Ask HN: Programming on the side for money
I am interested in doing a few programming assignments a month and collect some folding money in the process. Not for a living, but just to keep myself motivated.
I understand there are dozens of sites which offer odd jobs like this - are there sites that you would recommend? For people who do this, can you talk about your experiences please? What to watch out for, how do you get paid, how much can you make realistically (while doing it on the side). Thanks!
11 comments
[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 37.6 ms ] threadI don't have a revenue target in mind. If I get at least $25 per hour I spend, I'm more than happy. I have no idea what the market rates are though. I am handy with most technology, and have enough equipment at my disposal.
Alternatively look on craigslist.
Make sure you have a good portfolio before you start looking: build some stuff to show off.
I tried odesk and guru, their pay rates were too low.
Some tips I'd probably give: focus on listings in your own country/area, you will have better results. Don't be too formal, try to build a good rapport while staying professional (especially in proposals). Focus on things that you find exciting, or you'll get bogged down.
No idea what your background is, but web dev is the best area to be looking in. PHP et. al. have thousands of available at any time, at a variety of difficulty. Finding clients that will let you work in more 'trendy' (i.e. fun and productive) languages is a little harder, but if you're really pedantic you can find them.
Pay rate is very variable. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of clients just don't know what they should be paying. Most sites require an 'expected budget' on listings, but you can usually budge this up quite a bit if it's too low. Keep in mind if you're in the UK, EU, etc. that you're competing against developers in other countries with lower living costs, and that a lot of clients (especially on simpler projects) don't always have the budget you might be looking for.
The most important part of freelancing isn't your tools or your programming skills or how much time you have available - it's how you communicate with clients, especially non-technical ones (i.e. most of them). Email regularly. If you're in the same city and the project will take more than a couple of weeks, meet up for an hour to introduce yourself and discuss requirements. Always explain what you're going to do, and if you have any doubts at all, ask about it. A misunderstanding is easily made when working remotely.
I'd recommend you go into it (for the first few jobs) without worrying too much about money. Take projects that look interesting and at least cover your costs, and get a feel for how the process works and how you can attract better clients.
I have a few startup acquaintances that are bootstrapping their startup mostly by churning out decent quality PHP for $30/hr .
They could aim for higher paying tasks, but then the level of challenge would probably interfere with working on their startup.
I didn't like any of the other RSS readers out there, so I wrote my own, and now I'm using it and liking it. (I was pretty annoyed when Google Reader shut down.) Now I'm working on my delicious clone. (I really liked that site and was sad when Yahoo and AVOS ruined it.)
I really miss delicious, and none of the others that I've tried are any good.
Also, my RSS reader has one neat feature. On WordPress and Blogger, there's an undocumented feature that lets you grab older items (?paged= on WP, ?start-index= on Blogger). That's really useful when you find a new site and want to look at the history.
They're all things I could build myself over time but it would be 10x faster with someone experienced on it. I can wireframe, provide decent requirements and fast feedback.
I'm really looking for someone to help me simplify my projects (not turn them into long development cycles) I want to iterate quickly and see what gets users, try some things for fun and learn from there.