Where to find software gigs

[Zette]

I'm an embedded software engineer with 14 years experience (mainly in C), who has taken several years off while my kids are small.  The youngest will be in first grade this fall.  I've been thinking I might try my hand at some software gigs -- the kind of thing others may do as a side business or in semi-retirement.  (I don't need to support the family, but whatever I earn could speed up FIRE and my husband's retirement.)  Does anyone here do something similar?  Where do you find the work?

[rantk81]

Straight up "C" is now kind of a niche thing a la COBOL.  The opportunities are few and far between, but probably pay a lot if you can find one.
Most of what I see now is much much MUCH lower paying C# stuff, or other higher languages.  (And you're LUCKY to get a 6-figure job to score one of these, unless you are in an extremely HCOL area.)

(I've got 12 yrs exp doing C and C++.  At my current employer they are changing technologies and things are changing to higher level things like Java and C#.  I know that after they fully migrate, I'll be WAY overpaid for my position, so I won't be surprised if I'm eventually laid off.  They won't pay me $140K+ to write C# for too much longer, I'm guessing.... LOL.)

On the plus side, if they don't kick my ass to the curb, I find coding in Java and C# to be much more pleasant than in C or C++.  I can essentially turn my brain off, and the IDE does most of the heavy-lifting ;)

[Zette]

I'm not looking for a six figure job, nor a full time one.  Where do people go to find side-hustle type software work? I want to see what's out there, in part to figure out what languages are in demand if I need to retool.

The other alternatives I'm looking into are going back to a contract firm I worked part-time for previously (if they have any work available), or trying my hand at app development (speculative and overcrowded).

[daverobev]

Also interested if anyone has good ideas.

Alas, I don't have C/C++, just less desirable MS stuff: TSQL, more Classic ASP than .Net. Visual FoxPro from a decade ago. And the usual web stuff in a non-designery type way: HTML, CSS, Javascript.

I can Make Things Work, I can make things do what you need them to do. I just have no idea how to find people that could use my skills. Aside from the one guy I currently work for in a really ad-hoc way.

[projekt]

Zette: There seems to be a lot of buzz in the embedded space with all the IoT hype. I'm not sure if that's translating into jobs, but they're definitely using C and C++.

If you can't find what you want in those spaces, you can still do lots of things in C. For example, most of the underlying software like SQLite, Linux, etc. are written in C, and there are oftenc companies who need contract programmers to help them support their operations. I know that when I used to work in app dev, knowing C and C++ allowed me to show for sure that a bug was in our own software and not in the underlying stack, which is really helpful, and that's something else you could bring to a team.

daverobev: There's still a good bit of FoxPro/xBase demand out there so look into that. It's also not hard to pick up any of the new tech if you've been using their related software. For example, check out Meteor. You should be able to come up to speed quickly there and there are jobs. Your hackety-skills (which you must have if you did FoxPro) will help you tremendously to become a WordPress programmer by just learning PHP and MySQL. Don't worry about the tech stack, just show that you can understand what the customer wants.

[daverobev]

daverobev: There's still a good bit of FoxPro/xBase demand out there so look into that. It's also not hard to pick up any of the new tech if you've been using their related software. For example, check out Meteor. You should be able to come up to speed quickly there and there are jobs. Your hackety-skills (which you must have if you did FoxPro) will help you tremendously to become a WordPress programmer by just learning PHP and MySQL. Don't worry about the tech stack, just show that you can understand what the customer wants.

Hackety skills is exactly what I have. I live near Ottawa, and everything here seems to be very very specific requirements or certification - where I'm a small company guy, make it work, fix it, whatever.

I'm also not much of a people person - have any tips on where to actually *look* for this kind of stuff?

Is WordPress just the easiest way to go for misc work? I'm not really a design/front end guy; I mean, I can *do* CSS but only if I'm told pretty clearly what colours etc.

Could really use a couple of thousand dollars a month for a few months, something like that would be awesome. I've got stuff until the middle of July, then I'm kind've adrift. Which is ok, as long as my wife is working - I'm pretty much FIRE - but she'll not be working for a bit come Christmas, and it'd be nice to pad the coffers..

[BritishMustache]

Hey Zette,

If your background is in C, then you may find Go (https://golang.org/) appealing to learn. It's been growing pretty rapidly and powers a lot of the current 'hip' technology (Docker, Kubernetes to name a couple). There seems to be a reasonable amount of remote work available with fairly forward-thinking companies too.

Hope this helps a tiny bit.

[ender]

There are plenty of companies doing C type of work.

They just won't be the flashy, cool, hip places. But a lot of embedded stuff is still C/C++ types of stuff and will probably stay that way a long time. And it turns out, a very large percentage of manufacturers have some level of embedded systems - from traffic lights to tractors to refrigerators.

[Zette]

I was relieved that a quick glance through LinkedIn and GlassDoor showed the embedded software jobs in my area are still mainly looking for C/C++ and RTOS experience. 

