, and tech enabled service companies are all good fits. Big VC funded companies spending other people's money, not so much. Just plan on sending out tons of applications and you'll find some.

CodeSgt
Interesting, thanks for the reply.
more_corn
What languages do you have? Contract might be a good fit. I run a contract dev shop. I’ve got a few openings for front-end people.
CodeSgt
Front-end is where I'm most experienced, as a matter of fact. TypeScript is my go to language.
Irongirl1
So...build what you need. A marketplace for part-time work only...set the parameters and use seo (Google) to bring people to you. I need a part-time tech va, dev and marketing person. Not necessarily in that order and I still need to know what the prices look like, but I'm sure I'm not alone. Guilds will make a comeback...specialist who bang out jobs quickly and without a lot of back and forth...while charging for every single incidental. A Micky D's for tech work.