Ask HN: How do I obtain part-time development work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I obtain part-time development work?

16 pointscanadev6 comments

Hi. I'm a software developer with 6-7 years of professional experience and a good resume. I get recruiter emails from decent companies from time to time and seem to be able to get interviews at most places I apply to, but they are all for full-time work.

I would love to find part-time employment so that I can spend my free time on other things than working for someone else.

I have started applying and I like to be up-front so in my cover letters I state that I am interested in working no more than 25 hours per week (3 full days). So far, all the responses I've received are rejections from people saying that they require someone who can give a full time commitment to the job.

I am not interested in using freelance type sites since I don't feel that I will get market rates (if I am incorrect, please let me know -- but I believe I will never approach Silicon Valley hourly rates doing something like that).

In the past I was able to convert one of my full-time jobs to part-time contract work but the company got acquired and I was laid off.

A few tangents:

1. My goal is to run a self-funded startup and my costs are negligible. The day I have to pay $50 a month for VPS costs because I need to scale up will be a good one.

2. I believe that there is plenty of room for useful software in the world that any skilled developer can build and support that can make a more-than-comfortable living.

3. I recently registered a domain name and am considering setting up a site which basically amounts to the Canadian Association of Independent Software Professionals. Were this thing in full swing, I could probably find work from others on the site already. Any interest in such a thing?

4. I refuse to go into debt to fund my startup. It's just not in my nature and I don't see myself looking for funding when the costs are so low.

I would like to provide my thoughts on finding part time work.

First of all, I don't believe you will have too much success trying to find part time work with companies that expect full time. Unless you have a very niche skill set and can come in as a consultant, you will find it very hard to get part time hours.

What I would like to suggest to you is to do the following:

1) Incorporate a company.

2) Go talk to small and medium sized software consulting/services companies within your area. These are companies that do software consulting or custom development for other companies. These can include web development shops, SharePoint shops (if that is your skillset) or some of the bigger consulting firms (such as Ideaca).

These companies are more willing to take on contractors. They especially like hiring part time if its the right fit as it saves them money. Their clients usually don't know/(may not care) who does the work.

You can charge your rate (lets say in the $50-$90/hour range) or even better setup retainers for each company with a fixed number of hours a month that you will commit. If they do not use all the hours for the month, they still pay you the retainer. If they go over the hours, then they pay you your rate.

I believe you will find more success with the smaller consulting firms (firms with less than 20 employees and that serve the local market) but this does depend on your skill set.

I expect it will be hard for you to get one of these arrangements with the first company but it will be easier after the first.

It is quite possible for you to work for 3-4 of these companies and make a reasonable income.

In effect, you would be a freelancer but you would not have direct clients.

A lot of these depends on your skill set and what is needed in your area. If you are a open-source stack developer and you are surrounded by .NET shops, you will obviously have a tough time. If this is the case, you are likely to be more successful if you pickup the skill set that's relevant for your area.

+100 to this

There is quite a meme to the above effect around. Look at doubleyourfreelancingrate.com for one.

I completely agree with the above, and would add

1. Sell yourself as maker of custom development software and find a niche you love / are good at (maybe statistics whatever).

2. Really push the Canadian software dev organisation - being high profile helps in all sorts of ways

3. I suggest you focus in getting this sorted full time for several months - it will always be easier to code your product than ensure you have a pipeline of incoem

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I will look further into this.

Have you considered working short term full-time freelance gigs? You can work a few weeks/months for a client, and then stretch that money out working full-time on your own projects before you pick up the next contract. Repeat as needed. Its not part-time but its not full-time either. HTH and good luck.

I would suggest going to interviews for contract jobs, wowing them, then dropping the part-time bombshell as if there had been a mis-communication. If you're good enough, and they are a company who are reasonable (which you would need anyway), then it should be fine.

It's worth a try.

BTW I work part time, but I was upfront but had a personal connection who vouched for me before I was interviewed.

I've actually tried this before and, in all honesty, it only serves to burn a lot of bridges, which a freelancer (especially ones in smaller towns) cannot afford. Not the best tactic to pretend to be looking for something you don't want only to change the game 90% of the way through it. People tend to get upset about those things and it makes you look indecisive.

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