
HN: Hire me. For free. - ehsanul
<p><pre><code>  THE OFFER
</code></pre>
I'm willing to do a few small web development jobs for a few HNers at <i>no cost whatsoever</i>. 
Bonus points if it's for your startup or you have continuous web development needs.<p><pre><code>  WHAT I CAN DO
</code></pre>
I like making web apps. I'm primarily a <i>Ruby</i> guy, and I love <i>Sinatra</i>, but Rails is cool too.
And while I've done some PHP, it's not for me. I also do frontend work of course <i>(XHTML, CSS,
JS with jQuery, amateur/minor graphic design)</i>. Minor Linux system administration is
manageable for me too, like configuring web servers or databases and deploying apps.
But I'm no expert, having learnt what I know by being an Ubuntu user and managing a few servers.<p>If you need something that I can't do yet, note that I love learning new things — how do
you think I got myself into all this?<p><pre><code>  WHY I'M DOING THIS
</code></pre>
I've been teaching myself this stuff over the last few years, but I don't have too much to
show for it. I want to freelance, so I'm trying to build up my portfolio, and doing some free
work occurred to me as a great way to do so while making new contacts at the same time. I tried
this approach with success a couple of weeks back and I'm trying it again at a larger scale now.<p><pre><code>  CAVEATS
</code></pre>
I'm obviously not terribly experienced in anything at all, though I <i>am</i> free.
I just ask that requests be very limited in scope (say, something that would take a decent
developer a few days), and I should be able to show the work in my portfolio. Also, I'm only
free the first time. Finally, if I get many requests somehow, I may have to turn some down.
But I doubt that will happen.<p><pre><code>  YOU SHOULD CONTACT ME
</code></pre>
Even if you're not sure, or don't need it until later. What do you have to lose? Not money.
What might you gain? A reasonably competent coder, or at least some work done by one.
Contact me <i>now!</i><p><pre><code>  Email: meh5@njit.edu
  Skype: ehsanul_g3</code></pre>
======
mattm
A couple months ago I wanted to get rid of an old Dell printer. My uncle gave
it to me for free so I thought I would just give it away for free on
Craigslist. I had a total of 9 people contact me saying they were interested
in it. Many people expressed skepticism and asked "Does it work?" and "Why are
you giving it away for free?" Out of those 9 people that contacted me saying
they were interested, 0 actually showed up to pick it up. One person even
asked me if I could "deliver" it to their house as they "really wanted it" but
were too sick to come pick it up. I wasted so much time dealing with these
people.

After realising this wasn't working, I re-listed it for $5 and the first
person who contacted me actually came and picked it up without any issues.

~~~
mynameishere
And the conclusion is that he should offer his labor for minimum or some other
small wage, and that conclusion is false.

~~~
mattm
No, that wasn't what I meant at all. The value of this printer was very little
since it was old so instead of offering it for free, I offered it for it's
value.

~~~
jargon
The value of a printer is easy to understand. The value of a programmer with
no portfolio is not.

~~~
famousactress
Is your argument that he ought to charge nothing because it's too hard to
figure out what he's worth? If you're not willing to sort out what you're
worth, you're dead in the water from the outset. Don't work for free. It's
almost always a disastrous set-up. Your client doesn't have skin in the game.
There's an emotional investment that comes with paying for something. It's a
demonstration of VALUE. No payment, no value. It's pretty close to that
simple.

~~~
jargon
That is one way to look at it.

Another way would be to _create a portfolio_. Spend $25/mo or whatever on a
web server, build some web apps and put them online for people to see.

 _Don't work for free._

How do you feel about working on open source projects for free?

~~~
famousactress
I think working on open source projects for free is different. There usually
isn't really a client.. for a lot of people who work on open source projects,
the client is themselves.. so in a sense, they're not working for free..
they're putting in effort, and getting a return. That said, some of the "Don't
work for free" challenges still hold.. like motivation. For many people, it
helps to have money on the table, and a timeline committed to. Loads of open
source projects fall down because interest and motivation wax and wane. It's
helpful to have an outside force keep you moving forward, and someone else's
money is a big outside force.

~~~
uxp
Working on OSS "for free" is different than working for some guy's startup
without pay. At least with OSS, you can usually find a link to the commits you
contributed, provide an explanation of how you solved that particular problem
and why, and stick it in a portfolio.

You can't do that with proprietary software that may or may not even be
running in a year from now.

