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Ask HN: Work from home Daddy

13 points by devb0x ↗ HN
I have plenty experience (decade+) in SDLC, dev and am looking at new gigs. My wife is looking at going back to work and I want to then be home in the afternoons for my kid.

I am not in US or Europe, but am on GMT + 2. Locally there appears to be no end of gigs wanting me to be in the office all day long, plus evenings regularly.

So with years of .net, c#, python, sql, asp.net ,some slighly forgotten php, mysql skills.., some java (jax-rs,jetty,maven, win services), linux, windows, bash, batch, CI (Team City / Jenkins).. what are my options?

Start my own business or freelance on elance (is that really gonna coin?) or just suck it up and carry on in the rat race?

9 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 19.0 ms ] thread
akassover
I'm a work from home dad. One thing I've learned is that no work gets done when the kids are at home (well, awake and at home). I start work super early and we still send the kids to daycare, but I do have tons of flexibility to be a dad that a regular job wouldn't provide.

I've never worked through elance, but I've hired a lot of people there. In my experience (again, as a hirer), once I find someone good, I stick with them. I've got freelancers that I met on elance years ago that I still work with. Don't know if this is normal, but if it is, I'd focus on building relationships and think of it as a marketing channel as opposed to your long-term revenue stream.

devb0x
What do you do over holiday periods when day care is closed?
akassover
You mean like last Friday (closed for training) and yesterday (closed for Columbus Day)? Well, one thing I don't do during those days is read hacker news (sorry for the delay getting back to you).

I take full advantage of my flexibility. When the kids are off, I take the day off too. My wife's vacation days are limited & tracked, mine aren't, so I'm the first backup when daycare is closed. Not always the best for work, but I do really enjoy those days. Friday was a blast - I made breakfast for the kids, we hit the park, met my wife for lunch, I sped through some work while the kids napped, and then we had an encore park visit.

Looking back over your list of skills, you cover a lot of different technologies. I think it might be wise to pick something to be known for and run with it. Don't leave it up to your future customers to figure out what they can use you for because they will never figure it out.

devb0x
Yep I was particularly interested in long breaks for the kids and how you handle that, but I see you're able to work around it.

Thanks for the feedback on picking my tech, I guess you're right but thats what happens when you work in project environments. I'll put forward my primary skills as my value prop.

Thanks for responding

ddorian43
See the "Who is seeking work/seeking freelancer" monthly thread. And "Who is hiring" monthly thread.

Go back a couple of months, some of the companies are probably still hiring.

brudgers
It's may be easier to negotiate what you need by starting with one of the local gigs than flat out going solo...free-lancing is hard and clients can be as demanding as bosses and much much less likely to pay quickly or at all.

To put it another way, it is quite possible that one of the local companies needing your skill set would rather contract out the work than hire a full time position.

Good luck.

saluki
I would look at transitioning to a full time remote position that allows you to work flexible hours. Freelancing can work if you make the right client relationships to keep a steady stream of projects coming in at your desired hourly rate. Typically these clients aren't found on elance/odesk.