←back to thread

224 points shinypenguin | 5 comments | | HN request time: 1.142s | source

Hello HN

In a short form question: If you do, where do you look for a short time projects?

I'd like to put my skill set to use and work on a project, I'm available for 6-9 months. The problem seems to be for me, that I cannot find any way of finding such project.

I'm quite skilled, I have 15 years of experience, first 3 as a system administrator, then I went full on developer - have been full stack for 2 of those years, then switched my focus fully on the backend - and ended up as platform data engineer - optimizing the heck out of systems to be able to process data fast and reliably at larger scale.

I already went through UpWork, Toptal and such and to my disappointment, there was no success to be found.

Do you know of any project boards, or feature bounty platforms, that I could use to find a short time project?

Thank you for your wisdom :)

Show context
limbero ◴[] No.43354305[source]
I did this a few years ago and the winning recipe was a shameless (i.e. deeply shameful) linkedin post where I pretty much just summarized my skillset and explained that I was looking for a senior engineer equivalent of a summer internship, with no chance of extension.

Got me 3-4 offers. None of the offering companies had ads out for roles like this, so this was pretty much the only way.

replies(5): >>43354550 #>>43354628 #>>43354798 #>>43354967 #>>43355687 #
cushychicken ◴[] No.43354550[source]
Why’s this shameful, exactly?

There’s no shame in saying you’re available to work.

replies(2): >>43354646 #>>43355422 #
ForHackernews ◴[] No.43354646[source]
IMHO selling yourself (selling anything, really) is a bit demeaning. But this is probably a class affectation on my part, not real moral intuition.
replies(8): >>43354883 #>>43354944 #>>43355117 #>>43355533 #>>43355555 #>>43355697 #>>43355842 #>>43360160 #
1. cortesoft ◴[] No.43354944[source]
Selling ANYTHING is demeaning? So you believe the only non-demeaning way to live would be to live entirely self-sufficiently, making and growing everything yourself?
replies(1): >>43355259 #
2. margalabargala ◴[] No.43355259[source]
There are multiple definitions of the word "selling". The poster is referring to what salespeople do, not what a grocery store does.
replies(1): >>43355472 #
3. sgc ◴[] No.43355472[source]
Grocery stores are experts at sales tactics throughout the store. All that fruit does not look so beautiful in the field, and virtually every store is trying to develop their 'ethos' to capture the customers with enough money to be able to care about that.

There is no way to avoid selling in life. Otherwise, at the least, you will be constantly overlooked. There should be no shame in it. The shame is only when sales replaces instead of presents the value proposition you are offering.

replies(1): >>43357121 #
4. anon7725 ◴[] No.43357121{3}[source]
There is a trivial defeat for nearly all grocery store sales tactics: make a shopping list.

Engaging with certain salespeople is an altogether different proposition. In order to buy a car, you are forced to interact with multiple odious people who have ripping you off as their sole objective. Thats what I think of when I think of a “salesperson”. See also mattress stores, wireless carrier “retention” departments, HVAC installers, etc.

replies(1): >>43358466 #
5. ghaff ◴[] No.43358466{4}[source]
Eh. Sure. Make a shopping list.

But also buy, within reason, stuff that's on sale, looks good, etc. Otherwise just order on-line.