

Where can a guy find freelance work nowadays?  - jamongkad

Hi I'm currently looking for some freelance work to do and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post. So really my question is do any of you gents know of reputable sites I can post myself in so that prospective (employers|startups|companies) can hire me to do some contractual work for them and would allow me to work remotely. The latter is optional though.  Thank you!
======
jeffrey-dalton
Howdy... for what it is worth I have built a consulting business, believe it
or not, by answering higher end ads from Craigslists. The "secret" is to use
the RSS features of Craigslist and run multiple search feeds in an RSS reader
like NetNewsWire that lets you sort and mark them... I run searches like "CSS"
"UI design" etc.. Run those same searches all over the country for your area
of expertise. Have a kick ass portfolio online, solid references, and send out
emails everyday to answer the quality ads... and rock the initial
interviews... I have literally been consulting full time doing custom app and
drupal theming from Craigslist for two years... my site:
www.jeffreydalton.info

~~~
chez17
Doesn't the step "have a kick ass portfolio online" seem unhelpful to someone
who is just starting out?

~~~
jamongkad
I think he meant build it up to a kick ass portfolio? hahaha yes I am starting
out.

------
SingAlong
I used to be a frequent bidder on getafreelancer but quickly noticed the
pattern. Only the premium members or those with reputation get hired. And
there's a bidding war. And most of the times the project listing is cancelled
during the end bidding date(!). Now since everyone's talking about elance and
odesk, they must be crowded too.

Now I need a few dollars to bootstrap my startup. So I started looking for
mashup and web development contests. Ofcourse, you make money only if you win.
But if you are dedicated you will win. The most important thing in contests is
the idea and the way you present the idea as a working app.

You can't depend on contests if are looking for a way to feed yourself. I am
just depending on them for that extra cash I need to bootstrap my idea into
company.

<http://programmableweb.com/contests> lists mashup contests.
<http://99designs.com> list webdesign contests (if anyone knows more just pour
them in)

If you have chosen to do freelance work as your mainstream profession and
looking for your first set of clients, then why don't build a portfolio first?
Build an app that helps your kid brother in his geometry homework or build a
webapp that does event management for locality... Just build anything to show-
off your skills. And then show people your work, so when they look at your
work, they 'must' feel that they have found a guy who can do it (you proved it
with samples).

I have a question too. Does anyone know any agencies that deal with
outsourcing freelance work? What are these agencies called?

------
pjackson
I know some people who have had success with odesk.com and elance.com. It
looks like a bidding war on those sites, though, so you have to build some
reputation before you can command higher rates.

For my money, the best people to talk to about freelance work are design
firms, boutique consulting companies, and recruiters. They always seems to
have some expertise they're missing and willing to subcontract out.

