Ask HN: Dilemma of a freelance developer in the US | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Dilemma of a freelance developer in the US

7 pointsslyhatcoderp9 comments

My friend is a US citizen who is quite unable to provide any of the benefits companies get by hiring local developers instead of off-shoring the work. Due to some study and health reasons:

1)Unable to work on-site 2)Unavailable during regular office-hours 3)Unwilling to sign NDA 4)Unable to work 40 hours/week. Wants something like 20 hours a week or so - for few weeks at a time?

Bonus points 1)Excludes some websites solely due to the industry - adult dating etc. 2)Too hesitant to speak over phone

Dilemma: Is relocating to some Asian country the only option - so that cost of living is much lower?

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It is an observable fact that many US developers do not work on-site, are not available on call between 9 AM to 5 PM, work for 20 hours per week, do not sign NDAs, and do not work in the adult industry. (He should probably get over the phone thing, given the utility of it, but it isn't a hard-and-fast requirement. 95% of my work happens over email.)

The right answer to your friend's predicament is not "Attempt to compete on price with people charging $5 an hour." It is "Demonstrate sufficient value such that his clients will deal if he can't make a phone call at 3 PM."

How to demonstrate such value WITHOUT it resulting in him getting tied down? As I said, he likes projects that last for a few weeks and then he hibernates.

Sounds like he doesn't have the reputation to hibernate. He just needs to suck it up and do the work to build that reputation.

He did work for a couple of years. When he tried to quit - it ended on uncomfortable terms because they didn't want him to quit. Now, he can't even use them as reference or something, because he's afraid they might say bad stuff about him (I highly doubt this! He fears too much). This is the situation he's trying to avoid.

It's the difference between being a temp and being a consultant.

Your friend thinks of himself as a temp, and thus is in a commoditized race to the bottom with with cheap labor overseas.

I'm an American freelancer, and so is everyone else I interviewed for my book (shameless plug, see my profile). We all make near-or-greater-than lawyer salaries freelancing for American companies. But we see ourselves as consultants, and are perceived as consultants. The value we provide goes well beyond being a warm body in a chair during office hours.

You're right. He's too attached to the idea of temp. He would panic if he hears "I would need you for 20 hours a week for rest of the year". Commitment-phobia is what I can think of - due to health and study reasons. Does your book address this?

Why do you think moving to an Asian country would make it easier to get a job? Do you think it's that much easier to get a job when you have more people to compete with? Do you think they only work 40 hour weeks? I really don't think that moving to any Asian country is going to help him out.

His best bet is probably looking for work in a different industry, or thinking long and hard about what he can do to make himself a viable employee.

If your friend does not have the ties that prevent him from moving from his current location, just moving from a large city to a rural location (while staying in the States) could cut their cost of living 50%.

He already is living in one such area in the US.

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