How hard is it to find telecommuting work?

[Chris Creed]

Hey all.

Been looking for work in addition to the job that I currently have (saving up for things, that kind of thing), but it seems that trying to find work that allows you to work remotely is like pulling teeth. Any advice for how to convince prospective employers of the benefits of remote work, or to find folks offering remote work?

[Deepak Bala]

Freelancers do that all the time. Take a look at the freelancing websites and give some of the problem descriptions a quote.

[Chris Creed]

Deepak Bala wrote:Freelancers do that all the time. Take a look at the freelancing websites and give some of the problem descriptions a quote.

Happen to have any links? I have RAC but that's about it.;

[Deepak Bala]

Try this

Freelance:

http://www.liveperson.com/experts/computers-programming/programming/java/

http://www.getafreelancer.com/buyers/create.php

Programming competitions:

http://topcoder.com

http://codechef.com

[Tim Holloway]

At the moment, it's hard to find any work. But the major problem with the online services is that too often the jobs advertised have unrealistic expectations. I saw one the other day offering 40-hour work weeks to Java programmers ... at $5/hr. Budgets for one-shot gigs are too often under $200. And everybody says their project is "easy" so they want it 2 days before they posted it.

Then there's the other class of projects, which I know less about. These are serious bits of work, but they're not targeted to single employees. From what I've seen, however, the groups that bid frequently maintain staff whose job is to bid on every project that pops up regardless of whether they truly have any expertise at all on the subject. And occasionally, I'm amused to see that they, in turn put out the project to bid for subcontractors.

If ever there was a case of having to sort carefully through the rubbish to find the jewels, it's the online job-bidding services.

[Chris Creed]

Tim Holloway wrote:At the moment, it's hard to find any work. But the major problem with the online services is that too often the jobs advertised have unrealistic expectations. I saw one the other day offering 40-hour work weeks to Java programmers ... at $5/hr. Budgets for one-shot gigs are too often under $200. And everybody says their project is "easy" so they want it 2 days before they posted it.

Then there's the other class of projects, which I know less about. These are serious bits of work, but they're not targeted to single employees. From what I've seen, however, the groups that bid frequently maintain staff whose job is to bid on every project that pops up regardless of whether they truly have any expertise at all on the subject. And occasionally, I'm amused to see that they, in turn put out the project to bid for subcontractors.

If ever there was a case of having to sort carefully through the rubbish to find the jewels, it's the online job-bidding services.

Ya I've been finding that in my travels too, to the extent that I've put websites that cater to that area of the business secondary to contacting companies directly. At least with the latter you just have to convince them that having someone working offsite could be a benefit (no additional office space, systems, stuff like that) for their staffng needs. And they usually pay better. However that avenue isn't any easier to land work with (many places still prefer employees onsite), but I keep trying.