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Comment by taprun | Hacker News Reader

1. Identify a skill that you have, and other people want. The more succinctly you can describe it, the better. Programmer == bad. C# developer == better.

2. Identify where people who need that skill spend time (meetups, clubs, slack groups, podcasts, discussion websites, mailing lists, etc).

3. Spend time at these places, delivering value, and pitching your wares. If you can get on stage to present, even better. A strong effort in a few places will usually beat a weak effort in many places.

4. Tell people you know that you are looking for gigs in your specific niche area.

5. Find agencies, others who do this work and let them know you're available if they get too much work, or get clients that aren't a great fit.

6. Most importantly, never be anonymous. This post is an example of a missed opportunity. Who knows, someone might have needed exactly what you're able to offer.

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Programmer == bad. C# developer == better.

I am a full time job person at present so I am by no means an expert but this seems wrong to me. Aren't the majority of people who do the hiring for freelancers non-technical? As such pushing a particular tech seems like a bad idea. (I am always pretty skeptical of people who rant about how a particular tech will solve the problem rather than how to actually solve the problem. Heard "relational databases don't scale" too many time by people who have relatively small data sets).

A client that doesn't know what he wants is a bad client. Those kinds of people often have unrealistic expectations like "I want a website like Facebook for $500". Don't work for such people.

That leaves people who do know what they want. So let's look at it from their perspective.

Let's say they need a Windows desktop app.

Two people apply for the job.

You say "I'm a great programmer, here's a website I wrote".

The other guy says: "I'm an experienced C# programmer. In the past I've developed 3 Windows desktop applications in C#/WinForms and I can do the same for you".

If you were hiring, who would get the job.

This is not about pushing C# technology but a best match between what the client wants and what your skills are.

It's also not about C#.

What the OP meant is that if you have a specific skillset, you should market that skillset specifically. Both ruby backend programmer and an iOS mobile programmers are programmers, but when a client is looking for iOS mobile programmer, he'll pick someone marketing his "iOS programming skills" over someone marketing his "programming skills".

> A client that doesn't know what he wants is a bad client.

I disagree completely. A prospect who doesn't know what they want is an opportunity for the freelancer to provide more value by finding a solution for them.

You're conflating "unrealistic expectations" with "I know I have a problem but I don't know what the solution is." The former is something to avoid. The latter should make cash-register sounds in your head because it's an opportunity to provide more value and charge accordingly.

I believe his main point is that a client that doesn't know what he wants also doesn't know how much to spend, and sure doesn't want to over-spend.

If you find someone that doesn't know what they want but is throwing cash around, sure, be the expert that leads them to digital nirvana.

Generally though, if they don't know what they want, they don't realize how hard it is and so will be in for some serious shell-shock when you tell them the price tag. At which point you're either lowering your rate to still do the work or you've wasted a lot of time talking to them (which they generally don't expect to pay for unless your forte isn't writing code but "being the expert that tells you what you want").

I think we’re talking about different classes of customers.

This is where you quickly educate the customer. It's no different than you calling a plumber, only to find out that what you thought would be a $50 job is really a $500 job.

If they seem like the type who doesn't understand the cost, you tell them "from your description you're already well into 5-figure development cost." Or "$500 is typically what you'd expect to pay for minor website content updates."

This ballpark pricing shouldn't take more than a few minutes to figure out. And it puts the ball back in their court to do more research and figure out if they can really afford the going rates.

This times 1000.

Almost nobody, whether technical or not, is looking for something as generic as a "programmer" when they want a freelancer. Some people want expertise in a particular technology. Other people don't care as much about the technology but do want someone who builds a particular kind of product.

I think the point being made earlier is that you want to have some niche where you can claim expertise. It doesn't have to be a specific language, but "programmer" loses to almost any other job description in almost any scenario (and the scenarios where it wins are mostly nightmares).

Nope. We often know exactly who we want to hire. The more specialized you are the better. Find a niche you really love working in say crypto for example and work to be known for that type of work. General = bad.

Also network with designers and agencies. I’m a ux designer and a ton of my work comes from agencies. You could even cold email them and introduce yourself politely. I know this sounds like bad advice but it really isn’t.

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