Where do I look to find part time and contract work, though?

[SwordGuy]

dice.com and monster.com have contractor gigs.  Some allow remote work.

[projekt]

Zette: You might need to work through a body shop, so look around for contracting companies and see if they will hire you part time.

daverobev: The way I feel about front end is that it is mostly copypasta for the average developer. Just make it work like they say and if they want it pretty, they need to hire a designer as well. The wordpress development work is always people wanting wordpress to do something it doesn't do, and that is back-end stuff. Otherwise, their designer could just use wordpress as it is. For example, they may have a system that needs to be integrated so wordpress does something useful with the data. That's your job.

One place to get started with the kinds of jobs (at low pay, but it fills your resume) is with freelance portals like Upwork. I did that for a while and it's a good way to get project experience. Then you might either find consistent work with a company or you can use your portfolio when looking for other gigs.

[daverobev]

Ok, thanks. So Wordpress is really a good one at the moment? Recommend any books, or just jump in?

[Christof]

Alas, I don't have C/C++, just less desirable MS stuff: TSQL, more Classic ASP than .Net. Visual FoxPro from a decade ago.

It's actually rather difficult to find good FoxPro developers. Given that most FoxPro developers are 55 or older, retirement has become a serious problem for many businesses that have inhouse software and one older developer who started this 20-30 years ago.

[daverobev]

Alas, I don't have C/C++, just less desirable MS stuff: TSQL, more Classic ASP than .Net. Visual FoxPro from a decade ago.

It's actually rather difficult to find good FoxPro developers. Given that most FoxPro developers are 55 or older, retirement has become a serious problem for many businesses that have inhouse software and one older developer who started this 20-30 years ago.

Heh, well I'll admit to being a bit rusty - not used it for the last few years - but it's like riding a bike, right?

Now - point me to these job listings?! I wonder if having this special skill might even get me a US work visa... I'm open to relocation! Especially places milder than Ottawa...

[Christof]

Niche markets have this particular problem that job listings don't work very well. Instead most positions are filled by asking around or getting recommendations. A good place to start would be the existing user groups (San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Philadelphia), companies that still do or used to do FoxPro (Stonefield Software in Canada, White Light Computing in Michigan, Sage used to), and online forums (universalthread.com, foxite.com). A rather local contact to you would be Andrew McNeill, host of the FoxShow podcast (http://www.aksel.com/).

Note the key word, though: You need to be good (or at least credible). In many cases it helps if you have knowledge in current technologies, too (Java, .NET, HTML5/JavaScript).

[Peacefulwarrior]

My company hire people for such gigs on upwork.com all the time (other programming languages though). We've put out job for everything between $20 to $50.000. Give it a shot.

[daverobev]

Niche markets have this particular problem that job listings don't work very well. Instead most positions are filled by asking around or getting recommendations. A good place to start would be the existing user groups (San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Philadelphia), companies that still do or used to do FoxPro (Stonefield Software in Canada, White Light Computing in Michigan, Sage used to), and online forums (universalthread.com, foxite.com). A rather local contact to you would be Andrew McNeill, host of the FoxShow podcast (http://www.aksel.com/).

Note the key word, though: You need to be good (or at least credible). In many cases it helps if you have knowledge in current technologies, too (Java, .NET, HTML5/JavaScript).

Good info - thanks. I hadn't really thought that VFP would still be a useful skill, let alone in demand. Credible.. lol. Guess I need to dust off my copy of VFP and try and install it on my 64 bit laptop..

[InquisitiveMind]

In addition to the resources others have provided, the FlexJobs website offers a range of non-traditional (part-time, remote, freelance, etc.) jobs.

Software development jobs:
https://www.flexjobs.com/jobs/web-software-development-programming

Computer & IT jobs:
https://www.flexjobs.com/jobs/computer-it

Complete list of job categories:
https://www.flexjobs.com/jobs

[TheAnonOne]

Straight up "C" is now kind of a niche thing a la COBOL.  The opportunities are few and far between, but probably pay a lot if you can find one.
Most of what I see now is much much MUCH lower paying C# stuff, or other higher languages.  (And you're LUCKY to get a 6-figure job to score one of these, unless you are in an extremely HCOL area.)

(I've got 12 yrs exp doing C and C++.  At my current employer they are changing technologies and things are changing to higher level things like Java and C#.  I know that after they fully migrate, I'll be WAY overpaid for my position, so I won't be surprised if I'm eventually laid off.  They won't pay me $140K+ to write C# for too much longer, I'm guessing.... LOL.)

On the plus side, if they don't kick my ass to the curb, I find coding in Java and C# to be much more pleasant than in C or C++.  I can essentially turn my brain off, and the IDE does most of the heavy-lifting ;)

In MN here C# developers are making 75 to 80 dollars an hour (150k+) on contract basis. Full time roles for 5+Y experience seem to be around 100-120 grand a year...