Make some calls to firms you trust or have heard of and ask. It may be harder
in terms of effort, but I'd bet you'll land a better gig that way.

~~~
vikas5678
I do freelance work from odesk, its not all bidding though, you can bid on
fixed price projects, but you can also find jobs which pay by the hour. Mind
you, odesk takes like 10 % of the payment.

------
astrec
Sitepoint marketplace: <http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/>

------
walesmd
All of my work is via word-of-mouth and I would have it no other way.
Unintentionally, I have postured myself as an "Expert" within the CodeIgniter
community. Frequent posts on the forums, a geniune desire to help people and
promote the community, and an active blog in which the community participates
are all contributing factors to this status.

Clients come to me for work and all of my clients have come to me for repeat
work after the fact. I give them my hourly rate, which is lower than most US-
based coders but significantly hire than offshore, and an estimate of the
total hours their project will require.

They either take it or leave it - no bidding and worrying about whether I'm
going to pick that client up. There's a long line of potential clients behind
him if he turns the offer down.

I guess the mentality is a bit different, in the way I freelance. Not to sound
prudent, but I envision the relationship as the client competing for me, not I
competing for the client. I don't need the money, it's a nicety - if the
project doesn't interest me, the client seems like an idiot, or I'm just to
busy, I can turn it down with no worries.

------
aasarava
You can try going to industry events (check upcoming.org for startup related
events in your town.) I found my first real contracting gig by meeting and
chatting with the CEO of a startup at such an event. I later checked the
company's Web site and saw that they were looking for development help.

You can also try asking friends or acquaintances who are contracting if they
have any overflow work or need a hand on any current projects. Offer to
subcontract at a lower rate than the friend charges his/her client. (Just make
sure the friend is allowed to hire subcontractors for the given job.)

Finally, try looking for part-time / contracting gigs on Craigslist.

------
paulsilver
I do similar stuff - PHP & ColdFusion coding, and search engine promotion. I
get freelance work from the following sources, in order of the amount of work:
1 - Previous clients 2 - Partnerships & referrals through friends (many of
them met through 3) 3 - Networking 4 - People finding my website 5 - Forums

I run a local networking group for freelancers ( <http://www.brightonfarm.com>
) so get a lot of work through that. If you can find some local freelancers,
it's well worth teaming up with them as you'll either have complimentary
skills or can refer work direct to each other when you're too busy.

I'm lucky because I live in an area with a lot of small tech companies, which
is close to London which has a heck of a lot of work opportunities.

If you're trying to attract work when you don't know anyone locally, and you
can't find any business networking groups, then mailing lists and forums can
provide work. A simple way of getting is to post that you need some work (good
for a short term boost.) More subtle is to put "I'm a freelance _____
programmer" in your signature on forums/e-mail with contact details and links
to your website. I've had work from doing the latter, although I get better
quality work from the other sources listed above.

You might find the sites <http://www.freelanceswitch.com> and
<http://www.freelanceadvisor.co.uk> useful, they've both got podcasts as well.

[edit - getting links to work]

------
jamongkad
Hi everybody and thanks for the quick and informative replies. I think I
should have been more upfront with my skillset and what not. In a past life I
used to do alot of J2ME development. Then I made the jumped to RoR (it was
ok...) until I finally settled on using CodeIgniter. Loved it to bits then
forked my own version. I'm currently the maintainer and contributor to the
Functional PHP Extension Library(lib that allows the uses of funtional
programming idioms to PHP).

@walesmd Believe it or not I used to frequent the CodeIgniter forums when it
was first starting out. I do see your name there alot. Although I forked CI
and created my own private little framework. I recently came back and
introduce the Functional PHP Extension library to the folks at CI(I'm
currently the maintainer and contributer). Is there any work I can get via the
CodeIgniter Forums?

@Jeffrey-dalton Hey Jeffrey, I will definitely look at Craigslist. Maybe you
could give me some referrals? I would love to discuss this with you via email
of course.

@sosueme I've done a fair amount of J2ME in a past life of mine. But now I'm
pretty much focused on PHP development(please look at my reply to walesmd) and
I've done alot of work using jQuery. I'm a US Citizen based here in South East
Asia.

@xgamerx To be honest I haven't touched Prototype in while....fell in love
with jQuery. I mostly do PHP(using forked CI) + jQuery. Maybe we could discuss
this over email?

------
gigawatt
For me, it's almost all referrals from past clients or peers. I realize that
doesn't really answer your question, though. Sometimes I check
<http://www.artypapers.com/jobpile/> and <http://joblighted.com/>. They
aggregate a bunch of job boards and have more than a few freelance gigs mixed
in. I've gotten a job or two and a few interviews through them.

------
patrickg-zill
The answer is "everywhere". I don't know the kind of work you do, however if
you have not freelanced before, I recommend trying to get work locally, as it
may be easier to gain the confidence of your customer if you meet them face to
face every so often.

------
richesh
From my personal experience there no better place to post then to send an
email to your professional network (maybe use LinkedIn now). Specially if you
want to be able to work remotely, and get good contract without worrying about
consequences and risks.

------
xgamerx
If you are good with javascript (prototype) + html + css, The startup I work
for may have some freelance contract work for you to do. Anyone looking for
some work email me at nate@quub.com

------
sdurkin
My sister hires web developers for her company off elance frequently.

------
sosueme
What do you code and where are you?

------
ideas101
may be i can help - whats your email?

~~~
jamongkad
my email is wrm932@gmail.com

