Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-19-2012, 11:57 PM
 
224 posts, read 454,562 times
Reputation: 130

Advertisements

I'm interested in making some significant side money as a technical consultant. I have a broad skillet which includes web application development, server side scripting, web services w/SOAP or REST, relational databases, etc. My primary languages are java and python, but I'm familiar with a plethora of others and learning new languages isn't an issue. Besides craigslist, how would I go about finding clients and selling myself. I already have a fulltime job, so this would be more of a weekend gig/vacation time type of thing. Thanks in advance.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-20-2012, 01:41 AM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
28,226 posts, read 36,871,835 times
Reputation: 28563
networking is your friend.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2012, 09:18 AM
 
Location: East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
23,531 posts, read 24,022,219 times
Reputation: 23956
SOAP and REST are very much in demand right now, due to cloud storage growth. I am surprised you have not been inundated with offers yet.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2012, 11:50 AM
 
224 posts, read 454,562 times
Reputation: 130
Quote:
Originally Posted by ccm123 View Post
SOAP and REST are very much in demand right now, due to cloud storage growth. I am surprised you have not been inundated with offers yet.

Yeah, in my experience REST is much more widely used than SOAP. Anyways, my problem has been getting in contact with people who need stuff done. I tried craigslist before, even coded up this guy's solution for fun and sent him screenshots to prove that I was the first one to get it done but eventually got outbid. There are some tech meetups/hackathons in the city, but I haven't been able to make it to a good one yet. Are there any other avenues I can meet potential clients?

Also, I doubt this is the case but could age be a factor? I'm in my mid-late 20s, would people think I'm too young? I doubt it because I know people my age who are directors of engineering at startups.

Finally, do you do any consulting on the side? If so, how much money can one expect to make per year if they are just doing this on the weekends or during vacation?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2012, 06:54 PM
 
Location: East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area
23,531 posts, read 24,022,219 times
Reputation: 23956
Try LinkedIn, if you are not already registered. I am not a developer or programmer, but I have had to "dumb down" my profile on LinkedIn to keep recruiters from "cold calling" me for jobs.

I work in Sales, and do not need to do any type of consulting.

In Silicon Valley, the younger age should be a benefit to you!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2012, 10:10 PM
 
224 posts, read 454,562 times
Reputation: 130
Quote:
Originally Posted by ccm123 View Post
Try LinkedIn, if you are not already registered. I am not a developer or programmer, but I have had to "dumb down" my profile on LinkedIn to keep recruiters from "cold calling" me for jobs.

I work in Sales, and do not need to do any type of consulting.

In Silicon Valley, the younger age should be a benefit to you!
I am on linkedin and get plenty of recruiters contacting me about full time or contract opportunities, but I've barely had anyone contact me about gigs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-18-2012, 08:24 PM
 
46 posts, read 171,954 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by luau View Post
I am on linkedin and get plenty of recruiters contacting me about full time or contract opportunities, but I've barely had anyone contact me about gigs.
I have a quick question for you. Did you take your resume and split it into projects on LinkedIn with full descriptions? I was wondering how exactly recruiters find anyone.

Because I was not comfortable keeping full descriptions of my projects on linkedin, IMHO, sending a resume to recruiter is one thing but opening up resume for everyone in my network is not something I am comfortable with. May be that's why I never get any emails from recruiters
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-19-2012, 09:13 AM
 
925 posts, read 1,333,690 times
Reputation: 616
If you just want side "gigs", networking with people or having a friend with the right connections will prob be the key way to make contacts. Maybe attend some proffesional network meetings
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-19-2012, 08:22 PM
 
224 posts, read 454,562 times
Reputation: 130
Quote:
Originally Posted by EastIndian View Post
I have a quick question for you. Did you take your resume and split it into projects on LinkedIn with full descriptions? I was wondering how exactly recruiters find anyone.

Because I was not comfortable keeping full descriptions of my projects on linkedin, IMHO, sending a resume to recruiter is one thing but opening up resume for everyone in my network is not something I am comfortable with. May be that's why I never get any emails from recruiters
You ought to know this better because you're older than me. I'll give you my experience though; I described the work I did at each company but did not have a portfolio. I also have a link to my personal website. In other words, pretty much the same as everyone else.

In San Francisco, recruiters are keen on what school you went to, as long as you're not super experienced(40 and up). I don't have that much work experience, and the most common thing that recruiters mention in their emails to me is the school I graduated from. Work experience is just as important too, but how many google interns went to UC Riverside or CSU Hayward? If I graduated from some ****ty state school I doubt most of them would pay me any mind.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-20-2012, 01:33 AM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
802 posts, read 2,265,051 times
Reputation: 257
As someone already mentioned, networking is key. Over the past few years, I've hired a half-dozen contractors and each one was through a referral.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:28 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top