~~~
messel
Startups can open their source as well.

It makes sense for various tools which we can't guarantee will be supported if
the business doesn't survive. I'm much more likely to work with and contribute
to code I know will be around independent of a business.

------
moron4hire
Suggestion: if you don't care about compensation, join an open source project.
There are dozens of projects out there with crappy project sites. Completely
revamping their public facing can draw in significantly more people (I know
I've skipped past a few projects because I couldn't make immediate sense out
of their site). You'll have the same effect that you're looking for here,
without having to wait around for someone else to give you permission.

~~~
mortenjorck
The problem with open source projects is that it's often hard to break into
their communities. Some can even be surprisingly insular, and "don't need"
what you see they are obviously lacking.

Of course, if you find a good one, it can be incredibly rewarding, and you can
make new friends.

~~~
paulgb
That's where GitHub is really great. Find a smallish but active project that
you find cool, clone it, fix some bugs or add some features, and send a pull
request to the project owner.

------
lionhearted
Have you read this? -

<http://unixwiz.net/techtips/be-consultant.html>

It's about consulting, but it applies to freelancing as well. Good discussion
of rates and what people really want in terms of service and deliverables when
they hire you. Very good article, there's been discussion here on HN about it
too if you go to searchyc.com.

Other things to think about: Elance, Odesk, Rentacoder, or other sites that
let you make some cash would be smart to look into, and look at OSS for an
option to do some interesting work with smart people.

~~~
ehsanul
Thanks, reading it now.

Many of these sites have certain restrictions which make it difficult or
impossible for me in particular to work through them and get paid, otherwise
I'd use them.

~~~
lionhearted
> Many of these sites have certain restrictions which make it difficult or
> impossible

Dude, you're getting nowhere in life if you just listen when somebody says
"no" - get a virtual post office box with a USA address, register for a non-
resident Tax ID number, get Paypal, and you're in business. Yeah, it really is
that simple.

Good luck, and banish "I can't" from your vocabulary. The right question is
"How can I?"

~~~
AjJi
I'm not sure if what you're saying applies to everyone? Where I live it's not
possible to get an international credit card, which means I can't get paypal
to work.

Do you have more information about the virtual POB? Any help/suggestions about
how to get paid in a foreign country from the USA is appreciated.

~~~
lionhearted
> Where I live it's not possible to get an international credit card

Here we go again with the, "I can't" stuff - banish it! Really! "How can I?"
Can you get someone to buy you a prepaid card when they're traveling, or when
you're traveling? Do you a have friend you can hit up for a favor who lives
abroad? If the answer to all of those is no, keeping asking "How can I?"
Someone's done it before.

> Do you have more information about the virtual POB?

<http://lmgtfy.com/?q=virtual+post+office+box>

Kidding aside, I used Earth Class Mail and they were good enough at what they
do. I got it so I could get mail when I was international for long periods of
time, but then it turned out I was able to get my mail volume pretty low
regardless so I canceled. But it's a solid service.

------
mquander
I have to ask, why not go somewhere that isn't full of bored programmers to
offer free programming labor? It seems like you would be more likely to find
someone who could really use your work literally anywhere else.

~~~
hugh3
Better, as a programmer, to work for a programmer. This way he's more likely
to get a modest-sized project where the "customer" actually understands what
he's asking him to do and how long it would reasonably take.

Also, a much better chance of making useful contacts by working for some of
the entrepreneurs here than by sprucing up the data entry system for your
local used car dealer.

------
kaens
Try posting at <http://www.reddit.com/r/favors> .

------
NickNYC242
I think this is an awesome, disruptive, and unconventional idea. Sure, you
could go to elance or any other board and do any "normal" work, but here at HN
you're likely to find some interesting ideas, and by making this free, it's
also likely that you'll get the weird, interesting, and just maybe highly-
lucrative stuff. Good luck - if I can come up with a cool concept I'll drop
you a line.

------
Tawheed
Why not just build something of your own and put it out there as a product?

See [http://www.tawheedkader.com/2010/04/how-i-used-heroku-
chargi...](http://www.tawheedkader.com/2010/04/how-i-used-heroku-chargify-and-
sendgrid-to-take-my-web-app-to-market-in-3-days/) for inspiration.

