Ask HN: Is there a site for quality short-term contract programming work?

I have been in retirement but with the downturn selling assets makes my heart hurt more than it should, so I'd be willing to do short-term contract work. I definitely do not want to join any company as an employee.

Job board that caters to software engineering, full-stack, product-adjacent concerns.

Thanks.

gkoberger · 3 years ago

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but the best option is definitely to use your network. As both a freelancer in the past and someone who hires them now, I've had very few successes outside of referrals.

Network doesn't mean friends, necessarily! I built most of my network by building cool random things and mentioning I was looking for freelancing.

(That being said, you have a lot of eyes on this post now, so you should comment a way to contact you!)

frctnl · 3 years ago

I previously founded and sold a VC-backed marketplace for short-term contract programming work. However, I think any of the marketplace-style business models are flawed because they have to be so controlling to maintain their cut of the revenue.

I believe we need a simple job board for part-time, freelance software work. No long process to apply. No need to rate your coworkers to get paid. No subscriptions or revshare. Just a lightweight job board with a great email and good matching.

So, I'm working on building that:

https://frctnl.xyz

(Using a throwaway because I'm not talking about this project publicly yet.)

pyinstallwoes · 3 years ago

I love this idea. Enough I'd even be willing to help (without pay). Any way to contact you?

frctnl · 3 years ago

Perhaps sign up for the list, then just respond to the first email - which I plan to send next Wednesday!

Benjamin_Dobell · 3 years ago

Never used them, but I've heard reasonable things about:

- https://gun.io/

- https://www.toptal.com/

bilsbie · 3 years ago

How brutal are the interviews?

Fire-Dragon-DoL · 3 years ago

Very light for toptal

sjducb · 3 years ago

I find 3-6 month contracts using recruiters. I have never found a good contract on a website or by applying directly to the company.

pyinstallwoes · 3 years ago

How did you find said recruiters?

sjducb · 3 years ago

Apply to a bunch of contract jobs. Some of them will be recruiters posting fake jobs to attract the kinds of candidates that are easy to place.

Then the best of those recruiters will call up people at employers that they have relationships with and try to get you in. Often a company will be trying to hire perm, but open to a contractor. Or a companies HR dept might be completely useless and the recruiter will call up an exec who is trying to get something done and needs your skills.

Once you've done a good job at a company and built a relationship with a good recruiter they'll keep finding you new contract work.

Being a recruiter is a real skill. I have tried to find contracts on my own and failed every single time.

shishy · 3 years ago

Check out https://www.moonlightwork.com/

majortennis · 3 years ago

looks a little bare bones atm has it got many active users? I've signed up all the same

brudgers · 3 years ago

The best place for finding that kind of work is your Rolodex (or Linkedin connections) because you won't have to convince strangers to hire you and people you know may point you to someone who has work even when they don't.

It's usually better to have a leg up than to start from scratch.

Good luck.

atlasunshrugged · 3 years ago

It's a bit more focused on AI/data driven projects but sometimes they look for full-stack folks @ tribe.ai

ccleve · 3 years ago

Dice.com used to be the place to go. I haven't looked at them in quite some time.