Where do you find freelancers?

12 points by SeripisChad 5 years ago | 13 comments

Where have you had success hiring freelancers? I’ve hired on upwork, freelancer, fiver and found the experience lacking. Why aren’t there decent portfolios to look at? Lots of time wasted qualifying/disqualify candidates/companies. Lots of auto reply spam. This has to be a market opportunity for someone. I’ve used Indeed for local hires, but haven’t used stackover jobs yet. I’m looking for short term flex hours mid level mobile development in react native and xamarin and am exhausted by these platforms.

BjoernKW 5 years ago |

These platforms commoditise development work. So, you get what you pay for.

I'd look for places where React Native and Xamarin developers meet. There almost certainly are Slack communities for these technologies.

Such communities often have a dedicated #jobs channel. Seeing who is most active and who seems to be most knowledgeable about the specific areas of expertise you require can also be very helpful.

jamil7 5 years ago |

Experienced freelancers won’t work for the rates you’re willing to pay judging by the platforms you’re looking at and are likely booked up far in advance. There isn’t really a market opportunity because good people who have work don’t want a third party platform inserted into their business leeching money.

cercatrova 5 years ago |

Upwork is great, I found a lot of good Eastern European developers. I set the rates to at least 75 USD/hour however (which is a lot by Eastern European standards, and so it's very worth it to them), and I ask questions through the project proposal and the chat as to whether they know exactly how to solve my problem or not. This process weeds out most of the unqualified candidates. Perhaps you are not vetting thoroughly enough or not paying enough to be worth their time.

Lionga 5 years ago | |

Upwork can be really great, but most people use it wrong.

Don't wait for the good developers to apply, invite them proactively. 95% of the developers applying themselves are sadly the bottom barrel. First weed out from their profil history if they know what they are doing. Only work with people that have 100% Jobsuccess with relevant projects and have the "Top Rated" Badge. Then do a small test project with them or a free consultation call to check for details, how good their english is and cultural fit.

I have both hired myself and got hired on very successful projects (e.g. build an MVP for a startup in a month that led them to secure a funding round) this way. In case anyone wants to see my profile https://www.upwork.com/fl/tobiasheidingsfeld

SeripisChad 5 years ago | | |

I would say I fall into this camp of using is wrong. I'm only inviting a few candidates to a job post and the majority of applications are people manually or auto responding. I experiment with a private post and only inviting candidates.

Searching seems to be off at Upwork, for example, I'm look for someone add faceID support to a RN app and the results aren't too helpful. Looking at searches like "react native faceID" on upwork you would hope the top of the list would be the most relevant profiles containing all three terms or simply a search of "faceID" would return profiles containing this or biometric or react-native-touch-id, but searching the profile contents of the top five search results for this for me yield none of them having the search term. Testing google index against upwork is more effective for me 'site:upwork.com faceID'

seanwilson 5 years ago |

Have you tried Google or asking people you know for recommendations? Most of my clients find me via my personal website that way.

I wouldn't add myself to any of the sites you mentioned. I don't want to be listed somewhere as an interchangeable commodity, don't want an intermediary getting in the way of payment and communications, and don't want to be somewhere that attracts clients looking for the cheapest option. I can't believe some of these platforms allow screen capture software that let clients spy on the contractor either.

quickthrower2 5 years ago |

Try joining some slacks and discord’s for programming some have hire me threads. Also try Reddit and of course HN who wants to be hired. All these places tend to have portfolios posted.

There is an opportunity but as soon as you make the next upwork ... well you’ve made the next upwork! Make the next medium same thing. The gets shit as gets popular cycle repeats again and again.

vinrob92 5 years ago |

I wrote a free book about this (no email wall, it's a Google Doc): www.productizeteam.co

My process:

1. OnlineJobs.ph/Dribbble/JobRack.eu/Local hiring website (exammple: Ejobs.ro)

2. Post a clear job ad with requirements/commitments/application form

3. Video call with the selected applicants

4. (Optional) Paid test task

5. Hired - Sign independent contractor agreement

brudgers 5 years ago |

Reading the question I don’t see any obvious attractions for good freelancers. Short term flex hours and competing with Fiver and Upwork on price is not how a freelancer maintains a sustainable business.

shinryuu 5 years ago |

Also every month there is a thread where you tell people on HN that you are looking for freelancers or alternatively contact the right people yourself.

See -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24342497

Jack000 5 years ago |

Upwork has worked well for me. You really have to invite promising candidates individually instead of opening the floodgates, and even then the hitrate is low. I typically give a small assignment to around 5 selected freelancers. I've found some amazing people this way, and are still working with them on an on-going basis.

happppy 5 years ago | |

Hi,

I am a software engineer with 3 years of experience building web application in technologies like Php, Laravel, JavaScript, TypeScript, Reactjs, Nextjs, Nodejs, Expressjs and other tools. I have a very little experience as a freelancer (did some tasks on fiverr but didn't like that all). I am looking to work with clients on long-term basis. Are you looking for more freelancers to work with? If yes, I am interested. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

sbacic 5 years ago |

> Why aren’t there decent portfolios to look at?

It's a chicken and egg problem. Most clients want to see previous work, but don't want their project to eventually become part of that previous work. The issue is compounded by the fact that most commercial software isn't flashy and easy to demonstrate to the casual observer like, say, a Dribbble account is for designers.

If experience with my own clients has taught me anything, it's that the best way to find good people is to just talk to them. Start incrementally - first a talk, then give them a few days worth or work, then a week, then more. Evaluate them at each step - starting with how they communicate and how professional they are and then the quality of their deliverables. I've noticed a pretty strong correlation between bad communicators and poor quality of work, thought YMMV.

> Lots of time wasted qualifying/disqualify candidates/companies.

Let me put it this way - there are two kinds of freelancers out there:

1. Those that invest in their visibility and charge for it. 2. Those that don't.

They might be equally good developers, but you're going to be paying a premium for the first one since he has intentionally made himself easier to find.