Ask HN: Where do you find software development freelance work?

In case anyone doesn't know, the Who Is Hiring threads on HN include a monthly thread for freelancers:

https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring

It doesn't spend as much time on the front page as the main "Who Is Hiring?", but you can always find it at that link. The next Who Is Hiring day is tomorrow!

There's a list of 100 alternative websites in an older discussion "Ask HN : What Are the Alternatives to Upwork?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19573781

gitcoin.co

I haven't used it for ~8 months so I don't know what it is like now, but in 6 months I was active on there, I made ~$20k, mostly web development stuff to add a single feature to an existing codebase, all open source.

Honestly the best way to get good work have been other freelancers or consultants that know you well. It takes time to get a network, but once you have it you can participate in a lot of reciprocity on projects. Of course this only works if you also help your friends, bringing them good projects when you can’t handle the work.

One reason this works well is your friends aren’t likely to intentionally get you into a bad situation. They have an incentive to not screw you over :). They also know your skills and what you’d be suited for, helping to act as a filter... They also give you a warm intro to the client, rather than the client treating you like a faceless commodity on a freelancing site.

LinkedIn, various slack groups based on technology, reddit/r/forhire, CraigsList (if it is popular in your geography).

But especially LinkedIn. Connect with people and let people know you are available my making posts!

I recently got work by responding to a post in the HN who's hiring / looking for freelancers monthly thread. When I need a project I always look there, as well as the other usual places. Also try TopTal or Gun.io. They are probably the best freelance platforms with real projects and clients who pay market rates (or close to it). Upwork is garbage...

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We are looking for a full stack developer with at least 2-3 years of experience and is looking to learn and can help manage our entire web infrastructure. Our project entails implementing UI, constructing our API, connecting the two, and setting up our server infrastructure which also includes database and architecture design.

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I tend to get offers for new projects from past customers, as well as them telling me about their business buddies who need a project done. With that, I know whom to email when I have unsold time coming up.

It really is a sellers market at the moment, so you can probably just call up random mid to large companies in your area and ask them what kind of projects they are trying to hire for.

If the thought of that makes you uncomfortable, your best bet might be to team up with an agency so that they'll re-sell you at a higher rate to their customers. That tends to cost you 20% of the project gross, but if it is a profitable project, that price of admission might still be worth it.

Codementor is good. Do quick mentoring calls; those can turn into additional work. Many of the mentoring requests are generally better done as "off line", where you do a quick bit of work and turn it around in short order. They also have longer, more consulting style projects.

reddit.com/r/forhire is good, I've gotten several gigs from just posting that I was looking for work there along with my skillset and what I would be interested in working on.

Check out: https://www.turtle.dev/

I have used them and can vouch for its high quality work.

Dice.com works for the US. Most of the jobs posted there are contract jobs that are last from a few months to up to a year.

If you're working with games:

www.reddit.com/r/gamedevclassifieds

www.gamejobforum.com

www.moonlightwork.com