from Hacker News

Ask HN: Can I hire an agent or how to get short-term contracts?

by 8draco8 on 9/2/21, 6:13 PM with 12 comments

I'm looking into transitioning from full-time job into short term contracts. Ideally I would like to sign in a project for 1-6 months, do the job and have month or two off. Is there a good place to find such contracts outside of my LinkedIn network? Is something like agent for developer a thing? Kind of like authors, singer and actors have. I would love to hire someone like that, give him a cut of of contract and carry on. If it's not a thing someone should make startup out of it.
  • by gregjor on 9/2/21, 7:48 PM

    10X Management does this (they represent me). I know they aren’t the only agency representing software professionals, but I don’t have experience with any others. Some recruiters and placement agencies work this way.

    Finding customers and getting contracts can take a lot of (unpaid) time for freelancers. I look for long-term relationships rather than churning short-term projects. You can still take time off if you don’t leave your customers hanging.

  • by burntoutfire on 9/3/21, 8:13 AM

    From someone who's sort-of worked like this for a while - sure, the time off between contracts is nice, but the contracts themselves are much more intense than regular full-time work - partly because you're pretty much always on-boarding and catching up, and partly because client's management does not care about contractors and will treat you worse than full time employees. Just something to keep in mind.
  • by celticninja on 9/2/21, 6:16 PM

    That is the job of a recruiter. Find one that specialises in your technology/sector and contract work.