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

[8draco8]

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.

[gregjor]

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.

[f0e4c2f7]

I've wanted a service like this to exist but didn't know about this company. Does it really feel like they're you're "agent"? Lots of recruiters pitch themselves that way but it's clearly transactional.

What's it like actually working with them? You get a call every now and then? Is the main benefit not having to engage in the job search or have you found the salaries to be higher? Do they take a percentage of your overall salary like agents in Hollywood or is it more like the traditional model (company pays $50k up front for the privilege to hire you)

[burntoutfire]

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.

[celticninja]

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

[8draco8]

Easier said than done. While I do have recruiters in my network specializing in work for my skill set, pretty much all of them have offers for full time jobs in a big projects.