~~~
messel
This is golden advice for a would be entrepreneur, and perhaps even for a
freelancer. You can even open source the code which is a nice way to give back
to others who learn more quickly by example like myself.

------
vegashacker
I'd be worried about legal ownership issues with this. If someone just writes
code for you and says, "Here you go, it's free" I'm not sure that would really
work. There has to be a contract in place (right?), and can contracts be "for
free"? I guess this could be structured as an internship, but I read here
awhile ago that those are being cracked down upon in the US.

Here's one idea: Have ehansul write and open source code that would be helpful
to you. That way there are no ownership issues.

~~~
zokier
I don't see any problems having contracts which do not enable any compensation
for the party doing something. And even many FOSS projects want copyright
waivers (I think that's the term) for any patches they receive.

------
xutopia
Offer your help to non-profits instead. They can give you tax credits for it.
So even if they don't pay you cash you can pay less income tax at the end of
the year.

------
ehsanul
Everyone: I'm sorry if you've emailed me and I'm taking more than an hour to
reply now. It's taking me a little time to evaluate all the requests I'm
getting.

More requests are welcome, but I am unlikely to be able to actually do more
until later. If you contact me though, when I am done with the work I take up
now, I can start with yours. You'll get a reply from me regardless of course.

------
KoZeN
elance.com

There are tons of opportunities that you can take on even if you have nothing
in your portfolio. Do what you do but earn some cash doing it.

Good luck.

~~~
ehsanul
I actually can't legally use elance.com, odesk.com, etc. due to silly reasons.
It's also not easy to get started there without a portfolio and rates are way
low, not just at first, but always.

I actually found the first "free" client on elance, contacted him outside of
it with a demo of what him wanted for free, and integrated into his website
for him. I've gotten his trust and confidence in my abilities without any
portfolio whatsoever, and a small paid job as well. So I think the "free first
time" method is valid. I'll just have to wait and see if this was really a
good idea.

------
ivenkys
This is really a good and potentially very disruptive idea. It would be
interesting to how far he can take this and monetize this.

I am going to take him up on his offer. I have specific requirements and i
have a working prototype of the same , it would be interesting to see what he
makes of it (provided of course he takes me up on it.)

------
vindicated
I think it's a good idea. Not for everyone of course, one size doesn't fit
all.

Often just having a deadline for doing something is enough motivation to
actually do it. I find myself procrastinating on personal projects, while I
can finish (or at least get close to finishing) projects with clear deadlines
pretty much on time.

------
alain94040
Why don't you volunteer your time to one of the projects listed on
<http://fairsoftware.net/startup-ideas-software-web-iphone> ? That would go a
long way to build your portfolio.

------
HeyLaughingBoy
Dude, if you have no experience and are willing to work for free, at least go
on RentACoder or whatever it's called these days and bid really low on a few
projects that interest you.

Trust me, someone will bite. That place is the Grand Central of bottom
feeders.

------
joeld42
This is a good idea and I wish you luck with it.

Another great way to build your portfolio is to approach local non-profits and
ask to volunteer to make web apps or website improvements for them. There is
almost always a way to make a big difference.

------
Random_Person
I'm hoping to launch an online comic one day soon and could sure use some
automation software to build each new page for me and make sure the links
aren't broke. I'd also like to have a forum with voting similar to HN or
Reddit.

~~~
jcl
(FYI: HN's forum software is open-source: <http://arclanguage.org/>)

~~~
Random_Person
Sweet. Thanks for the info!

Now I just need to learn HTML/CSS and maybe some JavaScript to build the rest.
That's a lot less complicated than I had imagined. If I can get a few more
strips drawn I may just be able to get this thing rocking sooner than I
imagined.

------
JesseAldridge
How about you make a clone of OkCupid, but instead of finding dates people use
it to find co-founders? That's something I, and I think a lot of other people,
would like to see.

------
pizzaman
i bet you can find some small idea somewhere and create your own project, it
will be a lot more fun and that way you'll learn easier too.

------
giantfuzzypanda
inb4 OP becomes overwhelmed and explodes

