Ask HN: Web devs who've made a transition to part time work, how did you do it?

7 points by every_other 4 years ago | 4 comments

I'm a fairly senior agency grunt who has been building web sites and applications for around a decade. I enjoy it but would just like more free time for projects, hikes, etc. If I could earn 3/5ths of my salary for working 3/5ths my current time, I'd take it. Really, I'd be open 2/5th - 4/5th or working full time with some extended time off between projects. I'm not a great networker so not sure freelance would be the easiest option for me but I'd be open. I'm just looking for ideas and to hear from others about their experiences.

100011_100001 4 years ago |

My brother did this, he decided to become a stay at home dad, partially because he made less money than his wife.

From what I have seen, he talked to some existing clients that needed tweaks but didn't want to keep contracts with the company he worked for and he essentially poached them. He also leveraged people he knew, like graphics artists etc for more leads. Essentially a trade, they refer to each other.

Overall he works about 15 hours a week, when the kids are in school and delivers projects. He gets the requirements, gives a quote and a date and goes from there. He is not greedy, so he is not trying to expand, more like maintain a steady rhythm of contracts.

He is not getting rich, but keeps himself busy and does what he likes...which honestly I don't know what it is, but it's not working.

every_other 4 years ago | |

Sounds like freelancing/contracting might be the way to go. I don't have direct client contracts for the most part so guessing it would take some time to build that up. I looked around on some of the generic job posting websites and was seeing some part time opportunities so, that might be an option as well.

codegeek 4 years ago |

How many hours do you want to work in a week/month ? For my company, I may have a part time role to work with customers and project implementations. Send me an email and we can chat.

every_other 4 years ago | |

I'd say 3 days/week would be ideal. Thanks, not sure I'm looking to jump ship immediately but I'll ping you.