Ask HN: Best way to get freelance work without being treated like a commodity code monkey?

[firebug]

I have many years of programming experience in the U.S. under my belt but when it comes to finding freelance work I'm completely in the dark. One of my fears is that unlike being an in-house developer, a freelancer is at risk whenever s/he attempts to find a new gig, of being treated as a low-cost commodity service without any attention paid to years of experience, diversity of knowledge, etc. Sites like odesk put an American programmer in the same ring with his/her lower cost counterparts in other areas of the world, many of whom are more than capable of competing in terms of skills and intelligence. What's a good way to look for freelance work (in NYC) without competing purely on cost?. Are there particular freelance websites that are more oriented towards dometic US projects and talent? I'm wondering whether anyone has used sites like http://www.rentacoder.com or http://www.elance.com/ or http://freelanceswitch.com/ They all seem to expose an American programmer to the problem I'm talking about. Are there any others I haven't heard of that might be more favorable?

[mahmud]

1) Escrow based freelance sites are a scam. Rentacoder is an outright scam. Odesk will have a little nice timer on the desk and the project owner will be able to track your progress as 1second precision. Too micromanaged.

2) There is nothing inherently precious about an "American Programmer", Yourdon's 15 year old polemic notwithstanding.

3) Craigslist. Nice portfolio. Cocktail parties. You will end up doing software, hardware and websites, prepare for that. You will end up moving to the business side of things, asking management types what they need done and you will be writing tens of emails a day in correspondence, meeting people face to face and juicing software requirements out of one off-remarks that people make. You might also end up becoming an integrator or procure hardware and software licenses.

Just don't expect to write fancy systems software for a living and brush up on your PHP and system administration. It's a million-hat job.

[firebug → mahmud]

Just to clarify, I wasn't saying there is anything precious about an American programmer versus programmers in other countries. What's precious to me is my ability to pay the rent. And finding a job would be a nice first step. As I said in my original post, I understand that foreign programmers are more than able to compete with me on every measure. Except that I'm here in NYC and they're not. So if that's the only advantage that I have, how can I best use that? I'm not making any judgments here. Or if I seemed to, I certainly didn't intend to convey that because that's not the way I think. Nevertheless, I appreciate your well-considered response. It sounds like it comes from some real experience with Craigslist-based gigs and sounds pretty realistic. Thanks for the feedback.

[mahmud → firebug]

Here is a list of all the recent CL computer gigs in NYC that demand only a local candidate:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/search/cpg?query=local

Cast your social net wide and deep. Talk to everyone. Usually you start your freelancing career with accounts you get from previous employers, coworkers or people in your daily life who know what you do AND that you're available for freelancing work.

Here is a tip: instead of just reading the available jobs section, read the services offered section. What might seem to you as "competition" might just be someone with complementary skillsets. Partner with them. Try a post like "software engineer seeks competent business person"; grab everyone who replies to you and kick some ideas back and forth. Offer them hefty cuts and they will go out and source you a project.

Scratch backs and offer kickbacks. Most people just need a "computer guy" and they have no clue what sort of service they need. Offer free consulting help ("hey, let me come with you for that meeting, I can suss out the guy for you and see if he is really good", etc.) Once people consider you "their guy", they will turn to you for help.

However, it takes ALLOT of fucking socializing, chit chatting, catching up and going out for coffee and beer. You're gonna kiss the REPL and that debugger good bye for a few months my friend.

P.S. Don't hesitate to take a side white-collar gig (sales, support, billing, etc.) you will get some killer domain knowledge, make contacts, and you can always resurface as a software developer when you know of their needs. Right now, in this economy? I wouldn't hold out for that $120k C++ Architect job that we all had a while ago.

Cheers!

[firebug → mahmud]

As regards the white-collar gig, my suspicion was that if you appear to switch fields, HR assumes you're not committed to I.T. if you try to resurface later as a programmer. But I'm leaning in that direction anyway. It can't be any worse than being unemployed :)

[mahmud → firebug]

That assumes you want to be at the mercy of HR for the rest of your life. Some of us want to forge empires my friend, do what you can to survive now, but in the long term, prepare to become an employer yourself.

[firebug → mahmud]

No thanks, my friend, but I appreciate your helpful advice.

[mattmcknight]

For me it's been pretty simple- work with people who know your work, or show people your work. If you can establish some basis of trust, you'll be more than a rate. If you want to sell yourself, you have to network. Using those sites as the salesmen...well, let's just say they're the pimps.