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Ask HN: Is there a market for freelance algorithm design and implementation?

9 points by brewerhimself ↗ HN
I've been considering freelance work because I want to travel, but I'm not sure whether there's a market for what I'm interested in.

I like solving algorithmic problems. I enjoy it so much that I do it for fun. I know there are plenty of people offering web design/development service, but about algorithm design and development?

To clarify: I'm looking for work where I get to work with a lot of companies that do (hopefully) interesting work. My specialty is taking a problem specification and providing a solution by designing an algorithm and then implementing it for the company. I wouldn't be opposed to helping the company integrate this algorithm into their system and providing follow-up service and maintenance, but I don't want to develop entire products.

I have a hard time staying focused on anything for more than a few weeks, so I'd like to get it, do something new and interesting, and then get out.

7 comments

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john_horton
If you do a pretty targeted job search, there's a decent number of these kinds of jobs on oDesk (full disclosure, I work at oDesk).

Machine learning: https://www.odesk.com/jobs?nbs=1#filter/?qs=machine-learning...

Hadoop: https://www.odesk.com/jobs?nbs=1#filter/?qs=hadoop&st=0

Data Science (as you'll see, not everyone knows what this term means): https://www.odesk.com/jobs?nbs=1#filter/?qs=data-science&...

Algorithms https://www.odesk.com/jobs?nbs=1#filter/?qs=algorithms&s...

brewerhimself
It's time for me to get some sleep, so I'll check out oDesk more thoroughly tomorrow. My first thought though is that, like other freelance sites, employers might expect me to work for pennies on the dollar.
john_horton
If you were doing SEO/SEM writing or something like that, then maybe, but for these kinds of jobs, you can charge a premium if you know what you're doing & deliver value. Many employers are cheap, but fewer are stupid---they do want to get their projects done.
tren
I've got a startup at http://zombal.com. Occasionally we have algorithm work coming through but it's not something that you could live off (at the moment). I'm still figuring out the market and determining the best way to connect companies with people like yourself.
brewerhimself
That's a pretty cool site you've got there. I just took the time to read the descriptions for ~20 different jobs and I'm glad to see that there is a place where people with math and science skills can make money.
sharemywin
I would say network with developers/contractors that don't want to do that work. Let them bring you in mark up your services and everybody wins.
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